Assignment Cong Hai Kill

Sam Durell #23

by Edward S. Aarons, Robert McGinnis (Illustrator)

Anne-Marie Danat is a wealthy French plantation owner in Thailand, in love with Orris Lantern, an American Special Forces deserter. Orris had become a major leader in the Cong Hai, a Communist rebel group operating with the Viet Cong. Now Orris wants out and has secrets to bargain with.

Genres: Thriller, Espionage, Action

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

AKA Paul Ayres, Edward Ronns.

Edward Sidney Aarons (September 11, 1916 - June 16, 1975) was an American writer, author of more than 80 novels from 1936 until 1962. One of these was under the pseudonym "Paul Ayres" (Dead Heat), and 30 were written using the name "Edward Ronns". He also wrote numerous articles for detective magazines such as Detective Story Magazine and Scarab.

Aarons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned a degree in Literature and History from Columbia University. He worked at various jobs to put himself through college, including jobs as a newspaper reporter and fisherman. In 1933, he won a short story contest as a student. In World War II he was in the United States Coast Guard, joining after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He finished his duty in 1945, having obtained the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I discovered yet another Sam Durrell novel set in Southeast Asia. This time it opens on a Thai coastal city near Cambodia with a mixed population of Thais, Khmers, Malays, something I've never seen here and which would have been even less likely 55 years ago. So not all that good, alas. But it is interesting for one point. It was published just as the American build up in Vietnam was underway. The infusion of US troops began in 1965, and Assignment Cong Hai Kill, published in 1966, would have been written as Vietnam took more and more control of US news reporting. Accordingly, this Sam Durrell doesn't have any of the shades of doubt the later versions will. Burma Girl, Bangkok, and White Raja are all superior works based on the Cold War in Southeast Asia and the spillover from the Vietnam War. But, here, in Cong Hai Kill, the evildoers seem to have been modeled on Simon Legree. You could picture them twisting their mustaches, if they would have had them, and gloating and grinning over their murders and massacres. Everything is so categorical. Durrell himself is the most wooden I've yet seen him in these books, and there just isn't an ounce of self awareness among any of the characters--as there will be later on. Sorry to say, but this is the book version of John Wayne's The Green Berets. It has some acceptable action sequences but that is it.

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a new author for me which ticks off my personal challenge to read new to me authors throughout the year. This is book 23 in the Sam Durell series called Cajun by most who know him Sam is from the Louisiana Bayou of Peche Rouge his early years spent there with his Grandfather Jonathan on an old paddle wheel river boat. Sam is sent on an assignment to retrieve an asset alive at all costs even if he would like to kill the man on sight. Going to the border of Cambodia Thailand Laos and Vietnam to retrieve the man code named Yellow Torch an American deserter helping the local cadre of Cong Hai of course there are women and suspicious government helpers along the way and to get out of the situation Sam is going to have to employ all his cunning, courage and smarts and it might not be enough... Good book.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sam Durell novels are always fun, and this is no exception. This time, his mission is to bring home a traitor he'd very much rather kill. But the man has vital information, and his orders are to bring him back alive. And to complicate matters further, the only person who can help him is his girlfriend - who he may have to leave behind in the killing fields of Southeast Asia...

[Bobby H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Did not love it, did not hate it. Boring. Will not get any more in series.