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Saigon: A Story of the End
April 1975. In ten days, Saigon falls. In ten days, it’ll be too late.
John Crawford didn't leave Vietnam when his country did, and now a desperate father has asked him to find another lost soldier before the end comes.
Catherine Marchand is French plantation royalty, but traded wealth for service. She wants only to save refugees streaming south ahead of the advancing communists.
Together they face the death of a city. The death of a nation.
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Sam Hawken is a four-time Crime Writers’ Association Dagger nominee for his Borderland Trilogy — The Dead Women of Juárez, Tequila Sunset, and Missing. He is also the creator of the Camaro Espinoza thriller series, and a New York Times bestseller with co-author James Patterson.
The story of the Fall of Saigon has never been more relevant than today.
John Crawford didn't leave Vietnam when his country did, and now a desperate father has asked him to find another lost soldier before the end comes.
Catherine Marchand is French plantation royalty, but traded wealth for service. She wants only to save refugees streaming south ahead of the advancing communists.
Together they face the death of a city. The death of a nation.
=====
Sam Hawken is a four-time Crime Writers’ Association Dagger nominee for his Borderland Trilogy — The Dead Women of Juárez, Tequila Sunset, and Missing. He is also the creator of the Camaro Espinoza thriller series, and a New York Times bestseller with co-author James Patterson.
The story of the Fall of Saigon has never been more relevant than today.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 17, 2021
2 people want to read
About the author
Sam Hawken
32 books93 followersSam Hawken is the best-selling and Crime Writers Association Dagger-nominated author of the Camaro Espinoza thriller series, as well as the critically acclaimed Borderland Trilogy.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 16, 2022
I've been a fan of Sam Hawken's writing from the very start, enjoying his brilliant Borderland Trilogy and also his Carmen Espinoza series of novels and short stories but in recent years he seems to have withdrawn from social media and appears to be keeping a lower profile, so it was much to my surprise when I came across this novel.
It's April 1973 in Saigon and the North Vietnamese army are advancing rapidly towards the city and it's there we find American John Crawford, who decided to stay behind after the military withdrawal from Vietnam. John lives frugally with his Vietnamese girlfriend and is a bit of a 'fixer' doing whatever he can to make a buck. When he hears that there is an American in the city looking for his lost son, Crawford eagerly takes the job and sets off to find Tom Montgomery by utilising all his local contacts and connections. Crawford's investigation is played out against a backdrop of a city which is under seige and knowing it's only a matter of days till it eventually falls.
The story starts out quite slowly and Crawford's investigation doesn't seem to get anywhere very fast but there are several characters who get invested in his investigation, each with their own personal agenda. Catherine Marchand is from a wealthy French family, who have made their money in Vietnam and left but she remains and spends her time and what money she has left helping the refugees fleeing the communist forces. Do, is a Vietnamese Police Captain who keeps tabs on Crawford's investigation and movements for his own purposes. The novel picks up pace as the communist advance reaches the city and the ending is a race against time to see who stays and who wants to leave, knowing that if they stay they face certain death.
I enjoyed this novel, as the fall of Saigon is not a topic that I really knew a lot about and although the story is initially slow moving, I think the ending really makes up for it, as Hawken really manages to paint a realistic picture of a city in panic and the desperation of its people to escape. The novel also resonated with me as it brought to mind recent events in Afghanistan where the military withdrew and the scenes of sheer desperation we witnessed on television of Afghan people trying to escape the Taliban and this must has been a similar picture to that of Saigon nearly 50 years ago.
Now that I've caught up with Hawken's writing again I need to keep up to ensure that i don't miss out on anything in the future.
It's April 1973 in Saigon and the North Vietnamese army are advancing rapidly towards the city and it's there we find American John Crawford, who decided to stay behind after the military withdrawal from Vietnam. John lives frugally with his Vietnamese girlfriend and is a bit of a 'fixer' doing whatever he can to make a buck. When he hears that there is an American in the city looking for his lost son, Crawford eagerly takes the job and sets off to find Tom Montgomery by utilising all his local contacts and connections. Crawford's investigation is played out against a backdrop of a city which is under seige and knowing it's only a matter of days till it eventually falls.
The story starts out quite slowly and Crawford's investigation doesn't seem to get anywhere very fast but there are several characters who get invested in his investigation, each with their own personal agenda. Catherine Marchand is from a wealthy French family, who have made their money in Vietnam and left but she remains and spends her time and what money she has left helping the refugees fleeing the communist forces. Do, is a Vietnamese Police Captain who keeps tabs on Crawford's investigation and movements for his own purposes. The novel picks up pace as the communist advance reaches the city and the ending is a race against time to see who stays and who wants to leave, knowing that if they stay they face certain death.
I enjoyed this novel, as the fall of Saigon is not a topic that I really knew a lot about and although the story is initially slow moving, I think the ending really makes up for it, as Hawken really manages to paint a realistic picture of a city in panic and the desperation of its people to escape. The novel also resonated with me as it brought to mind recent events in Afghanistan where the military withdrew and the scenes of sheer desperation we witnessed on television of Afghan people trying to escape the Taliban and this must has been a similar picture to that of Saigon nearly 50 years ago.
Now that I've caught up with Hawken's writing again I need to keep up to ensure that i don't miss out on anything in the future.
Displaying 1 of 1 review