A double-agent black-market-busting thriller in Vietnam by the author of <I>The Basketball Diaries</i>? Sign me up!, said my twentysomething avatar within.

I'm sixty-three, and the outer me trudged through horny-straight-boy stuff until he was ready to scream; then, at the end of chapter 23, the final blow to my youthful avatar was struck: "We'd never been called by the Ghost 4 call sign either. Everybody elsw just calld for a Dustoff."

Absent a lot more typing, I can't give you the whole context for that, but it was too much of the same kind of Army-speak in too little space for my tolerance. Which, I think I mentioned was already over-stretched by horny-straight-boy boob-obsessed boringness.

I had the thought, as I read along, that Waino Mellas of <I>Matterhorn</i> fame, never once gave me this kind of eyerolling impatience. It seems not to be the subject matter, then, but the execution I'm not responding well to.

Interesting story about a young man, Johnny Mack, as he tries to follow his dreams of being a Cobra pilot for the army. Due to unfortunate consequences, Johnny ends up on a top secret mission flying a huey with medical team in Vietnam. We get to follow him through the highs and lows of war, getting to know his new team as they decide whether to accept him, and the unknown dangers of being on the front lines. Well written story, funny, heartbreaking and terrifying all at once.

Publishers Synopsis:

Johnny Mack wanted to be an airline pilot who flew all over the world, made great money and met lots of girls. At 18 that seemed like a fair trade for a few years in the Army.

Johnny found out too late that in 1971 the Army only needed helicopter pilots. And they only needed them in Vietnam.

After an unfortunate incident involving a General’s daughter, Johnny ‘volunteers’ to go undercover on a Medevac crew suspected of selling Army medicines to the enemy.

Johnny’s control officer’s incompetence is deadlier than any enemy.Johnny’s crew are psychopathic pirates.

Then there is the regular job. Coming into hot landing zones. Loading the dead and wounded. Ignoring the screaming and thrashing about in the back. Holding the helicopter steady as bullets rip through the bird. Cleaning out the blood and gore as part of the regular post flight.

There is no one to trust. Death is coming from every direction.

As life spirals out of his control, Johnny realizes that getting killed may be the least of his problems. His sanity, his soul and everything that he believes himself to be, are in as much danger as his life.

Review:
*Trigger warning* This story does mention the word "rape" although the event never transpired.
Let me start by saying that my knowledge of war history, helicopters and anything military related is extremely poor, but the line “Getting killed can be the least of your problems” had me sucked in so fast on netgalley that I couldnt request this arc any faster than I did.

Jim Carroll certainly wasn’t lying when he wrote that phrase. It certainly was the main character, Mack’s, least of his problems. I couldn’t believe it either but the story is so incredible, so action-packed and so vividly descriptive that I believed I was there. I’m not sure what else I can say about this book other than “Run to get a copy…NOW”. I couldn’t put this down, literally, I was up until 1am and awake at 5:30am to read as much as I could. The writing is perfect, the story is perfect, every single update on my goodreads throughout suggests it was perfect. I’m not sure if in the book world that saying a book would make a great movie is an insult or not (because most movies are trash lets be real here) but I do love action movies and I would love to relive this tale by seeing it on the screen.

I read all kinds of genres; fiction, thriller, crime, romance, fantasy, the infamous “Chick Lit”, you name it. A very diverse stack of books currently resides on my sidetable in the bedroom. But I chose this action packed, war based, helicopter pilot arc over every single book I have, best sellers included, and this is a definite 5 star. I know this review is average at best but I’m trying to rush it out so I can run out and buy the physical copy of this book.

Sincerest thanks to Zeljim Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

5/5 Stars.

Anyone who has seen a Cobra helicopter in action is amazed at the nimbleness of the machine and the awesome firepower. Many young men during the Vietnam War aspired to be a pilot and fly one of those beauties. Our hero, John Mack, is just such a fellow. Training is arduous and upon the completion of his training, he and his buddy “Face” set out for final liberty before deployment.

Young ladies can get Warrant Officers into real trouble and Mack is no exception. A general’s daughter who looks much older spends some time with him giving him a painful medical condition and a trail directly to the general.

