Monday, February 10, 2020

Play the Red Queen by Juris Jurjevics


First Line: On 24 August 1963, the newly arrived American ambassador to South Viet Nam, Henry Cabot Lodge, received a cable from Washington.

It's 1963, and there are military advisors in South Viet Nam working to stop the spread of Communism. Of the sixteen thousand American servicemen there, only six Army Criminal Investigation Division soldiers have been assigned to solve all the crimes. Two of them are Ellsworth Miser and Clovis Robeson. They are in charge of finding the young female Viet Cong assassin who's killing US Army officers with a single pistol shot then riding off on the back of a scooter. However, once they begin investigating, they understand that identifying the daring assassin is not going to be easy. And neither is staying alive. Too many things are at stake.

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.



Play the Red Queen by Juris Jurjevics
ISBN:  9781641291378
Soho Crime © 2020
Hardcover, 360 pages

Historical Thriller, Standalone
Rating: B-
Source: the publisher

 

6 comments:

  1. Hmm...it does sound like a bit of a mixed bag, Cathy. But the setting and context really interest me. I like that term you use - 'social history.' When a book conveys that effectively, without preaching, I give the author credit.

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    1. To be honest, the social commentary is what really kept me turning the pages.

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  2. I won't be reading this. I marched for years against the war in Vietnam. The devastation of human life and the country's ecolony were horrific. Babies are still born with birth defects from Agent Orange.

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    1. I understand. I didn't think this book would be your cup of tea.

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  3. Your "snapshot of time and place" remark is what intrigues me. Usually, I avoid Viet Nam books as too close for comfort, and yet this one appeals to me.

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    1. It appealed to me as well, although what the governments were doing had me gnashing my teeth from time to time. I don't go out of my way to read books set in Vietnam during that time period either.

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