JPS's Reviews > Cry Havoc

** spoiler alert ** This is my second favorite Jack Carr book behind, “The Terminal List.” It was that good. James Reece is a force in his own right, but his dad, Tom Reece, is a relentless, intelligent, and versatile asset that just brought the fight despite the odds. His loyalty, toughness, and ability were on full display in this book. I can’t wait to read more about him.
The story takes place during the Vietnam War. Mostly in 1968. Reading this book was like living during that time and seeing Vietnam first hand. Jack Carr does a great job at giving us readers, context, dialogue, and great attention to detail. His characters, stories, and missions all made this read so fun and enjoyable. I didn’t want it to end.


Spoilers down below.

In Laos in 1968, according to the 1962 Geneva Act, Laos was supposed to be neutral, but it wasn’t. It allowed the NVA-North Vietnamese Arm to resupply units in South Vietnam. They used the Truong Son Strategic Supply Route or better known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the west.

Thomas Reece was apart of a special trained team known as MACV-SOG-Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group, were takes with prosecuting the secret wars in Laos and North Vietnam. They were supposed to study and observe but they also brought the fight to the enemies front yard.

The Montagnard Mercenary, a team of ingenious fighters from the Central Highlands, were allies with America and often accompanied them on these missions. Also known as, “The Yards.”

Frank Quinn was his One-Zero. The veteran SOG operator.

They were in the jungle then on a wire tap mission to record transmissions along the NVA communications line. They would use these recordings to interpret the data by analyzing its contents to use for exploitation.
However, they were attacked by an entire company which consisted of 300-500 soldiers during the operation. Meaning they had a mole at Phu Bai, Da Nang, or Saigon. They knew the MACV-SOG were there and were waiting.

In the process, one of the ‘Yard operators went down. Shot in the gut. Tom carried him to the extract point. After heavy fire, he and the team were rescued. However, Quinn’s extraction bird was down. Without hesitation, Tom cut his rope and fell back into the Laotian Jungle- No Man Left Behind.

Four months earlier:
The USS Pueblo off the coast of Wonsan, North Korea, was taken over by North Korea. The USS Pueblo which was lead by Commander Lloyd M. “Pete” Bucher, was a spy ship that collected intelligence as part of Operation Clickbait. It held a lot of highly classified information but didn’t have a big enough incinerator to get rid of all the material or wasn’t armed with explosives, but he and his sailors did their best to evade and destroy what they could. After taken several hits, he surrendered. The first thing the North Korean Military did was shoot Bucher in the head.

In Moscow, the Director of the GRU, Mikhail Lavrinenko and his second in command, Anatoly Penkovsky, met with the top cryptologist, Sergei Egorov. The Soviets through the Koreans had gained access to America’s cipher machines-the KW-7, KL-47, and the KWR-37 from the USS Pueblo. The Americans were not able to destroy much of the intelligence they occupied before surrendering. Egorov was tasked with learning the new systems. All he needed was the key. Which Lavrineko was going to get from Allister Desmond. A NSA analyst who was recruited by Stasi. East German’s Ministry for State Security. His handler is Clara Mueller. A beautiful intelligence officer who used her beauty to gain access to Desmond’s knowledge and expertise. Allister also has a thing for espionage. He didn’t see West Germany as Him betraying his country because Germany and the United States were allies. Little did he know he was actually going to be helping the Soviets. They meet at computer science conferences but now Clara will be sent to America to retrieve the “key” Egorov needs in order to translate the Americans encrypted data.

January 27, 1968.
Tom Reece, Frank Quinn, and a recruit of Quinn’s, Amiuh would go on these unsanctioned “hunting expeditions” as a preparation technique or trial exercise. Also known by other regiments as, “Odd Couple’s Hunting Adventures. They referred to them as UNODIR-Unless otherwise Directed. On this specific training day, they came across a security detail really close to their base. It was a seven man crew. They attacked. Killed the six subordinates and took the officer as a POW.

In Maryland, Allister got Clara the key that the Soviets needed for the cipher machines they had secured from the Pueblo.

