Son of Thunder

By J.D. Wetterling

Book Overview

Duty. Honor. My country, right or wrong, drives the young fighter pilots of Dusty Squadron, from flack in the face above the A Shau Valley to napalm in the jungle to midnight gunfights over the Ho Chi... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963073184
• ISBN13: 9780963073181
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Rivilo Books
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Fiction? Hard To Believe!

JD, or should I say "John Ellsworth", I just finished your story! I > liked all of it (except the put down remarks about all us F-4 Jocks)and > will highly recommend it to my 200 Email friends, many of whom are > Retired Air Force Pilots. The exquisite details lead one to believe > that the preponderance of the material was not fiction at all. Having > been there and done many of the same things, thought the same thoughts, > felt the same fears and exhilaration's, and arrived at many of the > identical conclusions, is overwhelming evidence of the books veracity > and power. At least as far as I am concerned. > > God left you and I, and others like us, alive for purposes still being > defined to us. We lost many > friends and comrades. For them not to have a messenger and spokesman > would have meant that they truly died in vain. Thank you for > understanding that calling and answering it with such depth and > dimension! >

Outstanding work on flying and life.

The book was every bit as good as the author's OpEd piece in the Wall Street Journal promised. Definitely a book for anyone who has flown for the Air Force or for the people with whom they live and interact.

A very exciting reading experience!

Son of Thunder is a very exciting reading experience. Before reading this novel, I knew nothing more about fighter pilots than what you can grasp from "Top Gun" and look-alike movies, which do not seem to capture reality accurately enough and come with a strong bias. At some point, I thought the romance and intrigue would become too predictable to remain interesting but even this abruptly changed.Globally, I was really fascinated by the military thing and the real courage that underlies the whole story. It is difficult to say whether the simplistic considerations about coward politicians and the absurd negotiations carried out by "Henry the K" and Duc Van Tho reflect the author's views, or simply his character's. At least what is striking for a non American reader is the sharp contradiction between the so-called "balanced strikes", barring for example any bombing of North Vietnamese cities or military camps in Laos, and the heavy use of napalm,exfoliating liquids and devices like "the Hammer". The obsession of any army in campaign has always been to be "stabbed in the back". The Vietnam war was no exception for that. But, certainly for the first time in history, reporters were able to take pictures of virtually anything they wanted (a mistake the Pentagon did not make twice when the US sent troops in the Gulf in 1990, as evidenced by the coverage of Desert Storm). The complex interactions between the power of destruction that the US deployed in Vietnam and the mixed aspirations this in turn generated in the American public are vividly described in "Son of Thunder". Because this is a subtle message and it comes from a real-life experience, I think this is a great achievement of the book.

Takes you inside the world of fighter pilots. A great read!

J.D. Wetterling gets right to the action and adeptly builds the characters through experiences. This is not just a man's book but one women would thoroughly enjoy. It certainly shed some light on understanding the pilots we love. Just as you are almost lulled into expecting a predictable ending, you receive a blow to the solar plexus. There is a message here that goes far beyond the written word...a message about the casualties of war and the remnants as well. Bravo!

Excellent action, history and personality.

Son of Thunder is a fast moving novel centered on the life of Lt. John - a fighter pilot. His thoughts, struggles and loves are opened up with honesty.I read this book in a 3 day span, and having 5 children, that means that I couldn't put it down.The thoughts of Lt. John on the Vietnam War, loyalty to friends, on death and living, hope, and the difference between thoughts that run through your head, and the calm words that are uttered between friends (or fighter pilots) were just as thought provoking as enjoyable. This book has impacted my thoughts on Vietnam. I have enjoyed all of the Tom Clancy novels, and thought this was on par with the best of those - (and not as drawn out).Five Stars - get it quick.