Sliding Down the Rabbit Hole of Hate in Vietnam - an Editorial Review of "Golden Feather"

Book Blurb:

Born into a well-off but strict family, eighteen-year-old Dakota Blackwater doesn’t appreciate his father’s plan for him. He wants to find his path through life and chase his own dreams. Instead of taking the easy road, he rebels, enlists in the US Army, and goes to war in a place foreign to him – Vietnam. He finds this choice may be the more difficult one, learning the pain of death, not only of his friends but his own hands. Will he keep his morality or slide down the rabbit hole of hate?

Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/hb7ML3

Author Bio:

After a successful career in law enforcement as a field officer, explosives detection K-9 handler, and fatality traffic investigator, Angel Giacomo gravitated into writing. She has a degree in Political Science and History. A big believer in helping veterans, Angel supports a number of veteran organizations. Her first book, a military thriller, The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles: In the Eye of the Storm was published in 2020.

Angel has had many different careers. Her life has been a learning experience of over 50 years. Examples of her experience range from handling a bomb dog, loading cargo planes, sitting at a computer entering data, playing the trombone, washing dishes at a restaurant, and sacking groceries.

She has attended FEMA classes in Terrorism, Suicide bombers, and Nuclear/Biological, handled explosives, and shot different weapons from the M1 Garand to the AR-15, and many different pistols.

 A jack of many trades and master of none. Or maybe a few.

Editorial Review:

Editorial Review: “Golden Feather” (The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles) 

Author: Angel Giacomo

“Dakota ran into the kitchen with the morning newspaper, The Little River Gazette. “Look, Mom, I made first-team all-conference at linebacker.” 

Linda Blackwater turned from the stove. Her long black hair glowed in the sunbeams streaming through the open blinds. She took the paper from him. “That’s great, Dakota.” “Mom, I asked you to call me Chief.” Like a hundred times. Or more. 

“That may be what all your football buddies and father call you, but I will not.” She kissed his cheek. “You’re my baby.” 

Dakota sighed. “Okay.””

It’s the 1960s. Texan teen Dakota Blackwater has graduated high school, but then rebels against his father’s plans for his career. Instead, Dakota joins the army, a choice with life-changing consequences. “”Golden Feather” by Angel Giacomo is billed as a historical novel, and the setting and timeframe confirm the genre. And yet…this is a novel that is immediate and heart-stopping and sad and the reader will be there. In Vietnam, with the terror and the recklessness and the hopelessness and the hope. The military details are authentic and only adds to the overall sense of being part of the story, actually in it, listening to men joke and fight and die. 

Dakota represents all of America’s youth, fresh from high school, wanting to serve his country and yet struggling to reconcile…everything really. His character arc is formidable and well-crafted, moving from  school to a young adult with a girlfriend and then facing the unimaginable in Vietnam. The dialogue is realistic, and appropriate for all contexts – whether banter with fellow soldiers or discussions with Mom. It would be easy for a story set in Vietnam to focus only on that all-encompassing conflict, but Giacomo has instead used the Vietnam conflict as a vivid backdrop to Dakota’s own personal change, crises and moral dilemmas. In doing so Giacomo has created a powerful combination of both setting and character. As is expected with such a setting, there is graphic detail and loss in the storyline, and this read is not for the faint of heart.

The secondary characters are also detailed with individual personalities. Dakota’s parents remain in their roles, one supportive, one distant, and each of his fellow soldiers have distinct approaches and communication styles. Giacomo has clearly put considerable thought into adding each character into the story and developing their relevance.

““Hey, Sarge, what do you know?” Loggins asked. 

Chief smiled. He’d made sergeant a day prior to their departure from the states. “The same as you, I reckon.” What he did know was it smelled different here. A rancid, humid, nasty, rotting smell. A lot of things mixed together. The ‘Nam smell, he called it. 

“Do you know why we are here?” 

“In Vietnam?” 

Loggins nodded. “Yeah.” “No idea, other than what they told us. To stop the spread of communism. The North Vietnamese did torpedo two Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.” “True, but there’s got to be more than that.””

The pacing is…frenetic. The reader will not be permitted to casually dip into this novel with an occasional sip from a cup of coffee, passing the time on a Sunday morning with a cake in the oven. The coffee will be cold and the cake will be burned, both forgotten as the e-reader or book becomes the center of the universe. “Golden Feather” will demand – and receive – the reader’s full attention until the last page is reached. There is a good mix of conversation and background throughout the book.

“One of the most important things Chief learned in training, mortars were the most terrifying. They had a larger explosive charge than similar-sized artillery rounds and a higher rate of fire. Each round generated a sizable blast effect and was deadly when air-bursting in trees or with time or proximity fuses. Unlike small arms, where ballistic cover like a boulder, foxhole, or a tree provided protection or go buttons on the ground and let it pass over your head, that was impossible with a mortar. With them, there was no place to hide. They were just as likely to drop behind as in front. Combine that with ease of adjustment, it made mortars effective and deadly. The enemy could keep “walking” the mortars right into your position.”

“Golden Feather” by Angel Giacomo is a completely immersive novel, transporting the reader to Vietnam and the turbulence and tragedy of war. Dakota Blackwater has more than his fair share of personal challenge and loss, and the result is a gripping read that vividly illustrates both the Vietnam War and also the individual upheaval faced by a young American man trying to make his way in life, and survive the ultimate test. A read that is both memorable and heartbreaking.

*****

“Golden Feather by Angel Giacomo receives 5 stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence

Award:

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