Amiuh was a Montagnard orphan who lost his parents and sisters at the hand of NVA soldiers. He saw them rape and kill his mom and sisters and murder his dad, along with several others in his village due to their catholic beliefs and because of their openness to welcoming Americans. Later on, he realized that the Priest that gave him the Croix de Lorraine and other Parish Priest would work with U.S. Armed Special Forces to train and aid them in their fight with North Vietnam. The missionary that lived in their village belonged to the Civilian Irregular Defense Group-CIDG-a program called Fighting Fathers. Which was developed by JFK prior to his assassination. Amiuh learned French from the Priests and English from the Green Berets that were stationed there. He grew up, was now a hunter of men instead of animals, married a woman who had lost her family the same way he had, and they had a son, Tuan. He worked with Reece and Quinn. Because of capturing an NVA prisoner, he would too get a Seiko watch, that he would eventually give to his son.

Tom and Quinn’s punishment for their off the books missions was no money and no R&R. Amiuh would also not get the watch he wanted. Instead, they had to escort the prisoner to CCN - Command and Control North in Da Nang. Lieutenant Colonel Konrad Backhaus, a legend, was not pleased with their actions but was impressed by Tom’s understanding of three other languages: German, French, and Vietnamese.

Tom gave Amiuh his Seiko watch instead. Amiuh gave him the tiger paw necklace from his first hunt. Tribal Code.

In Moscow, Major Kirill Dvornikov, the major that oversaw all GRU operations in Southeast Asia, suggested to Lavrinenko that with the ciphering key they could play and be privy to the Americans mission’s specifics. Instead of kill-capture, they can capture-kill, and continue to exploit them for information and possibly turn them. He proposed they bring the POW’s to the Soviet Union. They would be used as leverage after they were exploited to exchange for captured GRU and KGB assets in America. They would aim for the soldiers that were apart of MACV-SOG.

Tom won his Rolex Submariner watch in Da Nang playing poker with a Sargent David Lee who was also known as, “The Gambler.”

Quinn believes they are compromised. They are losing way too many men. He thinks there is a mole in Saigon. He suspects Special Exploration Directorate, now known as STD-Special Technical Directorate. A South Vietnamese SOG contingent.

Tom’s dad was Vietnam at the end of the war because he recruited Ho Chi Minh to spy for the OSS. Which was the precursor to the CIA. Essentially, the CIA trained the Viet Minh and Viet Cong to an extent. Who were now their enemies and who they were currently fighting.

The prisoner that Tom and Quinn had brought to Da Nang started talking. They came and got them so they could transport him to CMIC-Combined Military Interrogation Center in Saigon. The prisoner kept repeating, “Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth.”

The prisoner Quinn and Reece captured was an actual Colonel. Phúc Trǎn, NVA military intelligence. Dvornikov’s high level source in Saigon is willing to put himself in order to keep Trǎn quiet in order the Tet Offensive to happen. They were two days out.

If Kirill was successful he would be moved back to France and the KGB. If he failed, he was headed to Serbia to work till his death. He asked for one favor, an assassin, by the name of Adrik Voronin. A serial killer known as the “Red Ripper” turn KGB assassin turned GRU assassin.

On their way transporting their prisoner, they were ambushed. At the end, Colonel Trǎn was killed by Captain Lam. Tom and Quinn believed Lam was one of spies. Amiuh died in the ambush as well.

Nick Sarrano would be working the lead for the CIA.
Nick put honey in his tea. Tom got the idea from him and passed it down to James I assume.

In the satchel that Trǎn was carrying names on a hit list of names of people in the North only. Nick’s guess is he isn’t the only one with a list like this. He is the only one that got caught.

While at CIA headquarters in Saigon. He met Ella DuBois. Her dad Gaston, was a proprietor do DeBois Consortium. They were meeting Nick. Tom took a liking.

Dan Eldridge, the liaison who worked for the State Department was a double agent for the GRU. He was recruited at the University by his Contemporary Foreign Affairs Professor after his brother died in Vietnam. He was angry and frustrated with the war. His handler was a woman by the name of Lan Tri Phuong. She would please him then relay his messages to the Soviets. Just like with Clara and Allister.

Lan Tri Phuong reported to Dr. Jean René Brémaud. A French doctor living in Saigon. He was once a supporter of the allies when Paris was invaded by Germany. But after liberation and seeing the aftermath of his fellow Countrymen and Americans he left for Vietnam only to see the same result. He was then recruited by the Soviets and with marital status and profession he was a great asset. He would take Lan’s information and do a dead drop for his cutout to find. Eldridge was on the brink of being exposed by Quinn and Reece.

Dvornikov got permission to eliminate Reece and Quinn after Tet. Kirill will use the snapper team.

