Written by a former Marine lieutenant, this sprawling drama of the Vietnam war has all the elements of a TV miniseries--lush settings, sexy characters, high-level cloak-and-dagger espionage and acts of personal bravery. Bradley Marshall is Lyndon Johnson's personal ambassador to Vietnam, whose attempts to end the war through secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese are opposed by high-level CIA operatives within the U.S. Embassy. Marshall's bodyguard, true-blue Lt. Ron Mead, is forced to terminate his romance with a 17-year-old prostitute when a CIA agent instructs him to establish a homosexual liaison with a decadent French spy.
Timely take on the futility of American military intervention
While this novel is not on the level of timeless literature, it is a compelling read filled with interesting characters, a serpentine plot, and lots of sex and violence, underpinned by a sharply critical perspective on the Vietnam misadventure. As you read it, you cannot help thinking of "Iraq." Example: "This is an enemy we cannot defeat and an ally we cannot prop."
Adding to the tragic nature of this novel is the fact that its author, a Vietnam veteran, was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his wife and now serves a life sentence for the crime. A riveting documentary on the case "The Staircase" is available on dvd and is highly recommended.
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Best of the Best
Undoubtably the best I have read. Although stated fiction I feel it was a lot of his personal experiences. A sad time for America, all that lived through it will always remember it. History changes as time progresses but the honor pride and men of honor that stood and fought this war can never be forgotten. They did what was expected for their country and all that stood next to them in their fearless ways. God bless them all and through novels like this we can remember them in our minds and hearts.
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politico-military potboiler
If you're looking for a Vietnam War novel, but you don't want to wade in too deep, this is perfect lightweight fare. Think of it as a cross between Tom Clancy and Graham Greene (see Orrin's review of The Quiet American)--with the civil servant as superhero trying to navigate a moral cesspool. Bradley Lawrence Marshall is the blue blood, war hero, diplomat who is sent to Vietnam as the personal emissary of President Johnson, to find a way out. In country, he meets with real figures like General Westmoreland, who tries to convince him everything is copacetic. But he also meets folks like: his driver, Corporal Mead, a decent though violent American lad of ambiguous sexuality, who is sick of the war; Lacouture, a flamboyant, Guy Burgess-like, Frenchman who sells information to all sides and loves Mead; and the insidious CIA station chief, Wilson Abbot Lord, who lives to fight the Communists and, fearing that Marshall will end the war, plots to kill him. And it's all set against the backdrop of the Tet Offensive.
The whole premise, of Johnson and a bureaucrat secretly planning an exit strategy, doesn't withstand much scrutiny and the stereotypes and clichýs run rampant. But taken on its own terms, as a sort of politico-military potboiler with only mild pretensions of addressing issues in any serious way, it succeeds pretty well. It's certainly a more diverting read than many of the more critically acclaimed novels of the war.
While this novel is not on the level of timeless literature, it is a compelling read filled with interesting characters, a serpentine plot, and lots of sex and violence, underpinned by a sharply critical perspective on the Vietnam misadventure. As you read it, you cannot help thinking of "Iraq." Example: "This is an enemy we cannot defeat and an ally we cannot prop."
Adding to the tragic nature of this novel is the fact that its author, a Vietnam veteran, was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his wife and now serves a life sentence for the crime. A riveting documentary on the case "The Staircase" is available on dvd and is highly recommended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best of the Best
Undoubtably the best I have read. Although stated fiction I feel it was a lot of his personal experiences. A sad time for America, all that lived through it will always remember it. History changes as time progresses but the honor pride and men of honor that stood and fought this war can never be forgotten. They did what was expected for their country and all that stood next to them in their fearless ways. God bless them all and through novels like this we can remember them in our minds and hearts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
politico-military potboiler
If you're looking for a Vietnam War novel, but you don't want to wade in too deep, this is perfect lightweight fare. Think of it as a cross between Tom Clancy and Graham Greene (see Orrin's review of The Quiet American)--with the civil servant as superhero trying to navigate a moral cesspool. Bradley Lawrence Marshall is the blue blood, war hero, diplomat who is sent to Vietnam as the personal emissary of President Johnson, to find a way out. In country, he meets with real figures like General Westmoreland, who tries to convince him everything is copacetic. But he also meets folks like: his driver, Corporal Mead, a decent though violent American lad of ambiguous sexuality, who is sick of the war; Lacouture, a flamboyant, Guy Burgess-like, Frenchman who sells information to all sides and loves Mead; and the insidious CIA station chief, Wilson Abbot Lord, who lives to fight the Communists and, fearing that Marshall will end the war, plots to kill him. And it's all set against the backdrop of the Tet Offensive.
The whole premise, of Johnson and a bureaucrat secretly planning an exit strategy, doesn't withstand much scrutiny and the stereotypes and clichýs run rampant. But taken on its own terms, as a sort of politico-military potboiler with only mild pretensions of addressing issues in any serious way, it succeeds pretty well. It's certainly a more diverting read than many of the more critically acclaimed novels of the war.
