Summary: Evidence of a 30 year old murder has recently come to light. There are a few catches, though: There was only one witness to that crime, and that witness may have died in the intervening years. The murder happened in the aftermath of a significant battle in Vietnam. The witness was a combatant for North Vietnam. How do you find the witness, if he lived through the rest of the war? How do you pick the investigator to assign?
Paul Brenner, recovering from the aftermath of “The General’s Daughter” ; in truth he retired after that debacle. He’s called back to active duty and coerced to go back to Vietnam (for a third time), only this time during peacetime. Why can’t diplomatic requests be put through to talk with the witness? Is his government lying to him? What’s so important about the dead man, or the murderer?
Is there any way that Paul can make it back from Vietnam a third time, especially with the information he discovers while investigating this murder?
Setting: Vietnam, 1990’s – flashbacks to 1968 and 1972
Plot: Paul Brenner (last seen in “The General’s Daughter”) is contacted by his old boss and asked to take one last assignment. Next thing he knows, he’s on a plane to Nam, for the third time in his career. He’s got contacts he’s supposed to meet up with, who will give him information and assistance, as required. Before he even leaves the airport though, he catches the eye of Colonel Mang, a fairly powerful member of the Vietnam National Police Force, and in the course of the story, brazenly pisses Mang off and starts getting in trouble before his assignment even truly begins.
Once free, he has to find his way from the very bottom of the country to the very top, avoiding detection and questioning (by Mang’s men) the whole way. He’s “aided” in his journey by his first contact, an ex-pat who speaks Vietnamese, and a few additional people he meets along the way. What happens when he finds the witness? Will the witness even be alive? Based on the information the witness has, will Paul be able to tell what’s really going on?
Criticisms: This was a hard book for me to read, as I have a great deal of empathy for Vietnam vets. This book gives a glimpse into some of the experiences of a Army infantryman, surviving jungle warfare any way he can. The book can feel a bit ragged, but Demille was an established writer when this book came out, and I believe that the narrative style used in this book was chosen on purpose. Some readers might find the emotions that this book dredges up to be a bit strong. My next read will be much lighter, possibly a comic book, with pretty pitchures.
Wrap-up: Nelson Demille is one of my favorite writers. He’s a Vietnam Veteran, and this is one of only a couple of his books that touches on his experiences in the war. I would give this book an A++++++++, if such a grade existed in my arbitrary scale. I did, however, mark the final grade down a bit for subject matter. His work in technically perfect, no runs, no hits, no errors. I have read this book at least 10 times, and this last time through, I caught one single outright mistake. One. In this entire book. He should have caught it, his editors should have caught it, his proofers should have caught it, I’ve never caught a single bald-faced, point-blank mistake by Demille before, in any book, in any form or any fashion. That’s how good he is. As far as the attributes of the book itself? This is a book about a tortured soul, and his journey to peace and redemption. It’s set in a war zone; if you’re staunchly anti-war, this book will reinforce your beliefs, based on the accounts of some of the atrocities committed by both sides. If you support the troops no matter what, this book will make you weep for the pain that the characters go through almost reliving these times with them. I cannot recommend a book any higher than this one, if you can stomach a true fiction war novel.
Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book a solid A. I’ll save the elusive A+ for a book with more universal appeal.
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