Quinn carried a Tomahawk. (My guess is Tom got the inspiration from Frank. That’s where he got the idea to use Winkler).

Quinn and Tom were attacked at the safe house. They two killed all six assailants.

Tom, Nick, and Quinn killed all 8 combatants atop of the Hotel Majestic in Saigon. The armored men mistook the party for U.S. and South Vietnamese military officers instead of a party for the employees of Gaston DeBois.

Five days later in Moscow, Lavrinenko and Penkovsky were discussing the latest reports of the Tet Offensive and its failures. Anatoly suggested that even though it was a tactical defeat for the NVA, it was a win in sense of a psychological victory for the Soviets. The Fourth Power-the press are panting it as a loss. Therefore relaying that to the American people. In ‘68, support for the war had diminished. The Soviets planned on capitalizing on the tainted perceptions.

Gaston DeBuis plus both sides with the CIA and the Soviets. Both have been trying to recruit him and his Buisness in rubber plantation for his import/export buisness.

Quinn was on his way to Amiuh’s families village to inform his family of his death. Tom, as a directive of Serrano, was at attend Gaston DeBois as his guest at his plantation as a token of appreciation for saving his life. Nick needed Tom to make good as they were recruiting Gaston. The CIA couldn’t spare both guys.

Tom was being watched.

Desmond was carrying a rotor reader that Clara gave him. It allowed him to imprint a copy of the code into the reader.

Two days after Tom had attended dinner at Gaston’s, Ella showed up at his hotel and for the next two weeks they spent every waking moment together when she wasn’t at work.

Tom’s mission with Ella is to find out who her dad’s Soviet contact is and to compromise their communication. Tom is having a hard time with his feelings for Ella and his untruthful behavior.

Dvornikov has ordered Voronin to use the VC to kill Gustan DuBuis.

Voronin was successful. He used a waiter at Cercle Sportif Saïgonnais to kill Gaston. Ella and Tom were headed to the table to meet Mr. DuBuis for lunch when it happened. Tom killed the perpetrator and his co-assailant, but was shot behind the ear in the process.

Tom survived. The bullet hit the base of his skull. His cervical one. That is part of your spinal column. He should make it.
He was shot by a Makarov pistol. A Soviet caliber.
Tom will be laid up for 8 weeks to recover.

Ella broke it off with Tom. She blamed America for the death of both her Mom and Dad. She couldn’t separate him from the war.

Colonel Singlaub presented Reece with the Purple Heeart. Singlaub knew Tom’s father and credits him for saving his life. If Tom could pass the PT he could stay in-Country. If not, he had to go back stateside.

Anatoly Penkovsky son died of tuberculosis when he was a baby. His wife blamed the state and divorced him. He too blamed them. Because of his son was born on the Western Bloc, he would have survived. Now, even as second of command at the GRU, he worked as a mole for the CIA. They used the Oprah house as a way to transfer messages.

Two months after being shot he was back in the jungle looking for Quinn and his downed chopper. Nurse Leolia Maxwell pushed him hard in his rehabilitation. He was stronger for it. He passed the military PT and Colonel Singlaub saw that he was back to Phu Bai. Serrano had briefed him on the KIA and MIA numbers increasing. That drove Tom harder.

Tom made it to the crash site. The only survivors that He could find were Quinn and Hiep. Frank was hurt but the NVA had taken both He and his Montagnard solider hostage and marched them barefooted into the jungle.

Tom, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail headed north in deeper into Laos killed two NVA/VC soldiers riding their bikes south. Reece stole their weapons and their bike.

Tom found the NVA company and their depleted staff. They had Quinn and Hiep. Frank was badly injured. Hiep. Not so much. Tom found that interesting.

Tom found the depot that was holding Hiep, Quinn, and three other Americans hostage. One of the NVA soldiers was going to kill Quinn, so Reece, in a bad predicament, shot the soldier giving his location away.

Once Tom fired, he was hit with fire power. Then Voronin tied Quinn up on a tree and gutted him then set his intestines on fire. Reece couldn’t even try and take his friend’s life as a way of mercy. He shot three more NVA soldiers in the process though.

Took Tom three days to make it back to the South Vietnamese border. He swam at night in the Sepon River for the most part until he reached a wood-and-steel structure built by the fence when the ran into Sergeant Leiter.

