MWSA Review
Sapphire Pavilion by David E. Grogan is a gripping, fast-paced mystery that will challenge any reader to put it down.

Attorney Steve Stilwell sets out to help his friend, Ric Stokes, a former Navy JAG officer, who is arrested and thrown in a Vietnamese jail for heroin possession. To complicate matters, Stokes is found in the same room with his traveling companion Ryan Eversall, dead of an overdose and in bed with a prostitute. Alarm bells go off in Stilwell’s head because he knows his friend as an ethical and morally upright prosecutor of drug crimes. Steve travels to Vietnam to investigate, wondering who would frame his friend and why.

Steve visits Ric in prison and discovers that Ric and Ryan came to Vietnam in search of a lost Air Force transport plane piloted by Ryan’s father. Ric relates to Steve that, before the heroin arrest, they had located the wreckage. Fortunately, Ryan kept a detailed notebook, which Steve manages to obtain. In it, the exact location of the plane is noted. However, it is soon apparent that others are also interested in the notebook and are willing to do anything to have it in their possession. One feels the heat and chaos of the ancient Asian city, especially when Steve realizes that his investigation puts his life in danger.

Steve’s business partner, Casey, a former Army helicopter pilot, visits Ryan’s widow in the States while Steve is investigating in Vietnam. The grieving widow gives Casey a file labeled Sapphire Pavilion. Casey realizes that the documents are another valuable piece of the puzzle and when she leaves the widow’s home with the file, Casey is followed.

Apparently, someone has unlimited funds and is willing to go to any lengths to steal all evidence of the 1968 airplane crash and the mission called Sapphire Pavilion. Casey and Steve realize that someone high up in the bureaucratic atmosphere of Washington, D.C. is involved in attempting to silence them. However, the bad guys underestimate the determination and resiliency of Steve Stilwell and his associate, Casey.

The chase scenes in this book will have the reader flinching when bullets fly. Sapphire Pavilion is a fast-paced, thrilling page-turner.

Review by Nancy Panko (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

The Vietnam War ends for a Top Secret U.S. warplane when it disappears in 1968, but for the two men who discover its wreckage 32 years later, the fight is just beginning. Travel to Vietnam with former Navy JAG Steve Stilwell as he and his associate Casey Pantel, a former Army pilot who lost her leg in a helicopter crash, try to outwit a powerful adversary who will stop at nothing to keep them from solving the mystery of Sapphire Pavilion.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 280