BLUE DEEP, THE by Layne Heath - FIRST EDITION BOOK

In 1954, Hanoi was the scene of many turning points: the fall of Dien Bien Phu, the death of French colonial rule, the birth of America's disastrous Southeast Asian adventure. Hanoi is a city seething with intrigue, a magnet for opportunists of every stripe. They meet and deal at the Cafe Ho Tay - a stylish crossroads reminiscent of Rick's Place in Casablanca, "a neutral ground where blood enemies might meet, sharing drinks at forty feet as they contemplated one another across the room" - while the cafe's proprietress, Su Letei, keeps a careful eye on them. And they gather for the dog fights at the Blue Deep, a pit of vice and violence where the last shred of human decency gets checked at the door. Finding their way in this treacherous city are Major Marsh McCall, the leader of a squad of American flyers sent to train French helicopter pilots, but whose covert mission is to expose the black marketeers operating in the area Colonel Ezra Smith, the man responsible for McCall's presence in Hanoi Cody West, the best pilot in McCall's outfit, a young American growing up fast in a country of conflict Jack Sperek, an old Asia hand whose activities have earned him a reputation as an assassin and the powerful Chang Wu, owner of the Blue Deep and a key player in much of the criminal activity in Vietnam. In The Blue Deep, Layne Heath explores an aspect of Vietnam that has been neglected in fiction until now. It is a novel that depicts the deep roots of conflict, of inexorable forces and backroom strategists, of desperate men and women who face off in their own private wars while the battle rages at Dien Bien Phu. Few will win fewer still will survive.