When Tom got back to Phu Bai, he convinced Colonel Backhaus to authorize a unapproved, unilateral operation in a sovereign and neutral country. They left at midnight. Tom got his in-extremis POW rescue mission.

When Tom and the crew got to the depot, it was empty. Except for message left by the Soviet. Quinn’s body was bound to a tree by barbed wire with his head cut off and stuck in his stomach where his intestine used to be.

The Russians currently have six American hostages in Siberia.

The reason the depot was vacated was because Dan Eldridge told his cutout who told Dr. Brémaud who made an emergency radio transmission to Hanoi who then were able to extract Voronin just in time.

When Tom got back from hospital in Da Nang, Nick was waiting for him. Serrano got it cleaned by Singlaub, Tom would be loaned to the CIA. Nick and the agency already figured out the mole in Saigon: Eldridge. They found his cutout, Lan Tri Phuong. They found Dr. Brémaud. The most surprising one though, was Rene’s handler, Ella DeBois. She had been turned by Kirill when she was a student in Paris.

Dvornikov went by Gabriel de Machaut.

Tom and Nick kidnapped Ella while picking up the drop from Dr. Brémaud. They gave her an ultimatum: give them Dvornikov or lose everything. She was supposed to meet him in Thailand like they had been since February in 1968.

Ella was supposed to spike Kirill’s drink using choral hydrate. Contact Trân, then Tom and Nick would retrieve his body and escort him out of the Country.

Instead of the drug working, Kirill figured it out. Voronin shot her.

When Trân called to say he saw Kirill and Voronin leaving without Ella, Tom went into action. He found Ella. Then took after the Russians. After a shootout with the GRU’s security team and Trân getting shot three times, he and Serrano went after both guys. Using the boat they were driving, Tom rammed the boat Voronin was driving causing Kirill to fall overboard. He then used a drive shaft to take the legs of Voronin-he couldn’t walk. His legs were cut to threads. He and Serrano captured both guys.

Voronin and Kirill were taken to a secure location in Bangkok owned by the CIA. Tom gutted Voronin and set his intestines on fire like Adrik did Quinn. Killing him. Dvornikov started talking.

Instead of the POW’s in Siberia, the U.S. were going to exchang Dvornikov for all 82 soldiers of the U.S.S. Pueblo plus the body of the sailor who was killed. It would bring an end to the Pueblo crisis.

Serrano offered Tom the full time CIA gig.

Eldridge would be reassigned and used to pass disinformation through his cutout to Dr. Brémaud.

Allister Desmond was arrested by the FBI.

Lan drugged Eldridge with sodium Amytal. She was supposed to inject him with heroin once he was subdued but she used so much of the Amytal that Eldridge sunk in his bath and had drowned. The American with dark black hair and blue eyes that had come visit her offered her a job. The first was the kill Eldridge.she accepted.

Lavrinenko figured out it was Anatoly who was the spy. He had him followed. They found the CIA from the Oprah Theater. They picked him up, didn’t harm him, but switched out the play that held the secret message to expose Desmond. The Americans knew they had a leak. Allister was one of them. Penkovsky only mentioned Desmond. He never gave up both Allister AND John Walker who was more valuable. Lavrinenko gave up one spy for a more important one and the Americans assumed they fixed their problem.
Lavrinenko would have Anatoly burn in the chimney of the crematorium.

Tom was at Mama Bic’s looking for his next job. Serrano offered him a spot in a new program he is starting called, “Phoenix.” He would be responsible for identifying and destroying NVA and VC infrastructure.

He had another job for Tom first. A chance at some retribution. It was in Berlin if he accepted the CIA job.

Through Det A, the 39th Special Forces Detachment, formed to prepare for an unconventional response to a possible war with the Soviets, were focused on sabotage and infiltrating East Germany. Tom was their test subject as he swam across the Teltow Canal. He was successful.

He made it to Kirill Dvornikov’s apartment where he waited until he made it back with a young woman with brown hair who was working him. Her parents had been killed by The Red Army in the Battle of Berlin. She had not forgotten. Tom was sent to recruit Kirill. He refused. Tom shot him between the eyes. He questioned if the CIA had sent him there to kill the one man that knew about the POW’s in Siberia. A way to make it go away.

In the end, he was intrigued by Nick Serrano’s offer about Phoniex. He could help his MACV-SOG teammates and eliminate targets. What he was good at! His way of making a change.