Cry Havoc Quiz: How Well Do You Know the First Tom Reece Novel?

Questions

Plot and Sequence (Questions 1‑8)

1. Multiple Choice
   In the Prologue, what forces RT Havoc to abort their wire‑tap mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
   A) A sudden monsoon washes away their position
   B) An NVA patrol with dogs detects them
   C) A Kingbee helicopter is shot down prematurely
   D) A claymore mine detonates accidentally

2. Multiple Choice
   What coded Vietnamese phrase does the captured NVA colonel continually whisper, alarming U.S. intelligence?
   A) “Tet Mau Than”
   B) “Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth”
   C) “Ho Chi Minh muôn năm”
   D) “Không bao giờ đầu hàng”

3. Short Answer
   During the convoy ambush in Saigon, who betrays the group by killing the prisoner and an ARVN guard?

4. Multiple Choice
   What hand does Tom Reece use to win the high‑stakes poker game at the Project Delta compound, taking a Rolex Submariner from “Gambler” Lee?
   A) A royal flush in spades
   B) Wild cards (treys), beating Lee’s royal flush
   C) A full house, aces over kings
   D) A successful bluff with a pair of deuces

5. Multiple Choice
   At the Cercle Sportif lunch, what happens to Gaston DuBois?
   A) He is arrested by South Vietnamese police
   B) He is assassinated by a waiter who shoots him in the head
   C) He defects to the North Vietnamese delegation
   D) He collapses from a heart attack after arguing with Tom

6. Short Answer
   Where does Tom Reece infiltrate in the Epilogue to kill GRU Major Kirill Dvornikov?

7. Multiple Choice
   When Tom finally reaches the NVA depot after Quinn’s capture, what does he witness?
   A) Quinn escaping into the jungle
   B) Quinn being executed by a firing squad
   C) A Soviet advisor disemboweling Quinn alive and setting his intestines on fire
   D) Quinn being loaded onto a truck bound for Hanoi

8. Short Answer
   What weapon system does Tom commandeer to destroy the depot’s trucks and fuel after Quinn’s death?

Character Motivation (Questions 9‑13)

1. Multiple Choice
   At the end of the Prologue, why does Tom Reece cut himself free from the rope dangling below the Kingbee helicopter?
   A) To retrieve a fallen AK‑47
   B) To avoid being shot by NVA ground fire
   C) To go back for his team leader Frank Quinn, leaving no man behind
   D) To escape a crashing helicopter

2. Short Answer
   What personal connection does Tom reveal to Quinn about his father’s role in Vietnam’s history?

3. Multiple Choice
   Why does Dan Eldridge betray the United States and spy for the Soviets?
   A) He has been a committed Marxist since university
   B) He was recruited through the Cambridge spy ring after his brother’s death in the Ia Drang Valley and became disillusioned
   C) He was blackmailed over an affair with a Soviet agent
   D) He worked as a double agent for Chinese intelligence

4. Short Answer
   What drives NSA analyst Allister Desmond to give classified keying material to Clara Müller?

5. Multiple Choice
   In Chapter 40, why does Ella DuBois end her relationship with Tom?
   A) She discovers Tom is using her for intelligence
   B) She blames America for both her parents’ deaths and calls Tom a cog in “Vietnam, Inc.”
   C) She is ordered to break contact by her GRU handler
   D) She has fallen in love with Kirill Dvornikov

Themes and Symbols (Questions 14‑17)

1. Multiple Choice
   The Croix de Lorraine rosary that Amiuh carries and Quinn later holds symbolizes:
   A) French colonial oppression of the Montagnards
   B) Faith as a weapon and enduring hope amid war
   C) The betrayal of the CIDG program
   D) The spread of communism in Southeast Asia

2. Short Answer
   What does the tiger‑claw necklace represent in the novel?

3. Multiple Choice
   The phrase “Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth” functions primarily as:
   A) A weather forecast for the monsoon season
   B) The coded signal that launches the Tet Offensive and the widespread destruction it brings
   C) A radio call sign for Praetorian aircraft
   D) A Vietnamese folk song about creation

4. Short Answer
   How does the recurring line “the jungle is neutral” reflect a central theme of the book?

Synthesis (Questions 18‑20)

1. Multiple Choice
   How does the USS Pueblo’s capture directly affect MACV‑SOG operations in the novel?
   A) It forces the U.S. to withdraw from the Ho Chi Minh Trail
   B) The Soviets use intact cipher machines and keying material from moles to decrypt U.S. communications, enabling ambushes against SOG teams
   C) It triggers a retaliatory bombing campaign that halts Soviet aid
   D) It provides cover for the CIA to insert more assets into North Korea

2. Short Answer
   Explain how the betrayals by Dan Eldridge and Dr. Jean René Brémaud both contributed to the failure of the POW rescue mission.

