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emerygirl's review against another edition
4.0
My dad recommended this book to me. He is a big reader, and really likes Nelson Demille. I had read the generals daughter and this book has some of the same characters. I really liked this book, it made me think of my dad. He was a marine during the Vietnam war and I have a list of questions I want to ask him about the war and where he was stationed. I really don't know much about the Vietnam war and so this book was very educational. With a little romance thrown in, it's definately worth the read
duparker's review against another edition
1.0
Nothing too engaging here, for me. The murder aspect was worth the read, but the Vietnam aspect seems too far removed today. I also get tired of the abundant snark from the main character.
hopecaldwell's review against another edition
4.0
This is a different style than what I had come to expect from DeMille. The wise-cracking remarks are not as common, but the story & plot may be better. I really enjoyed his description of Vietnam, both current day and war-time. I learned a lot about the war, the country and its customs.
barbi_story's review against another edition
4.0
Good book, a bit of a hard read because of the content(Vietnam Vet), but worth it.
cnorbury's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit disappointed by DeMille again because a great story full of suspense and tension was watered down by the personal catharsis/Viet Nam travelogue that the author took us along to witness.
Brenner's one of his better protags. I loved the Susan Weber character. She kept the reader off guard until the very end, which is tough to do when it seems obvious that she's more in control of Brenner than he is in control of her with regard to Brenner's mission. The way DeMille interlaced their emotional relationship with their professional relationship was excellent craftsmanship.
I enjoyed Colonel Mang's interrogations of Brenner. Great chess match of two highly skilled detectives/investigators.
I was mildly disappointed when Brenner confirmed who the murderer was. Sure, it had major political consequences, but I wish DeMille had taken the story far enough for us to see what happened to the murderer. But, I also understand leaving that ending to the readers' imaginations.
If you're interested in this history of the Viet Nam War and some first hand, in-the-trenches memories, this is worth the read. But the constant traveling, stopping in remote little villages, dealing with cops here, MPs there, suspicious characters everywhere, is more of a distraction than an addition to the plot.
Brenner's one of his better protags. I loved the Susan Weber character. She kept the reader off guard until the very end, which is tough to do when it seems obvious that she's more in control of Brenner than he is in control of her with regard to Brenner's mission. The way DeMille interlaced their emotional relationship with their professional relationship was excellent craftsmanship.
I enjoyed Colonel Mang's interrogations of Brenner. Great chess match of two highly skilled detectives/investigators.
I was mildly disappointed when Brenner confirmed who the murderer was. Sure, it had major political consequences, but I wish DeMille had taken the story far enough for us to see what happened to the murderer. But, I also understand leaving that ending to the readers' imaginations.
If you're interested in this history of the Viet Nam War and some first hand, in-the-trenches memories, this is worth the read. But the constant traveling, stopping in remote little villages, dealing with cops here, MPs there, suspicious characters everywhere, is more of a distraction than an addition to the plot.
jameshendrickson's review against another edition
2.0
This book was really good at points but it went on far too long with too many lulls in the action. Good fun read but definitely too long for what it was.
ricksilva's review against another edition
3.0
At one point in the story, retired US army detective Paul Brenner's contact in Vietnam says to him, "To your generation, Vietnam is a war. To mine it's a country."
That summed up a lot of how I felt reading Up Country as a US expat living and working in Vietnam.
The story involves an extreme cold-case: The murder of an American soldier during the Vietnam War by one of his fellow officers. The only witness is a former North Vietnamese soldier, who may not even still be alive.
Paul Brenner served two tours of duty during the war, and now he is heading back to Vietnam as a cop playing in a game of spies, dealing with a vindictive Vietnamese secret police inspector while caught up in layers of lies and deception by the people who sent him on his mission.
I definitely had mixed feelings about this book. First of all, I was pleased with the homework that Mr. DeMille had put into the setting. Vietnam of 1997, as depicted in the story, held fascinating comparisons to the Vietnam of 2015 that I am experiencing, and just for the level of detail, this was a worthwhile read.
