Legacy of Lies: A John Moore Mystery (Hellgate Press, 375 pp. $14.95, paper; $2.99, Kindle) is the third novel in Ed Marohn’s exciting CIA-thriller series. These are not stories of a CIA analyst sitting in his office in Langley, Virginia. John Moore is a field agent who is consistently in danger as he plies his trade around the world.
Moore likes to stay busy to keep his mind off of his experiences in Vietnam during the war where he served as an Army infantry Captain and the loss of his wife to cancer. Ed Marohn, a life member of Vietnam Veterans of America, served in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division, and has taught military history at the University of Nevada. His previous titles in the series are Legacy of War and Legacy of Evil.
John Moore says his CIA boss had “a knack for placing me in difficult and dangerous situations because of my military combat experience.” His boss, for his part, tells him, “I have no other agent that I trust more. You have something that outshines me and everyone I have ever worked with—your honesty and ethics.”
Moore is sent to Nairobi, Kenya, in 2003 to meet a delegation from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. A business deal may be in the works between China and Kenya that could be of interest to the U.S and to Vietnam. Before long, a kidnapping takes place and all hell breaks loose.
While in Kenya Moore experiences more than one reminder of his time in the Vietnam War. He takes daily anti-malaria pills, for one thing, remembering how important they were when he was in Vietnam. When he eats a Kenyan meal it reminds him of the times that he had shared meals with Montagnards. He thinks of the Viet Cong when he sees Africans wearing sandals made from old tire treads. At one point, walking in darkness, he recalls the sounds and smells during a similar situation in Vietnam. For Moore, “the mental stress from the Vietnam War never seemed to go away.”
When he learns that he may need to be wary of fellow agents, he sleeps with his Sig Sauer P229 pistol strapped to a holster on his waist. He will shoot people. He will get shot. He will jump into a rolling Cessna Caravan as it’s about to take off.
This action-packed thriller takes place over a two-week period. Once you begin, it won’t take you anywhere near that long to read it. Legacy of Lies is another winner from Ed Marohn.
Marohn’s website is https://www.writingsfromed.com/
–Bill McCloud
Books in Review II 