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(More customer reviews)Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (9/06)Renaissance is the name for a radical anti-war group. They refer to themselves this way because they see themselves as "...going to enlighten and change society." In this story, this group is responsible for bombing a building that resulted in the death of a mother of two men. Friends from their youth band together seeking revenge on the people responsible for her death.Each man has an ulterior motive for getting involved in a very complex plot of vengeance. For one it's about money; for another - atonement; for the two sons - revenge; and for another it is an opportunity to gain intelligence information. For Jim Yadenik, it is an opportunity to help his friends and to find out more about what they are up to. As he gets involved, he soon discovers he is really in over his head.
Several of the guys in the group have reservations about letting Jim get involved with their plans. He has been living too much on the straight and narrow path for them to be comfortable with his involvement in their illegal plans. Jim insists on helping and they give him a small role to play. Jim does what he is supposed to do. He sneaks on board a shipment of poisonous gas and assault rifles to find out where they are being sold and to discover what is really happening.
Jim ends up in a small, off -the-map town called Nirvana, in upstate New York. The town is made up of two groups: The Renaissance people and the hippies. The hippies don't believe in violence and won't fight anyone. They help "runners" - which are draft dodgers - escape across the boarder to Canada. The hippy's community is self-supporting. They grow their own food and home school the children. The Renaissance group is much more aggressive. These men want to fight the system that is sending them to Vietnam. Deserters, who went through basic training but didn't want to go to Vietnam, train the 200 plus people in their group how to fight. They also take advantage of the hippies.
Jim discovers that his friends are involved in selling poisonous gas and assault rifles to this group. They are planning to attack the Woodstock Music Festival and make it look as though the US Army did it as a civilian massacre on peace loving people.Jim also learns that the runners the Renaissance group is unable to recruit are being brutally gunned down and not actually getting across to Canada.
As the plot thickens, Jim discovers more truths about his friends. His character draws you into feeling his pain as he sees people that he cares about getting involved in what appears to be a heinous situation. He stands up for what he believes in and is able to help his friends stop the attack from actually happening. I admired his character because I got caught up in the emotions that he was feeling as he dealt with each situation encountered. His feelings covered a vast array of emotions including: fear, guilt, suspicion and regret. He doesn't pretend to be a courageous hero and for that I also admired him. He is doing the best he can. He also has a way of being in the right place at the right time for gathering information.
I really enjoyed the adventure that Jim took me on. There were moments where I sat on the edge of my seat and couldn't put the book down. The author, John A. Vikara, put twists and turns into the plot that allowed me to further enjoy the suspense in the story. "National Defense" is guaranteed to be enjoyed by suspense fans, especially those who relish stories from the Vietnam era.
Received book free of charge.
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Jim Yadenik has made up his mind—he's going to help two close friends, Johnny and Pete Wilson, together with members of their old gang, as they seek vengeance on a radical group responsible for the death of Mrs. Wilson, his friends' mother.
After pestering the Wilsons, who are insistent that Jim is to have no involvement, Jim is given a small role to carry out. When his task is complete, he stows away on the truck delivering a secret cargo to the radicals and discovers that the cargo—rifles and poison gas cylinders—is going to be sold to the group. The radical faction, almost two hundred members strong, plans to release the poisonous gas at the Woodstock festival and blame the atrocity on the U.S. Army.
After becoming separated from his friends, Jim makes an arduous journey to finally rejoin them. But when their plan goes awry, the friends must try to fight their way out of the radicals' lair, an abandoned factory complex in an isolated area of upstate New York.Can Jim and the Wilson brothers' gang beat the overwhelming odds to get their revenge?
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