It was also fun to see references to locations mentioned in other works set in Saigon. The Rex Hotel, which I frequently pass in my wanderings around the city, featured in this book as well as in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. There is a sense of connection that DeMille has tapped into, and he definitely does a nice job of capturing the feel of the city and the country.
The character of Paul Brenner is a cynical Boston smartass, macho enough to handle himself in some harrowing situations, but with enough self-awareness to know that he is no James Bond, as much as he jokes about it. Brenner gets some great one-liners, and his perspective is generally pretty entertaining.
The macho element of his character gives way to casual sexism quite a bit, which is completely in-character, but disappointing in how predictable it is. He also tends to paint the Vietnamese people with a rather broad brush, and that problem extends further into the structure of the story.
The most developed characters in the story are generally Western. Vietnamese characters tend to be bit players or background decoration, and the major exception to this is a character who is essentially the villain (antagonist might be a better term, but he is bestowed with all of the classic heelish traits one would expect for a character in his role).
The story is mostly travel and intrigue with some romance, but when the action heats up it is quite good, including one of the better car chase scenes I have seen in print format.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending, both in terms of it being somewhat inconclusive (this was intentional, but it didn't completely work for me), and in terms of some of the major plot-reveals being predictable.
Despite the book's flaws, it was a pretty gripping read. It definitely plays more to the audience that thinks of Vietnam as a war, but DeMille still managed to include some good accounts of the country that Vietnam was in 1997 with some good insights into the direction the country was moving in to get to my own present-day experiences.
That summed up a lot of how I felt reading Up Country as a US expat living and working in Vietnam.
The story involves an extreme cold-case: The murder of an American soldier during the Vietnam War by one of his fellow officers. The only witness is a former North Vietnamese soldier, who may not even still be alive.
Paul Brenner served two tours of duty during the war, and now he is heading back to Vietnam as a cop playing in a game of spies, dealing with a vindictive Vietnamese secret police inspector while caught up in layers of lies and deception by the people who sent him on his mission.
I definitely had mixed feelings about this book. First of all, I was pleased with the homework that Mr. DeMille had put into the setting. Vietnam of 1997, as depicted in the story, held fascinating comparisons to the Vietnam of 2015 that I am experiencing, and just for the level of detail, this was a worthwhile read.
It was also fun to see references to locations mentioned in other works set in Saigon. The Rex Hotel, which I frequently pass in my wanderings around the city, featured in this book as well as in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. There is a sense of connection that DeMille has tapped into, and he definitely does a nice job of capturing the feel of the city and the country.
The character of Paul Brenner is a cynical Boston smartass, macho enough to handle himself in some harrowing situations, but with enough self-awareness to know that he is no James Bond, as much as he jokes about it. Brenner gets some great one-liners, and his perspective is generally pretty entertaining.
The macho element of his character gives way to casual sexism quite a bit, which is completely in-character, but disappointing in how predictable it is. He also tends to paint the Vietnamese people with a rather broad brush, and that problem extends further into the structure of the story.
The most developed characters in the story are generally Western. Vietnamese characters tend to be bit players or background decoration, and the major exception to this is a character who is essentially the villain (antagonist might be a better term, but he is bestowed with all of the classic heelish traits one would expect for a character in his role).
The story is mostly travel and intrigue with some romance, but when the action heats up it is quite good, including one of the better car chase scenes I have seen in print format.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending, both in terms of it being somewhat inconclusive (this was intentional, but it didn't completely work for me), and in terms of some of the major plot-reveals being predictable.
Despite the book's flaws, it was a pretty gripping read. It definitely plays more to the audience that thinks of Vietnam as a war, but DeMille still managed to include some good accounts of the country that Vietnam was in 1997 with some good insights into the direction the country was moving in to get to my own present-day experiences.