Shadowmakers: A Novel - Hardcover

Wetterhahn's fiction debut (he's the author of The Last Battle: The Mayaguez Incident and the End of the Vietnam War) is a sloppily written espionage novel about American POWs in Vietnam. Air Force fighter pilot Maj. Will Cadence is astounded when a mysterious woman shows him a current photograph of his father, who was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War and has long been presumed dead. A meeting with Sen. Hank Dalton, a presidential candidate and former soldier who was taken prisoner along with Will's father, helps Will wrangle a posting to the joint task force investigating MIAs. On the job, he tries to learn whether the photograph is genuine. He meets Dr. Gabrielle DeJean, a forensic anthropologist at JTF headquarters in Hawaii, when he nearly crashes his Thunderbird into her Harley. After someone makes an attempt on Will's life, the two begin an intercontinental odyssey across Laos, Ukraine and Russia. They encounter plots within plots involving the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a president-elect. Everyone wants to cover up the truth about America's POWs, and no one's loyalty or true identity is certain. Though the book is generally readable, and at times even gripping, its extremely complicated plot becomes messy and unsatisfying as it wears on. In spite of its timely subject, this debut doesn't stand out in a crowded genre.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Wetterhahn (The Last Battle, 2001) is a Vietnam veteran and retired air force pilot with a pro's command of the technical aspects of flight, which he describes in detail in the harrowing opening act of this, his first novel. Aiming for Tom Clancy territory, Wetterhahn tells the sort of fantastic tale that could easily end up on movie screens. Visiting the grave of his father, a Vietnam POW believed to be long dead, Major Will Cadence is collared by a woman with a seemingly unbelievable story-- Captain Jack Cadence is one of several POWs still alive in the Far East. Senator Hank Dalton, a war hero, assigns the younger Cadence to a task force looking into claims about American POWs. What follows is a journey that, for Major Cadence, is as dangerous as it is enlightening. Wetterhahn's story feels a bit formulaic, and his attempts at genuine emotion sometimes fall flat. But he is out for thrills, and that's exactly what he delivers. Kevin Canfield
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