Rating:  Summary: not really a sequal to generals daughter Review: this book is technically a sequal but it isn't really necisary to read the genreals daughter thoguh you should. this book tells the story of Paul Brenner and his trip to Vietnam to solve a 30 year old murder mystery that happened in the middle of the Vietnam War. This book explores Paul's emotions as he travels back through his memories while he also fights to figure out his true love all while doing his job. When Paul finds out the truth will he do the right thing? read this book and find outAlso this book has taught me a lot about Vietnam and I think Veterans of Vietnam should be honored and thanked for their bravery that many people denied them when they where my age.
Rating:  Summary: Good, but probably best appreciated by Vietnam Vets Review: I DID enjoy this book, but I would have to say it was not one of my favorite DeMille novels. Taken solely as a novel, I didn't enjoy it as much as some of DeMille's other works... The plot was less believable and maybe not quite as gripping, although still suspenseful. That being said, I'm really glad I read this book, if for no other reason than to better understand my father's time in Vietnam. My father read it first, and remembered the places and battles (Hwy 1, A-Shau Valley) described by the main character. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action/military fiction, but think the folks that served over there would probably appreciate it the most.
Rating:  Summary: A teriffic book! Review: While others address the plot, I'd like to counter what some others have said about this book; it isn't a travelogue. Paul Brenner (like Demille) is a Vietnam War vet and I think it would be unnatural for him not to have quite a bit to say about his experiences in the war. The book has several subbooks, and I'll discuss each briefly. Book 1: Washington D.C. Here's where Paul gets asked to accept a mission to go back to Vietnam to help solve the murder of an Army Lt by an Army Capt that happened during the war. The book is in first-person and Demilles sarcasm and wit are in perfect form. Book II: Saigon Brenner gets to Saigon, meets his contact and spends some time in the city. The wit and humor are still in top form, and Demille is excellent in painting a mental picture for me, unlike many other authors I've read. Book III: Nha Trang Paul and Susan are heading North and their relationship develops. There is a lot of character development, and with great characters this is a good thing! Book IV: Highway One Still heading north, and more character development, except the suspense and action are still piling on (Paul has some nasty run-ins with a commie Col). Book V: Hue This is about 220 pages of the 854 pages of my soft-cover edition. The reason I point this out and the reason I'm breaking the books down is that this book is the one in which Paul Brenner relives quite a bit of his war history by way of visiting the sites with Susan. It would be totally unnatural for him not to do so. Even still, there is quite a bit of suspense and drama with developments in the current time, so it is easy to read (and I enjoyed it). Book VI: Up Country Here's where the pace really picks up....plenty of development and action Book VII: Hanoi At this point, I couldn't put the book down. Plenty of action and a great ending. I don't want to give anything away, but I like the way Demille brings the story to its' end in a realistic way, not contrived like some other authors who force themselves to hold your hand and tell you how every little thing wraps up. All-in-all, this is a teriffic book! I would put it up there with "The Charm School" and above "Plum Island". I liked it better than "The General's Daughter", but maybe that's because I saw the film before I read the book (bad idea...book beats the movie by a long shot and the movie wasn't bad). If you like Demille, read this book!
Rating:  Summary: Even good writers put out an occasional stinker. Review: This is the stinker. I've read almost all of the DeMille books. The General's Daughter was the only poor one before this one but now this one takes the low spot. This book was like your neighbor who asks you to stop over to take a look at a "few pictures" he took on his vacation to Viet Nam. The first dozen pictures are interesting. The next two dozen make you bored to tears but your mood brightens when you feel you are reaching the end of the stack. You can't just flip through the pictures. Your neighbor insists on pointing out every fern, leaf, and waterfall in excruciating detail. Just as you feel you are getting to the last picture, your neighbor brings out hundreds more. Your eyeballs roll up so hard that you think they're going to stick. I waded through all 700+ pages of this stack of pap hoping for a big payoff at the end since the author has always come through in the past. It was not to be. I closed the book with a sigh of relief wondering why I invested so much time in a book that I could clearly see was no good after the first 100 pages. The actual story was so thin that if they made one of those yellow cheat books for this novel it would only be about two pages.
Rating:  Summary: Another Disappointment Review: DeMille was my favorite beachside-vacation author. Until Lion's Game and now Up Country. My chief complaint is that neither book really ends - with the main narrative threads left hanging in mid-air - and I am left wondering in both cases whether some pages got accidentally torn out, or perhaps, the editors decided to guillotine the books without concern for plotline.
Rating:  Summary: 650 Pages Too Long!!!! Review: There is a really good story to be told here. However its not told till about page 650. Demille has used this book as a guise to reminisce about his past, and makes a good plot a sideline event. I'm really dissapointed with this book. I read a new book about every week. I trudge through this book for two months. I read a bunch of books while reading this one because I gave up on it after about 200 pages.
Rating:  Summary: Welcome to the Hanoi Hilton Review: After humping through DeMille's "Up Country" I gained an appareciation for what John McCain went through as a POW in Vietnam for 5 years. I say this because UC essentially held me hostage in Vietnam for what felt like five years. As other reviewers have pointed out, the rather flimsy plot only takes up about 10% of the actual novel, with the rest being a travelogue of latter-day Vietnam and flashbacks to Paul Bremmer (read: DeMille's) experiences there as a grunt. This would be more bearable if A) DeMille hadn't written big chunks of this before in "Word of Honor" and B) Paul Bremmer wasn't the same character as he used in "Lion's Game" and "Plum Island." The latter point is one of the reasons this book is so much less fun than "The General's Daughter." Bremmer's world-weary cynicism seemed more genuine in that book, whereas in UC, it seems glib and childish. Personally, I like my characters a bit tougher and glib and smirky. Every couple lines, he seems to be waiting for a rim shot. Also, where "The General's Daughter" was a tightly-written mystery with a clear time-frame, UC just shambles along like a lost platoon. It slogs hither and yon, occasionally getting a little action, but mostly just exhausting everyone.
Rating:  Summary: Great Story with Historical Geography Review: I just finished this work and thoroughly enjoyed it! A great tale with historically accurate Vietnam military history. I could not put it down.
Rating:  Summary: up county Review: I hav read many Nesion Demille novels and I have enjoyed them. However, after reading this novel I quite frankly felt he should be sending me a psyic fee for reading/listening to his drama of Viet Nam. Prior to this novel I would buy anything with his name attached to it/ after Up county I will at least read the first chapter before making my decison of purchase. . All I can say is Nelson get over it and get a Life. I really don't want to hear about your past life and your ego. Who do you think you are St Woods?- I quite frank ly feel think you shoud send me a check for my wasted time - I contined to read the novel hoping it would deveolp into something worthwide but it did not. I would not recommend this novel to anyone- except those with little brain cells
Rating:  Summary: Fantastic! Review: This book was terrific! As several reviewers have noted, the jacket indicates this is a murder mystery; it isn't, not predominantly. It is more of a suspense/espionage thriller, with less action and more betrayal than typical. More even than that, the book explains the Vietnam experience in a realistic, non-preachy way, while staying more than interesting enough for those of us young enough not to be able to appreciate the Vietnam experience to still find compelling. Mr. Demille still has to improve upon grammatical errors (none calls for a singular, not plural, verb; a few split infinitives), but the story is fantastic. Some reviewers have complained that it is slow going at times, that Demille strolls down memory lane too often, but it is almost always done in an effort to give the reader some context for the emotions of the protagonist. I'm not sure I'd want to read this book if I had served in Vietnam, but having been fortunate enough to have avoided that war, I enjoyed this book enormously.
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