A Savage Joy: A Vietnam War Novel

The Airmen #14

by David Lee Corley

It’s called the “Black Widow”, a CIA gunship with three high-speed Gatling guns tasked with interdicting North Vietnamese weapon and supply convoys on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It has no insignias or markings. Painted black it is invisible in the night’s sky… until it strikes. The communist troops call it a “dragon” because of its red tongues of fire that reach down from the heavens and consume whatever they touch. Officially the Black Widow doesn’t exist and neither does Tom Coyle its pilot.

Coyle and his crew fly the world’s most dangerous combat missions in the steep mountains of Laos. The jungle-covered slopes are impenetrable and a death sentence for any unlucky aircrews that crash in them.

Desperate to keep their supply lines open, the North Vietnamese deploy their most powerful anti-aircraft guns to hunt the dragonship. To cut off the communist troops already in-country, Coyle and his crew will tempt fate to annihilate the convoys before they enter South Vietnam. It’s a high-stakes game of cat and mouse… where the loser dies.

Like all books in the airmen series, A Savage Joy is based on historical events and real people. It’s full of military action and suspense. As the Vietnam War escalates, it seems nothing can stop it.

A Savage Joy storyline on Camp HollowayBattle of Ban Ken BridgeOperation Flaming DartOperation Rolling ThunderOperation Steel TigerBattle of Song BeBattle of Ba GiaBattle of Plei MeBattle of LZ X-RayBattle of LZ Albany

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2022

About the author

I am a Hollywood screenwriter turned novelist. I am also a nomad.

Four years ago, I sold or gave away just about everything I owned and set myself adrift in the world. I lived out of my backpack and circumnavigated the earth three times. My journey has changed me and I am strangely unafraid. I have no plans to end my quest to see far corners of our planet. I figure life will take care of itself.

It has been a wild ride. I search for great stories and characters as I travel, many of which end up in my novels. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

I am still a nomad.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vietnam, early 1965, from the battle of the Ban Ken Bridge in the mountains in Laos to “the Tiger in the Long Grass,” November 1965, la Drang Valley with Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore and George Armstrong Custer’s old outfit, the Seventh Cavalry, and journalist Joseph Galloway, who immortalized the LZ X-Ray battle in “We Were Soldiers . . . Once and Young.” Corley does a great job describing how President Johnson struggled with McNamara’s optimistic figures of what was needed to win the war in Southeast Asia. At the end of 1965, U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam had multiplied over eight times to 184,314 from the previous year of 23,310. American casualties had also increased from 216 in 1964 to 1,928 killed in 1965. South Vietnam’s military forces were 514,000 of which 11,242 had been killed and 93,000 soldiers deserted during the year. It was only going to get worse. For those who have forgotten, or never realized how and why the build-up took place, this is a good historical review that keeps your interest throughout.

[Stu Einstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story-telling, but PLEASE hire a proofreader! The misspelled and incorrect words detract from the reading experience.

[Marc B · Rating 3 out of 5]

what happened to the beast

This was a progressive history of the Vietnam war. I think you need to stick to the topic or just call it a history of the war.

[Wallace Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read.

Very interesting story about the early escalation of our actions in Vietnam. I learned a lot about the politics of the time.