Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Friday, August 25, 2017

"Hamfist Down", by G.E. Nolly

Survival and Combat in the Jungle

Book #2, in the Adventures of Hamilton “Hamfist”Hamcock

This novel is based on actual events about air combat in the Vietnam War. This series follows Air Force pilot Hamilton “Hamfist” Hamcock as he evolves from an inexperience lieutenant to a seasoned combat pilot flying aircraft in the skies of North Vietnam. This series is dedicated to American military veterans.

The tone is harsh after all this is war with Special Ops and Green Berets all over the place, this is scary as hell. The first sentence you hear “getting shot down sucks”. For those not familiar with terms this novel is a bit hard to follow it contains a lot of operational details about mission to fetch people from hostile jungle. Although it is a bit romanticised, the experience is inevitably tough and exciting, of course Hamfist does manage to get shot down, get extricated, escape unscathed and have a burgeoning romance with a Japanese beauty…hey why not, many men did have a distraction. The jargon is taken from experience of the time and place and Hamfist characterisation fits both the hardboiled soldier and the sensitive men he really is. He tells his story with humour and with some profanity. He is quite crude at time. Hold your breath, the tempo is fast and furious so much action fills the pages while we follow the day to day activities of the pilots. This is a gritty and gruesome time and such a captivating read.

Although I started this series with book 2 not knowing what had previously happened did not put me at a disadvantage but this story did pique my interest to backtrack and get book 1 “Hamfist Over the Trail”.

Love this one

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