"14 karat gold winner"
After years as an Army Criminal Investigation Officer,
Paul Brenner was forced to retire. His former boss Colonel
Karl Hellmann asks Paul to meet him at the Vietnam War
Memorial. Karl explains to Paul that an American may have
murdered a person listed on the Wall. In 1968, a North
Viet Namese soldier Tran Van Vinh witnessed an American
captain killing an American lieutenant. Tran sent a letter
in 1968 claiming what he saw. This letter has just reached
the Criminal Investigation Division. Karl wants Paul to go
to Nam to determine if Tran still lives and can identify
the killer. Paul wants no part of Nam having served two tours
there, but reluctantly agrees to travel as a tourist though
he believes there is more to the case than a three plus
decade old homicide. In Nam, Paul meets Susan Weber, who
serves as his translator. Besides the personal nightmares
that Paul relives on his journey, he becomes entangled in a
murder mystery shrouded inside espionage that reaches into
the highest levels of both nations. UP COUNTRY is a great thriller that plays out on
several levels with each interesting and all tying back to
the prime theme of the soul "going home". On the surface
the tale is a cleverly designed mystery with spy and
political implications, but it is much more than that. The
novel is a character study that provides a look inside a
person proving you can go home even if it is never quite
the same. Nelson DeMille's tale is bound to make
everyone's short list for best book of the year unless 2002
proves to be the equivalent 1939 cinema. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 30, 2002
|
