A novel by
Thomas A. Hutchings
Though the comrades-in-arms survived, both were plagued by nightmares from their time in Tay Ninh. For forty years they carried their secret, even as it chipped away at their marriages and families. Finally, in 2005, they agree to return to Vietnam. Hugh Campbell hopes the journey will finally grant him closure, and he devotes himself to a search for lost love and an answer to the burning question that's haunted him since 1966. Whitman Emerson is seeking the same answer, but for very different reasons. He's determined to protect the past and the men who treated the war like a giant game of chess...no matter what the cost.
Readers will enjoy the imaginative narrative and the gripping characterizations that bring the characters to life; both Special
Fans of Tom Clancy will be spellbound by Hutchings' intricate storytelling, which brings sharply to life the suffocating heat of the Vietnamese jungle and the crippling burden of war-time memories. Tears of Tay Ninh deftly draws readers across time and space, from the teeming streets of Saigon to the polished halls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, and back again, in a brutal battle for absolution.
"A valuable thriller that plumbs the histories - personal and collective - of the Vietnam War. In 2005, two Vietnam veterans - Hugh Campbell and Whitman Emerson - returned to Southeast Asia for very different reasons. Campbell hoped to silence his tortured conscience and Emerson to clean up some dirty work carried out decades ago. In the first pages, readers learn that one will live and one will die, and the book slowly teases out the reason why. The book covers ground ably spanned 15 years ago by the greatest Vietnam novelist, Tim O'Brien, in his gorgeously crafted In the Lake of the Woods. Like Lake, Tears of Tay Ninh uses the mystery genre to explore the relationship between personal and national sins - all the while wondering how we live past grief and damning guilt. Hutchings' plot is intricate, weaving between past and present, from high-level secret cabals in the United States to interrogation rooms in Vietnam. However, the the author manages his complex narrative with a calm hand - though readers are sometimes mystified by his tale, they're never lost. -- Kirkus Discoveries
"I really appreciate the variety of scenes in this excerpt, and that the writer gave us some vivid imagery that helped bring the text to life. The plot was interesting and lively."
"I'd suggest that the plot, image details, and action are the strong points."
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