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Book Review By Chuck Nugent
Up Country by Nelson DeMille

Up Country
Nelson DeMille
Warner Books, Inc., 2002, 702 PP
ISBN: 0-446-51657-0

In February 1968 a North Vietnamese soldier named Tran Van Vinh, wounded and hiding from the American Army in Quang Tri City, witnesses an American Army Captain murder an American Army Lieutenant. Tran Van Vinh escaped from Quang Tri City undetected and, on February 8th, sent a letter describing the murder, to his brother, also a North Vietnamese soldier fighting in the South of Vietnam. In mid-May 1968 Tran Van Vinh's brother was killed fighting in the A Shau Valley and Tran's letter was taken from his body as a souvenir by an American soldier.

Now, almost thirty years later, the American soldier going through his old trunk discovers the letter and sends it to the Vietnam Veterans of America with a request to try to return it to the dead soldier's family. But the letter ends up being sent to the Army's Criminal Investigation Division or CID who turn to recently retired CID warrant officer and Vietnam veteran, Paul Brenner for assistance. There is more to this than a simple murder and the Army wants Brenner to quietly track down the author of the letter by gong to Vietnam as a tourist without official cover.

Brenner goes first to Saigon where he meets and teams up with a beautiful American expatriate, Susan Weber. Together they make their way through Vietnam seeking to locate Tran Van Vinh.   Action, adventure, romance and espionage combine to hold the reader's attention as Brenner and Weber try to maintain his cover as a tourist while trying to find the "needle in the haystack" that will unlock the mystery behind the thirty year old letter.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 20%
Murder of certain profession?
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Motive of antagonist - power
The antagonists are: - government bureaucracy

Setting
Asia/Pacific Yes
Jungles? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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