Book Review: 'Cauldron'

(C) 1994 Warner Books

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a blessing in disguise not only for the Pentagon but for writers of military fiction. Just as the armed services have had to develop new doctrines, strategies, tactics, and weapons systems to contend with new enemies (potential and real), authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, and Larry Bond have had to look at the world situation, read the proverbial "tea leaves," and write plausible scenarios pitting American soldiers against foes that are very different from the by-now all-too-familiar Soviet "Ivan."

The writing team of Bond and Patrick Larkin (Red Phoenix, Vortex) was one of the earliest practitioners of "the-Cold-War-is-ending, let's-look-at-other-story-possibilities" idea. Although the Soviet Union was still in existence when their first two novels were published in the early 1990s, its role in Red Phoenix (about a second Korean War) and Vortex (conflict breaks out in South Africa) is very limited...think of the USSR as an old Mafia don giving limited amounts of money and guns to a younger up-and-coming capo.

In Cauldron, the international situation is very different.

It’s 1997. NATO has dissolved, its mission as Western Europe's shield against a massive Soviet invasion having been achieved. France and Germany have formed a loose military alliance, and right-wing elements now begin reviving the old empire building instincts most Europeans thought had died out with the end of the Second World War.

But the wars in the Balkans and greed in the hearts of many government officials in France and Germany -- and even impoverished Russia -- have awakened the old demons of imperial ambitions and diplomatic arrogance.

So when the new Franco-German alliance starts bullying the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe for financial gain, Hungary and Poland soon become the first victims of full-scale aggression. Only the United States and Great Britain, aided by a few other smaller European allies, stand in the way of a Third World War.

Long time readers of the genre -- and of the Bond/Larkin novels in particular -- know that the eventual outcome is never really in doubt. The techno-thriller, in some ways, is sometimes just as predictable and conventional as a Harlequin Romance novel, only instead of ripped bodices and heaving bosoms there are camouflaged fatigues and flying missiles. Still, the premise of American and British troops facing off against former allies is (while far-fetched) intriguing and a bit disconcerting.

Cauldron is not the best book written by Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin. That honor goes to Red Phoenix, which was so topical and well-regarded that Bond and another co-writer came up with a 2016 sequel, Red Phoenix Burning.  The scenario is somewhat plausible – especially if one takes into account who is currently in power in Moscow, Washington, and Hungary – but the execution is rather iffy at best. The villains, especially the French, tend to be too mustache-twirling for my taste. The ending, too, is unnecessarily sappy and should have been left unwritten.

• Hardcover: 569 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446515671
• ISBN-13: 978-0446515672