(Reviewed by Don Jung)
When I started reading The Dead Don’t Sleep, I soon realized that I would be in for an engrossing journey. Frank Thompson, a Vietnam vet, goes to a local shooting range accompanied by his nephew. They have a chance meeting with a former Army Special Forces soldier. It’s been over forty years since his and Frank’s last encounter, but bad grudges don’t go away very easily.
Soon the story is like a John Rambo movie where the Special Forces agitator gets his other two friends to go after Frank for a tragedy that took place in Vietnam decades ago. It’s a tension- packed series of events as Frank and his nephew must figure their way out of this mess.
Frank Thompson lives in a small town in rural Maine and gives a real folksy feel to how he spent his time after the war and rarely talked about his past. But when the three vets decide he is their target, he must get his nephew and the local towns people to rally behind him.
It’s a chase that has you spellbound as each side devises their strategy and the hunt is on. The character traits are very detailed and it’s scary when you think of how many war veterans come home with psychological problems. The author has apparently researched the Vietnam War and goes into a lot of gun history with these weird personalities.
What keeps you mesmerized is how the pressure builds with each chapter. There are flashbacks to the time when these vets were young and how the war changed them. Bill, the nephew, gets caught in this encounter and is not ready for the confrontations that scare and terrify him. Yet he must face the challenge.
This is a tension thriller catered to men as it’s a shootout affair packed with a strange
ending that will have you thinking there will be a sequel. This book hooks you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. I just couldn’t put it down.
