Juris Jurjevics (1943–2018)

Although Play the Red Queen could have been tightened up a bit more to keep the flow of the story moving, I did like the book. One of the two investigators had what I thought was an unnecessary love affair, but perhaps the author meant to show just how many countries were interested in what was going on in South Viet Nam.

The daring young female assassin is played up in the synopsis-- and it is a good storyline-- but what I found to be more interesting was the fact that Play the Red Queen is actually a snapshot of a time and a place. As social history, the book is often fascinating (and infuriating). As is stated in A Note from the Author's Widow at the end of the book, Jurjevics wrote about "an underreported aspect of the Viet Nam war: 'the elaborate, even treasonous corruption-- and our complicity in it.'" Finding out just how elaborate that corruption was shouldn't have surprised me so much, even while the identity of the assassin wasn't surprising at all.

For some reason, I felt as though there should have been a bigger payoff at the end of the book. Perhaps that feeling of satisfaction never came because I already knew the end of the story. Yes, I did have mixed reactions to Play the Red Queen, but I am glad that I read it. Your mileage may vary.… (altro)

Play the Red Queen is a really interesting read for two other reasons.

• First, it's set in Vietnam before the fall of "President" Diem, when the U.S. (and Russia and China and...) was an active present, but had not yet begun to participate in combat. The U.S. offered the South Vietnamese all sorts of "advisers," some who really advised on something, many who were actually CIA-affiliated trying to suss out and manipulate various factions in Diem's government. Many American readers have encountered the later years of this conflict, when the U.S. was engaged in combat, through novels or memoirs. Play the Red Queen lets readers see some of the context leading up to greater U.S. involvement.

• Second, the narrator's voice is distinct—well-informed, cynical, with a knack for turning the unexpected phrase. My personal favorite: "Our top military honchos and the new ambassador were like ants riding down the Saigon River on a turd, each of them convinced he was the commodore."

The central mystery itself involves a female, Vietnamese sharp-shooter who is being driven around Saigon on the back of a Vespa killing American officers. This provides a workable central pillar around which the rest of the novel is arrayed.… (altro)

Red Flags is a book that I was interested in because it took place during the time of the Vietnam War. Though it takes place in the war, it is mostly about a drug ring that some US special forces are trying to take down while the war goes on around them. I don't want this to sound as if the war isn't well represented, because I felt as if it was, but there were times when my attention wandered while reading because I didn't quite have enough to hold my mind to the book. I wasn't disappointed, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting either. What I did get about the war, when we had to take a break from drug hunting, really helped me to experience and understand what it was like to have lived through that time. If I had been in the mood for a focus on drug take down missions I would have enjoyed the book very much, I think. I just couldn't get into that mood while I was reading. Still, this was a good book for me, even if I had different expectations.… (altro)