Up Country

Initially, this book can give the impression of being standard De Mille fare. Jack Brenner, by now retired military police investigator introduced to us in "General's Daughter", is being sent to Vietnam to investigate vague news about a murder committed in the middle of the Tet offensive 1968. For those that know what kind of books De Mille usually writes, it would be easy to expect...more

Initially, this book can give the impression of being standard De Mille fare. Jack Brenner, by now retired military police investigator introduced to us in "General's Daughter", is being sent to Vietnam to investigate vague news about a murder committed in the middle of the Tet offensive 1968. For those that know what kind of books De Mille usually writes, it would be easy to expect a story with twists and turns in the plot, with lots of action and one or two femme fatales in distress. And sure enough, those elements can be found in "Up Country", but the thriller element moves very quickly to the backseat in favor of completely different topic.You see, Jack Brenner is a Vietnam War veteran and his less than willing return to this country forces him to deal with all the issues connected with his personal participation in that war and how it affected the rest of his life. His search for the truth takes him through the entire length of Vietnam and as he visits his old battlefields and meets some of the people he once fought with or against, he is forced to deal with some very dark personal demons.Knowing that the author is himself a Vietnam war combat veteran and that he visited Vietnam in the late nineties gives a lot of insight into what this book is about and perhaps why it was written at all. It is not too farfetched to assume that "Up Country" is to large degree auto-biographical and a way for DeMille to deal with some very real personal issues. Parts of the book certainly did sound very personal and it was a touching and fascinating read for me.However, this book has one major flaw and it is the fact that it is presented as a thriller. Like I said earlier, there is a thriller element in "Up Country", but its primary task is to take Brenner from point A to point B and allow him to deal with his war experiences. Compared with DeMilles previous books, this one has miniscule amount of action and anyone who will pick up "Up Country" in belief that it's another "Charm School" or "Lion's Game", will be very sorely disappointed.I liked "Up Country" a lot, but it's misrepresented and definitely not for De Mille's usual audience.   hide