Rather than flying the Cobra, Mack is sent to Vietnam to be a co-pilot on a Huey. His primary mission is to uncover someone who is selling medical supplies to the enemy. He is the third WO sent to unravel this mystery. The other two were missing and killed in action.

The flying sequences and characters in this tale are very entertaining and remind me of standard military people in times of war. Very few people get particularly attached to teammates because they could die on any given mission. This coupled with undercover work makes our hero particularly vulnerable.

This book is very fast-moving and hard to put down. Danger is a daily event for the helicopter crews in a war zone. As a reader, you will immediately become engrossed in the survival aspect of this fast-moving drama and nail-biting scenes. Some of the descriptions of the war are downright hair raising. Therefore, I warn you to set aside a block of time because you will not want to put this book down.

We received this book from the publisher and NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read and review and these are my honest opinions. CE Williams

Outstanding story of helicopter crews and front-line medical personnel during the Vietnam conflict, related by someone who was there. Action, romance and an engrossing plot line, I couldn't put it down!

This is a first read/review of a book by Jim Carroll. The only thing I did not like about this book was the title, Sucker Punch. This is a very good story about the troubles of a Vietnam War helicopter pilot. There is both well-written humor and tragedy. The protagonist, Mack, got himself into trouble even before he left for Vietnam. He had just graduated from Snake School,, the nickname for flight training in Cobra helicopters, fondly known to all as Snakes. The Cobras were an awesome piece of fighting machinery and it was only the elite fliers who qualified for that honor. Both Mack and his lifetime friend Face made the cut. They went out for a wild weekend before being sent to Vietnam, and their focus was on getting laid. Mack found a beautiful and enthusiastic woman, only to be surprised to learn that she was the 15-year-old daughter of his Commanding Officer, a general. Upon arriving in Vietnam, Mack was sent to latrine duty, not combat helicopter pilot. As you might guess, this was disgusting work.
After a month, Mack was given the chance to get away from the latrines, but he had to agree to an undercover assignment who was investigating alleged black market activity by his combat teammates. The assignment was so dangerous that he was not expected to live through it, and the unit’s prior two pilots had just disappeared. But, Mack was desperate, so he accepted the assignment. This is when the story got better through a solid plot and good character development. Author Carroll described Mack’s interactions with each of his teammates, none of whom trusted him, at least not at first. He portrayed the good parts of the army, as well as the army at its worst.

I became a psychiatrist in the immediate post-Vietnam era, and having been assigned to work in four different VA hospitals in the US, I ended up listening to and treating, perhaps, 1,000 such soldiers, mostly in the 70s. I developed a sort of secondary PTSD as the result of their stories, and it took nearly 20 years to get over that. I could not go to war movies and chose not to read Vietnam era novels. Thankfully, I got through that and am now able to enjoy such well-written stories as this.

This story gets a praiseworthy review for its authenticity and the method of telling a good story. I think the title is a bit cheesy, although I don’t have a better title to suggest. Thanks to Jim Carroll for a good story.

This is a fiction story but it reads almost like a biography, you feel like the author Jim Carroll has been there, done that. Sucker Punch is almost comparable to the great book M.A.S.H. by Richard Hooker. In this book we get to follow Johnny Mack who only wants to be a Cobra pilot in Vietnam but due to different cirumstances everything does not turn out like he thought. This is a fun and at the same time frightening story about war and the people in it. I must thank Netgalley and Zeljim Publishing for giving me this opportunity. I really recommend this book.

First, thank you for your service!
I really appreciated your account of this event-filled time in you life. Your re-telling, in what I found a humorous way, of some of the circumstances you found yourself in added just the right amount of relief to a difficult situation. Also, your description of "bad" situations enabled me to understand what Vietnam veterans experienced.

Great debut book! More please! Jim Carroll writes from the heart, with humor and sarcasm included. This is a story of his time in Vietnam. I felt like I was there, the descriptions and characters felt real to me, and his story certainly held my attention. Some of it was nail biting, and definitely a thriller. I was pleasantly surprised. Spoilers for violence and gore, but appropriate to the story. Thank you, sir, for your service to our country. I hope to be reading more from you very soon. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.