Publishers Weekly

Brinkmanship is the subject of this "historical" thriller. As John Foster Dulles puts it, "The ability to get to the verge (of war) without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost."

It's 1958, and carrier based F-8 Crusader (fighter-bomber) pilot Charley Rohr is called back to his ship from Tokyo. World War III may be in the offing: Quemoy and Matsu are the issues. Rohr's squadron, led by war hero MacCafferty, is to patrol the Taiwan Straits.

Tragic accidents, ship and air life, international confrontations, the lives of men pushed to the breaking point, all make this suspense story a chiller. Rick Setlowe seems to know his material well: his descriptions of pilots flying under extreme pressure make it almost too real, in this look backward at the uncommon terrors of power politics.