Review of Marc Liebman’s Cherubs 2…
Cherubs 2. Marc Liebman, author (Penmore Press, 2017). Numerous historical fiction stories about the Vietnam War portray how this conflict ripped at the fabric of U.S. society ad created mental and physical wounds for those who fought in an unpopular war. This is such a story, and it is a good one.
I confess that I approached it with some trepidation. Most readers won’t be able to approach this novel lightly either. Yes, it’s about SAR (search and rescue for downed aviators, not synthetic aperture radar). Josh Haman, the main character, is a helicopter pilot who works with the U.S. Navy but is slapped around a bit in a rigid organization dominated by old warriors and Naval academy graduates.
But this novel, like all good thrillers, has twists and turns often associated with machinations from China and Russia, two U.S. adversaries who were “backing” the North Vietnamese government (the word is in quotes because the North Vietnamese were being played like puppets just like the U.S. and the French before them did with South Vietnam in the decades-long civil war).
The story is about mettle and heroism pitted against rigidity and political manipulation, from within the armed forces to political machinations on a global scale. It’s historical fiction writ large that goes beyond personal stories, making a thriller that’s an exciting read.
That said, there are some stretches where the narrative dominates and the omniscient POV is overused. For example, I skipped over the description of a long hazing ritual that could have been much shorter. The plot is a bit jumpy at times too as the reader travels from the local to the global and back, often within the same chapter. Some characters aren’t well-developed either, although the reason is obvious: there are many of them.
Josh Haman’s adventures as a SAR helicopter pilot cover his time as a newbie to his two secret surveillance missions ferrying SEALs into China. If that sounds suicidal, readers can blame the Air Force general who wouldn’t risk his own people to perform the missions and called on the USN to do it for them. Powerful moments are portrayed here. Josh’s confrontation and trial with the coward Higgins is an indictment of a rigidity in the military that non-academy personnel often have to face. Higgins’s father provides the clearest indictment of his son, though: “I don’t like what we’re doing in Vietnam. It is the wrong war with the wrong mission, but anyone who puts up his right hand and takes the oath to serve make a commitment to his country to do his duty.” Amen. (I lost all respect for my fellow citizens who didn’t realize that sacrifice of our service people, treating returning vets terribly during and after that long war. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson and treat Afghanistan and Iraq veterans better. Politicians are the problem, not soldiers.)
There’s some romance here, Josh’s tragic love affair with French diplomat Danielle. Her kidnapping by the Pathet Lao is never resolved. It occurs during the incursions into China, and it added more stress for our hero Josh. The entire book is all about stress in the context of one of the deadliest wars fought by the U.S. Readers will get a good idea about why service people returned with PTSD before it was even called that. Indeed, war is hell, and that was a hellish war.
The author does a good job explaining the military jargon for people like me (the title is an altitude estimate used by the helo pilots signifying two thousand feet), but sometimes that makes dialogue a bit too cryptic. I thought words like “voluntold” (a military man is told to volunteer for a mission) added some humor amidst the seriousness, though.
No stats are offered on how many downed pilots were saved by the SAR crews. I expect a lot more would have taken up residence in the Hanoi Hilton without them, though. Readers shouldn’t skip the end material. It reaffirms that the author knows his military history and its participants. Moreover, it suggests that much of Josh’s story might be based on personal experience.
As a person who lived through this era in American history, I found this story riveting, not only for the plot but for the additional details I learned about the Vietnam War from the characters who had to act on that dangerous stage. Recommended.
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Comments are always welcome.
War stories also occur in my sci-fi universe. See The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection to see what I mean. And then there are Mary Jo’s personal battles in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” where the U.S. creates the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia steals them, Mary Jo saves them, and China wants them bad enough to kidnap Mary Jo and her family. Let’s call all these books “future historical fiction.” Enjoy.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
