Deadly Reunion

The Black Berets #1

by Mike McCray

In the dirty war of covert operations, they were the government's most deadly secret weapon - the CIA trained them for one thing and one thing only - to kill swiftly, silently and mercilessly. Then it turned them loose on the battlefields of Asia, sending them out on missions so ugly that not even the army could be told. But now the war was over. Beak, Rosie, Cowboy, Harry and Runt were in limbo until their old CIA control sent them back into the hell of Vietnam in search of a man who should be dead. Could five shell-shocked vets become a combat-honed killing machine again? And, if they could, how long would it be before the CIA acted to stop them, to shut them down - for keeps.

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Paperbackbooks86 · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading a review of this book on the paperback warrior website, I figured I would pick it up, because I had a free book reward on ThriftBooks. I figured for $5, why not and it’s only 185 pages so I can read it pretty quickly.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much out of this book. I wasn’t even really that excited to read it. But I have to say, I LOVED this book! I’m a big fan of the Rat Bastards series, and this book reminded me of the rat bastards but as Vietnam Combat vets.

Like almost every one of these storyline books; a group of ex military put together a rag tag team one more time to do a mission, you will get a rather lengthy “training montage” in the middle of the book, that for me, takes up too much time in the story. But, after reading so many of this genre of books, you just learn the first book in the series is going to make you read about it.

Other than that, this story is great. The characters are well fleshed out and all different. There is some wicked gruesome stories throughout the book, and the ending had a nice twist that has me anticipating book 2!

If you’re like me, and enjoy this genre of books, grab this one, you will love it!

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had its ups and downs, and I can only give it the three stars. I would like to have given it more, but it just kept riding of the rails. Like some of those Mack "The Executioner" Bolan volumes, our hero veers off and starts his diatribe on the ills of society and the general lack of morals of humankind and why him and his friends have to stomp their heads into the pavement and fill them full of holes.

The reunion is because a CIA man brings a team of special force troops together again to rescue P.O.W.s from the Vietnam war held in Laos. Once the team sets out to liberate them, things go south. For a much better version of this kind of book, Go for the M.I.A. Hunter series by "Jack Buchanan."

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is my personal opinion that 70% of a book’s page count should not be dedicated to getting the band back together / training unless you’re are talking about a novelization of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

That said, the author does know how to write about men shooting guns, so perhaps the next one will have more of that.

[Robert Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

During my years serving in the US Army. I came across this series and loved reading each adventure during those many hours of down time when I would hurry up and wait.
The books were circulated during many FTX training cycles.
I am glad to for these books for a person who love to read.
Cheers to this series plus the many others.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this squad based novel. Its the first one, so it spends a lot of time introducing the team and training since its been around a decade since they were in Vietnam. The black berets are five men that were a crack team in Vietnam but now are out of shape and kind of wasting away as civilians. Their former CIA handler got them back together again to go back over there to rescue some MIAs. However its not that simple and none of the five trust the situation at all, they are just glad to be back together again as a team.

Highly recommended, looking forward to continuing the series.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly entertaining read. Will definitely be reading the whole series.

[Wolfgarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series growing up as a kid.. Back in the 1980's.
And even today i remember bits and pieces of it.
Its a real shame the books can not be found in electronic form.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cliffhanger!