3. Multiple Choice
   Which character’s journey most vividly illustrates the maxim “no plan survives contact” and the ruinous cost of personal vengeance?
   A) Allister Desmond
   B) Tom Reece, as he repeatedly improvises after Quinn’s capture and later executes Dvornikov
   C) GRU Director Lavrinenko
   D) Lieutenant Colonel Backhaus

Answer Key

1. B – The patrol with dogs sniffs out the team; Tom shoots the dog and handler, triggering the firefight (Prologue).
2. B – The colonel chants “Lam Nut Bau troi, Rung chuyen Trai Dat,” meaning “Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth,” the Tet Offensive code (Chapters 11, 19).
3. Captain Lam – The ARVN officer reveals himself as an NVA mole, shoots the prisoner and the guard, then is killed by Tom and Quinn (Chapter 17).
4. B – Under “Delta Rules,” treys are wild; Tom’s wild‑card hand beats Gambler Lee’s royal flush (Chapter 9).
5. B – A waiter assassin shoots Gaston in the temple at Cercle Sportif; Tom kills the shooter but is himself hit by a third gunman (Chapter 37).
6. East Berlin – Tom infiltrates Dvornikov’s flat via an underwater canal and executes him with the same MSP derringer used on Ella (Epilogue).
7. C – A tall Soviet advisor (later identified as the GRU security man) disembowels Quinn, douses his intestines with fuel, and sets them ablaze (Chapter 49).
8. A ZPU‑1 14.5mm antiaircraft gun – Tom turns the hidden ZPU‑1 on the camp, destroying six trucks and the fuel depot (Chapter 50).
9. C – Seeing Quinn’s Kingbee crash, Tom cuts himself free and falls into the jungle to uphold the principle of “no man left behind” (Prologue).
10. Tom’s father recruited Ho Chi Minh for the OSS during World War II – Tom shares that his father served in the OSS and that American commandos trained Ho and the Viet Minh (Chapters 10, 11).
11. B – Eldridge’s brother died in the Ia Drang Valley; a Cambridge don recruited him thereafter, and his disillusionment led to treason (Chapter 21).
12. He is seduced by Clara Müller and indulges spy‑fantasy delusions – Desmond craves excitement; Clara flatters his James Bond fantasies and exploits his insecurity to obtain NSA secrets (Chapters 4, 31).
13. B – Ella blames America for both her parents’ deaths (her mother killed in a 1963 pagoda massacre, her father assassinated) and tells Tom she cannot love a part of “Vietnam, Inc.” (Chapter 40).
14. B – The rosary is called “a weapon of war” by the missionary; Amiuh and Quinn both treat it as a source of faith and hope (Chapters 5, 18).
15. Tribal reciprocity and the bond between Tom and Amiuh – Amiuh gives Tom the tiger claw after Tom gifts him a Seiko watch; it later becomes a promise to return the claw to Amiuh’s son (Chapters 6, 72).
16. B – The phrase is the coded launch order for the Tet Offensive, signaling country‑wide attacks and the novel’s overarching atmosphere of destruction (Chapters 11, 19).
17. It conveys that war is an indifferent force; survival depends on one’s own skill and will, not moral superiority – SOG operators learn the jungle treats all combatants equally, rewarding preparedness and punishing carelessness (Prologue, Chapter 37).
18. B – The GRU reverse‑engineers the KW‑7, KL‑47, and KWR‑37 cipher machines and, with key material from John Walker and Allister Desmond, decrypts MACV‑SOG communications, setting ambushes (Chapters 2, 4, 38).
19. Eldridge passes the prisoner’s route to the Soviets, and Brémaud sends an encrypted burst about the rescue operation. This allows the Soviets to move the POWs before the raid and leaves Tom to find only Quinn’s mutilated body. (Chapters 21, 22, 25, 43, 55).
20. B – Tom’s initial plan to rescue Quinn fails; he adapts repeatedly, but the cost is Quinn’s death and his own spiral into vengeance, culminating in the Berlin assassination (Prologue, Chapters 43‑45, 49‑50, 72).

Looking for more on the series? Visit the Cry Havoc overview, the in‑depth Q&A, or the ending explained.