No Way Back

You guys are so far off base. This is a great novel. It's all about the emotional carnage of war. Hey. Have you had any really funny conversations with Uncle Earnie about his tour in Vietnam in MAG-36 in 1970? Or how about that next door neighbor Carl whatsisname who spent a lively 13 months as a FAC in Danang Province around Khe Sahn in 1969 after the war went south? So Luther Ewing is goofy. Welcome to the canteen. Tennyson wrote about the casualties in WWI "When they ask you why they died tell them because their fathers lied." Well, Luther didn't die but he feels like he should have. I dug the conversations with Nadya and Allison and Mr. Kim. I thought Crow's vision of the CIA was what other authors have described and both credible and belivable. Ewing of course is the Baltimore (Homicide: Life on the Street) narc who gets sat down for 6 months and is then approached by the CIA to be a bodyguard on a trip from Carmel to Korea to Russia back to Korea. I thought the training session(s) were a cross between La Femme Nikita and Rocky and no, I didn't think they were too long. Just right. Ewing has to battle (a) his ghosts (b) his paranoia (c) the deception of his handlers and (d) the planned mission which he knows will be no cakewalk and is likely to be a set up. It's an accurate description that Lee Child's Jack Reacher is more likable and you might think that Jack would be more pleasant to hang around with but they're both stone cold killers. Acually, I think Luther's more interesting. I thought the ending was fascinating and haunting and especially how and where Luther ends up and with what. Nadya. Brrrrr. 5 stars. Bring on more Luther Ewing.

Someone has to take the fall when the media headlines a drug bust that went bad. Baltimore brass blames maverick police officer Luther Ewing; Captain Dugal suspends him for six-months. Luther is irate that his superiors made him the patsy when it was not really his fault and wonders how to pass time for a half a year for an adrenaline junkie like him. However, CIA bigwig Mr. Westley keeps an eye out for renegade cops in trouble for doing their job especially someone he knows first hand like he does Luther from their days in Sarajevo. Luther detests Westley, but not as much as the Baltimore Police Department brass and the torturous thought of being idle for a half year. He agrees to baby-sit in what Westley says is a walk in the park. Luther knows walking in parks can prove dangerous, but accepts the assignment to protect a South Korean businessman from being abducted or killed from those who want stop his $7.5 million deal with rogue Russian generals. Luther as Terrence Prentice, falls in love with the Russian spy Nadya and realizes that Westley has lied about the danger to him and his client. Once the police procedural aspects are over and Mr. Westley assigns Luther to his simple protection task, the story line goes into hyperspeed and never slows down until the whole truth is revealed. Luther, Westley, and Nadya are stereotypes borrowed from the Cold War, but the audience will not care as they pull off an action-packed thriller in which fans will follow the escapades in one sitting to figure out who's who. NO WAY BACK is a tremendous thriller that espionage suspense fans will crow about the rush. Harriet Klausner