Copyright 1992.
The Chinese are cracking down violently on Tibetans. The new Dalai Lama is openly calling for armed revolt against Beijing. The Chinese respond by using poison gas on protesters in Lhasa. So Captain Jefferson “Oz” Davis Carson and his Night Stalkers are assigned to cross the border in Southern China and destroy the factory that manufactures the gas. They succeed but now have a bigger assignment. Major Chen has captured the Dalai Lama and holds him captive in a remote monastery. Oz and the Night Stalkers must cross the border and rescue him. They fight off Chinese jets and soldiers to team up with the local resistance to rescue him.
So the eighth book in the series has our guys in Tibet. Well this was the nineties I suppose and the recent Gulf War victory had the feeling we could do anything. Including sending troops into China so casually. Now this was just after Tiananmen Square and fiction was filled with the possibility of a Chinese Civil war. Needless to say Tibet is firmly under Chinese control and likely to remain so. Also the Dalai Lama is still a pacifist and the militant Dalai Lama was not realistic.
Otherwise the story itself was an enjoyable action read. They still have helicopters take on fighter jets with ease. Now the J-6 was an obsolete piece of junk back then but still a very formidable aircraft against helicopters. The book also has an interesting look at Tibetan culture. Did you know that they greet one another by sticking their tongues out. A black tongue signifies that a person is a murderer so you stick out your tongue to show you aren’t a murderer. Learn something new every day.
