#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille brings back Paul Brenner, the army investigator from The General's Daughter, in a sensational and poignant new novel of suspense...
Up Country
There is a name carved into the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., of an American army lieutenant whose death is shrouded in mystery. The authorities have reason to believe that he was not killed by the enemy, or by friendly fire; they suspect he was murdered.
At first, Paul Brenner, himself a Vietnam vet, isn't interested in investigating the case. After his forced retirement from the army's Criminal Investigation Division, he has adapted to the life of a civilian with a comfortable pension. Then his old boss, Karl Hellmann, summons him to the Vietnam Memorial to call in a career's worth of favors. Hellmann tells Brenner of the circumstances surrounding the officer's death, and gives him this much to go on: The incident happened over three decades ago in Vietnam; the only evidence is a recently discovered letter written by an enemy soldier describing an act of shocking violence. The name of the North Vietnamese soldier is known, but not his present whereabouts, or even if he is alive or dead.
Brenner's assignment: Return to Vietnam and find the witness. The addendum: The mission is very important to the U.S. Army. Brenner's the ideal man for the job. And it's in his best interest that he doesn't know what this case is really about.
Reluctantly, Brenner begins a strange journey that unearths his own painful memories of Vietnam and leads him down a trail as dangerous as the ones he walked a lifetime ago as a young infantryman. From sultry, sinful Saigon, where he meets beautiful American expatriate Susan Weber, to the remote, forbidding wilderness of up-country Vietnam, he will follow a trail of lies, betrayal, and murder—and uncover an explosive, long-buried secret.
Filled with intrigue and espionage, romance and seduction, action and adventure—as well as the author's patented, subversive wit—Up Country is, above all, about what happens when men fight in wars and how it changes them forever.
Nelson DeMille brings back Paul Brenner (first seen in The General's Daughter) in a story set in the fertile literary soil of Vietnam. Brenner, a Vietnam vet, is sent to modern day Vietnam to explore an unexplained mystery left from the Vietnam war.
Media Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
The case turns out to be a humdinger...offers illuminating commentary on how the country has changed...
People
Catch this one on the page before it hits the screens. The movies will be hard pressed to do justice...
Booklist - Mary Frances Wilkens
DeMille's portrayal of the cocky soldier returning to enemy soil is moving and realistic, peppered with Paul's recollections of the war and the people who must live with its legacy every day. Neither pro- nor anti-war, this poignant story from the wildly popular DeMille is particularly timely in light of today's international situation.
Publishers Weekly
What is curious, and relatively unfortunate, is that the long narrative focuses so much on travelogue instead of intrigue and action; it's as if DeMille, a wickedly fine thriller writer, has been possessed by the soul of James Michener. Still, the overarching story line captivates....
Lisa Scottoline
...an absorbing investigation of a...murder...a profound exploration of...war, justice, and...the human heart.
Linda Fairstein
Finely drawn characters, wickedly crisp dialogue, and brilliant twists ...Nelson DeMille [is] the master storyteller of our times.
Rich with sharply etched characters and prose, and a plot of astonishing intricacy, this is an uncommonly intelligent thriller by one of our very best writers.
A page-turning mystery, shot through with adventure and intrigue that captures the Vietnam of past and present --- its beauty and squalor, its politics and people.
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