From Publishers Weekly
A premise budding with possibilities fails to bear fruit in this disappointing new thriller from newsman-turned-novelist Collins (Maze). The premise is that, for decades, two federal agents are unwittingly set against one another over the CIA's role in the nation's growing drug problem and the Reagan and Bush administrations' covert relationship with Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega. The two agents are Kevin Grady of the DEA, who first becomes aware of CIA complicity in drug smuggling in Vietnam in 1968, and Company spook Jack Lind, who clashes with Grady in Vietnam and later becomes the main CIA link with Noriega, even as Grady is beginning to uncover the dictator's relationship with the Medellin cocaine cartel. Since each man remains basically ignorant of the other's involvement until late in the novel, however, the implied conflict between the two generates insufficient heat. The story is told in first-person flashbacks, through Grady's memory and through tape recordings left behind by Lind after his suicide; it's this death that opens the book, making suspense dependent on the tensions within and between the two men, rather than on their fates. But neither character is well developed, with Lind's ultimate change of heart turning unconvincingly on the death of a woman he has come to love. Much of the dialogue sounds wooden or false, as well. Cameos by real-life figures, including Noriega, CIA chief William Casey and drug lord Pablo Escobar, add some zing, but not enough. Even star hitters strike out sometimes, and a thriller writer as generally reliable as Collins can be forgiven for whiffing this time. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
When is a novel not a novel? Collins, coauthor of the best-selling Is Paris Burning?, retells here the fall of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, with cynical vignettes of CIA director Bill Casey, Vice President George Bush, Marine Oliver North, and others. Kevin Grady, a DEA agent passionately devoted to destroying the importation and sale of cocaine, finds himself thwarted again and again by CIA officer Jack Lind, whose professional success is dependent upon the good fortunes of Noriega and associated Central American drug dealers. While Lind and Grady chase criminals, the body count of innocent victims mounts. The most interesting scenes are the descriptions of spycraft, including the meticulous courting and occasional blackmail of confidential informants. Since most readers are familiar with the historical events and the consequent political fallout, the plot itself generates little suspense. Essentially, this is a rehash of the dismal extralegal activities of the CIA, with emphasis on drug-dealing, money-laundering, and interagency battles for turf and glory. The mixture of real and fictional characters only further confuses the reader. Not recommended.?Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Readers who've followed national and international news over the past 15 years will find more fact than fiction in Collins' latest tale. The CIA may not have had an agent named John Featherly Lind IV who recruited a key Panamanian "asset" in the late '60s and "handled" him for two decades--through the gun-and-drug-running years of the contra war in Nicaragua--but it certainly did have anything-goes executives named Ted Hinckley and Bill Casey, and Manuel Antonio Noriega was an agency asset. The Drug Enforcement Administration may not have files on agent Kevin Grady or confidential informant Raymond Marcello, but Collins' portraits of players on all sides of the trade in and "war" on drugs have the ring of truth. There's a love story here, too, and an element of mutual respect in the conflict between Lind and Grady. But Lind's bosses are single-minded: because they define the nation's security, the American people--and, with the development of crack cocaine, America's poorest, most vulnerable people--must "pay any price" to protect their secret contra war. A disturbing reminder of just how sleazy "covert operations" can be. Mary Carroll

ANNOTATION

With this novel, natinally bestselling author Larry Collins has written another irresistible thriller! Black Eagles presents a viable, "what-if" scenario with powerful international implications, pitting agents of the DEA and CIA against each other on the vicious and violent arena of the drug trade.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Kevin Grady, an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, first encounters Jack Lind, an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, in Laos, during the Vietnam War. Through Lind, he discovers that the CIA is furthering its strategic objectives by turning a blind and cynical eye to the drug smuggling of its political allies, who are flooding the U.S. with heroin in flagrant violation of the laws Grady has sworn to uphold.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A premise budding with possibilities fails to bear fruit in this disappointing new thriller from newsman-turned-novelist Collins (Maze). The premise is that, for decades, two federal agents are unwittingly set against one another over the CIA's role in the nation's growing drug problem and the Reagan and Bush administrations' covert relationship with Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega. The two agents are Kevin Grady of the DEA, who first becomes aware of CIA complicity in drug smuggling in Vietnam in 1968, and Company spook Jack Lind, who clashes with Grady in Vietnam and later becomes the main CIA link with Noriega, even as Grady is beginning to uncover the dictator's relationship with the Medelln cocaine cartel. Since each man remains basically ignorant of the other's involvement until late in the novel, however, the implied conflict between the two generates insufficient heat. The story is told in first-person flashbacks, through Grady's memory and through tape recordings left behind by Lind after his suicide; it's this death that opens the book, making suspense dependent on the tensions within and between the two men, rather than on their fates. But neither character is well developed, with Lind's ultimate change of heart turning unconvincingly on the death of a woman he has come to love. Much of the dialogue sounds wooden or false, as well. Cameos by real-life figures, including Noriega, CIA chief William Casey and drug lord Pablo Escobar, add some zing, but not enough. Even star hitters strike out sometimes, and a thriller writer as generally reliable as Collins can be forgiven for whiffing this time. (Nov.)

Library Journal