BOOKMONGER Novel probes a covert war Long Beach author served in the Vietnam War ‘One Hundred Stingers’ by Peter Adams Young. NEW GO KART TRACK NOW OPEN! GO KARTS MINI GOLF GYROXTREME ROCK WALL KIDDIE RIDES AND MORE! SEASIDE, OREGON HWY 101 (1/4 mi South of Seaside) • 2735 S. Roosevelt • 503-738-2076 OPEN DAILY 11 A M T O 6 P M 14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM Every summer for many will not acknowledge its fl iers’ years, I’d vow to read “War and activities there, even if they are Peace,” cover to cover. And shot down. every summer I’d fail — never While they’re still digest- ing this unsettling news, the avi- more than a hundred pages into ators are provided with fi nal the 1,400-page-plus tome. This instructions before departing on year, I didn’t even bother to pick their fi rst combat mission. The up Tolstoy’s masterpiece, but I rules : have succeeded in reading “One 1. Never fl y below 3,500 feet; Hundred Stingers,” an 814-page 2. Never undertake multiple novel that centers on the United Peter Adams Young runs at a bombing target; States’ covert air campaign that 3. Never engage in a duel with an took place over Laos during the Vietnam enemy fl ak site. War. But Davis, working with Lt. Cmdr. Glenn “Smokey” Stover, soon learns that rules are meant to be broken. This week’s book The duo fl ies dozens of missions ‘One Hundred Stingers’ by Peter Adams Young aboard their A-6 Intruder, a powerful Nestucca Spit Press — 814 pp — $24.99 and nimble aircraft equipped with what is vaunted to be an extremely accurate weapons delivery system. Unfortunately, that Digital Integrated Attack Naviga- Long Beach Peninsula author Peter tion Equipment, dubbed DIANE, turns Adams Young is a former naval fl ight offi cer who fl ew close to 100 combat mis- out to be extremely fi nicky as well, and frequently leaves the fl iers in the lurch sions over Laos and North Vietnam as — mid-mission. a bombardier and navigator. This debut So Davis and Stover become masters work of fi ction is suff used with authen- at improvisation, and often that means tic, hairy details concerning the nature of breaking the rules — which seems per- those secret missions to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was the major sup- fectly in keeping with the overall inter- national convention-breaking campaign ply route that North Vietnamese forces they’ve been ordered to engage in. used to overrun South Vietnam. “One Hundred Stingers” does seem Young tells this story from multi- overly-long (although it should be noted ple points of view, including idealis- that the font size is larger than average). tic young Communist fi ghters, Laotian Nonetheless, this is a surprisingly addic- villagers and senior American military tive read. It is chockablock with jar- commanders. gon (the author supplies a 10-page glos- But the story focuses particularly on sary to assist readers), and the characters the experiences of Lt. j.g. J. Michael in the book have attitudes about women “Choo Choo” Davis, whom we fi rst meet and their wartime adversaries that refl ect as he and his squadron depart the naval a time considerably diff erent from now. air station in Washington state’s Puget But I’d wager that most readers will fi nd Sound, where they’ve been training for themselves swept along by the high- deployment overseas. It isn’t until they arrive at their aircraft stakes, action-packed narrative anyway. The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd carrier, stationed off the coast of Viet- McMichael, who writes this weekly col- nam, that the fl iers learn they will be fl y- ing top-secret air interdiction strikes over umn focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Con- Laos, which offi cially is a sovereign and tact her at barbaralmcm@gmail.com. neutral country. Consequently, the U.S.