Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994 TAG: 9405220149
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most of us who joined the military back in our wild-oats days served our time quietly and got the heck out as soon as we could. Sometimes we laugh about those days and sometimes we suck in our guts a little as the flag passes by in a parade. For the most part our military experience is something we remember with pride and selectivity, never really needing it for much more than bragging rights.
But for some, the military was a difficult or traumatic experience that left us physically or mentally impaired or owed a sizable amount of money. It is for those persons that "Veterans Benefits: The Complete Guide" is intended. This is an excellent, one-stop-shopping source for information on disability compensation, pensions, education, housing, dependents programs, finding lost buddies and more. It is a very clear, readable book. Important information is specially marked for easy use. There are separate chapters addressing the concerns of dependents and survivors, medical care, issues pertaining to specific wars and issues pertaining to women and minorities. A complete listing of VA facilities and veterans organizations is included, as well as an accurate index.
"Veterans Benefits" is a must-have for libraries as well as veterans and servicemembers who want to insure they receive everything to which they are entitled.
- KENNETH LOCKE
On Dangerous Ground.
By Jack Higgins. Putnam. $22.95.
The big surprise is why this latest Higgins thriller isn't titled "Back In the Water Again," because, for sure, Higgins is having his readers on. Last time out, the prolific thriller writer had his hero, Dillon, scuba dive into the Caribbean to get from a Nazi submarine papers that would compromise the British government, then drag them back to London just so they could be burned. This time, Dillon has to dive into a loch to fish out papers from an old airplane, papers that would compromise the British government. And, would you believe it, the first thing someone wants to do with the papers, almost before they've decently dried out, is set a match to 'em?
It's hard to figure why Higgins is satirizing his own work unless it's just to prove that the public will buy anything with his name on it. Aside from its predictability, however, this tale moves with a brisk and heady pace, probably to keep the reader from inspecting the flaws in the story too carefully. For openers, and in a throwaway scene that has little to do with the plot, Dillon, the former IRA killer turned British agent, saves the President of the United States from assassination. Switch now to the real story - the attempt to recover a document signed by Chairman Mao during World War II that would have kept Hong Kong under British rule until 2097, not 1997. It's a document the Mafia wants, because the Mafia, you see, are the real owners of Hong Kong.
Lots of folks get killed, of course, and Dillon, despite middle age and constant consumption of butts and booze and having been gutted like a herring early on, endures until he prevails. Brigadier Ferguson is back again as a stage prop for Dillon. His main dialogue seems to consist of variation on a theme of "Let's go eat," or "There's a good girl," addressed to every female but the senile. That doesn't add much either.
- Robert Hilldrup
\ Kenneth Locke is a Radford pastor.\ Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
by CNB