Rating: 
Summary: My First Trip to Vietnam.......Movie forthcoming.
Review: Demille does an excellent job of developing the main characters in this novel. Paul Brenner and Susan Weber are swept through the "Up Country" of Vietnam in pursuit of a murder witness that happened 30 years ago during the Vietnam War.The travels that they encounter are rivoting and believable. This is a captivating novel, that most likely, will be made into a movie. Do not be alarmed at the 700 pages, because you will not be disappointed with the deceit, betrayal, and pursuit of justice of protagonist, Paul Brenner. This felt like my "first trip" to Vietnam - excellent research. I have read all of Nelson Demille's novels and this is a suburb read. The shortfall in rating, is left to a few unanswered questions at the end of the book. Perhaps a sequel....but first, a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read!
Review: My favorite Demille...perhaps my favorite book of all time!
Rating:
Summary: A Hard Look at Vietnam
Review: Although it may take a while to dive into this tale of retired army CID detective Paul Brenner on his final mission to Vietnam, it does reward the reader. Chock full of intrigue and pro-democracy "truth, justice and the American way" speeches, DeMille does not forget to add the cocky witticisms that never fail to make the reader burst out laughing at the most inopportune times...like on a quiet commuter bus. As a 34 year old who received little to no education on the Vietnam War, I found it highly educational without having to swallow dry, statistical information. My thanks to Mr. DeMille for not making this as gruesome as it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: Up Country
Review: DeMille knows about Vietnam. The war, what happened, and what it is like now. He tells it like it is, and was.
Rating:
Summary: this is a keeper!
Review: Too bad Amazon doesn't allow you to go past 5 stars. This book is excellent in it's content, relationships, detail and humor. The staggering amount of detail leaves you knowing instantly that Mr. Demille has been there-done that. It almost (but not)made me want to go to Vietnam. All of us know what the thoughts and feelings are in the U.S.about the Vietnam war, but it did happen and if you want to know about it-READ THIS BOOK!! He injects enough humor in it to keep it from being depressing and the main character is hilarious at times, but when he is serious, you are touched by what he saw and did. Do yourself a favor-get this book and plan on sticking with it a while, it's worth every step you will take with Paul Brenner and his cohorts.
Rating:
Summary: DeMille: Always a Treat!
Review: Nelson DeMille's witty prose, exciting stories and great craft make him one of my favorite authors. Re-introducing Paul Brenner of "The General's Daughter" was another great idea by this gifted author. Giving more than a few hints at his own experiences during the Vietnam War, Nelson DeMille gives us a thoroughly researched and highly interesting story of a hunt through the late 1990's Vietnam. Intriguing and with many twists and turns throughout the story, "Up Country" makes for fascinating reading. The usual dry humor DeMille once again successfully uses to lighten up the dark atmosphere is a welcome bonus. Great book!
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Summary: The Unfinished Novel
Review: I have read all of DeMille's books, and in my opinion
this one is the best of all.... However, it's too bad
that he didn't finish it..... After 700 pages of
reading it leaves one hanging... What happened to VP
Blake? Was he elected President? Was he prosecuted
for the murders he allegedly committed? Did Brenner
and Susan get together in the states, or did Susan
stay in Viet Nam? What about Cynthia? But then, if
he had answered all these questions, there would be
no need for a sequel... I predict that DeMille's next
book will pick up where this one left off...
Rating: 
Summary: Up Country
Review: This book had no ending. It has some good parts, but the ending was terrible. There is no closure to the story. It is a waste of time to read this book. DeMille books are usually very good. Lion's Game, Plum Island - terrific. Read the reviews on the cover. They do not say anything about THIS book, only that DeMille is a good storyteller. Very revealing. Even the publisher knew this was a bad book and couldn't find anything good about it to write about.
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Summary: Customer Review #210
Review: As I write this, 209 other readers have reviewed this book, so I'll be brief. For those of us who were served in Nam, this is a gripping read: for those who weren't, it's geography 101, and maybe not worth the investment of time, as the plot is a little over the top. Also, for the second straight DeMille book (see The Lion's Game), the ending is weak, and does not support the weight of the otherwise flowing and forceful telling. Finally, this is CLEARLY intended as a film script, and in the afterword, the author tells us that Paramount has it in the house. So, hopefully, John Travolta plays Brenner again (as he did in The General's Daughter); now who gets to be Susan Weber? I'd like to see Rene Russo or Diane Lane... A good read: not literature, but excellent commercial fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the future . . .
Review: My Dad went to the gathering of WWII vets, both sides, of the invasion of Normandy nearly a decade ago. It was an undefined moment in America so naturally, it became defined by the photo journalists and television crews. And to their credit, it was terribly moving and was depicted with honor and sensitivity. Yet I recall it was difficult to appreciate what these old men had accomplished, because, well, we weren't there. And try as we did we couldn't extrapolate the fear, courage, terror and youthfulness of that instant. And Nelson DeMille takes on a similar journey to his anguished youth, Vietnam. The A Shau Valley. Khe Sahn. Quang Tri. Hue. Cam Rahn Bay. So you have to start out with the fact that Mr. DeMille is writing of his past. Travelogue? I'm not sure. That's kind of harsh. Paul Brenner lands at Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, and begins his journey to a village in North Vietnam to track down a witness to the murder of an American Officer in the center of an ongoing battle in 1968. So certainly it's a difficult task, and I think DeMille does it well. That DeMille often writes of numerous acts of violence, love, sex, betrayal, and retribution, and does it extremely well, shouldn't become the standard for the quality of this book. Paul Brenner is sarcastic, cynical, funny, tedious, angry and smart. These are all the usual qualities of the Nelson DeMille hero. And they're present here, too. That he is contacted by Susan Weber, who like Paul is not all that she appears, is also not far from the DeMille norm. At one point she accuses him of hypocrisy saying, inter alia, 'you lied to me, I lied to you. Why am I held accountable for the lies I told and your lies are justified?' And of course that's true. Paul Brenner is given only a few facts and we are asked to figure out the evidence with him as he goes along. And we do. It's a long trip. But those guys on Omaha and Utah Beaches had a long trip, too. So we should cut DeMille some slack. I believe Nelson DeMille has paid his dues. He's written thousands of pages and millions of words. Once in awhile an author will ask his readers to take a chance and listen to a different story. Paul Brenner writes to his boss, Karl Hellman, "the shadows of the past are long but if anything happens to me I am glad that I came." Paul is having an (that horribly overused word) epihany. I think DeMille did, too. I enjoyed the book. It's a great read.
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