Rating: 
Summary: Simply superb
Review: Simply put, this book of 700 pages is absolutely superb.I am a major league DeMille fan and eagerly await his books. This one, set in Vietnam of the present will many flashacks to Vietnam of the 60's, is breathtaking in its insight of the war, description of the geo-political landscape, and the dialogue between Brenner and Colonal Mang and Brenner and Weber is truly a pleasure to read. I wonder if this trip back into history for Brenner to meet his demons is really DeMilles personal journey. Don't worry too much about the plot, just sit back and enjoy every one of the 700 pages for what they are: a portal into a world only a few have seen or experienced. I cannot wait for the next Paul Brenner journey.
Rating:
Summary: To Help Offset Don Ellis's Double Entry
Review: I won't dwell on the plot as it has been rehashed in other reviews. As a Vietnam Vet and career AF Officer, I was drawn into the "Travelogue" that others describe somewhat disparagingly. I, too, have been to all of the places South of the DMZ visited in the book and a whole lot more, and had some flashbacks to a time when I was a whole lot younger. For me, Mr. Demille has captured the essence of the Vietnam experience. I was certainly not turned off by the length of this story. For people who want their stories in small discrete bites, there are a lot of authors whose attention span doesn't extend beyond 300 pages. Creating a character in a novel is no small task. Successfully giving that character a set of emotions that encompass a life changing experience; serving in Vietnam certainly qualifies, and then fleshing it out with nearly another 30 years of life is no doubt extraordinarily difficult. Mr Demille has done this in spades. I can see a lot of Vietnam era Vets getting into this book and not being able to finish it. Not because it is a bad book but because it way too accurately reflects their own experience. It certainly brought back a couple of personal demons for me. In summary, not the best plot Mr. Demille has developed but a great book none the less.
Rating:
Summary: If I Could Only Rate It A 6!
Review: What a pleasure to be lost in a long wonderful book -- and be able to parcel out 100 pages/night (until the last third of the book!). DeMille's best book since Code of Honor. This is really a two-person mystery travelogue with perhaps Vietnam as the third character. How he paces the story, and keeps you turning each page -- he is the best! And he always has something else to say beside plot. I admire his stance on morality, on history, on the long view of things. Where do I donate my money, so he'll use my name in his next book????
Rating:
Summary: Demille continues to be spectacular.
Review: Paul Brenner is a wonderful protagonist. He is a glib, sarcastic, cynical realist. His retorts and thoughts bring grins, smiles and laughs to the reader. He has strong supporting cast in "Up Country." "Up Country" is part travelogue, part spy games, part fox and hounds chase. It is also a lengthy novel, so the characters are fully developed. The reader learns a lot about Paul Brenner and Viet Nam thru flashbacks as he tours many of the places where he served in the war. The scenes are brilliantly set. His advesaries are in his own camp as well as the enemy's. Never is there a moment when he knows exactly who he can trust on his mission. "Up Country" works on many levels, and the journey is better than the destination. However, once at the destination, just enough loose ends are left to suggest the possibility of a sequel. For Paul Brenner fans, that is good news indeed. Nelson Demille is just a wonderful writer who does his homework. A lot of research went into "Up Country" and that preparation is evident in every page. I could not put this one down.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is the best book I've read in a long time. I really hope that they make this into a movie. The character, Paul Brenner and his side kick Susan Webber were great! This is the second book with this character and I hope Nelson Demille writes a third. I could not put this book down!
Rating:
Summary: DeMille Returns!!
Review: In DeMille's latest, Up Country, the main character of The General's Daughter, returns with more wisecracks, a lot more adventure, and a thrilling look at Vietnam, thirty years later. As a long time fan of Nelson DeMille, I'm no stranger to his lucid, descriptive form of writing. I honestly beleive him to be one of the best fiction writers ont he market today. If you haven't read General's Daughter, you will not be lost at all in reading this book first. If you'd like to read his best novel to date, then try "Plum Island", which is one of the best books I've ever had the privelege to read. Enjoy!!
Rating: 
Summary: A catharsis and travelogue and a disappointment
Review: I won't bother to write a synopsis of the book since many others have done so. I always look forward to Demille's books and waited with great expectations for "Up Country". I was sorely disappointed. The character, Paul Brenner, returns to Vietnam to exorcise his demons. Mr. Demille, I feel, has written this novel to exorcise his demons. If I were going to Vietnam to visit battlefields, this would be an excellent book to read as a guide. As another reviewer said, there's about 54 pages of plot. The ending feels hurried and incomplete. Unless, of course,it was written this way because there's a sequel in the works. I did find some of Paul Brenner's stories horrendous and difficult to comprehend but if you've seen "The Deerhunter", "Apocolypse Now", or "Full Metal Jacket", you've seen Paul Brenner's stories. Even though Paul says he keeps learning things about Susan (was her name Susan?), I found her character to very undeveloped and the plot sorely lacking in putting forth her motivations for what she was doing. This is all due to the emphasis on travelogue and catharsis, rather than plot. I'm giving my book to a Vietnam vet friend of mine.
Rating: 
Summary: Demille nevers fails.....
Review: Demille is a master story teller... in all of his books. I was delighted to find a new book by him and let down when I finished it and found myself in San Francisco instead of Vietnam. Unlike Don Ellis, who was there in Vietnam, & didn't appreciate the 'travelogue,' I, like a gazillion others, was not there, and greatly appreciated the exquisite detail of Demille's "third tour" in Vietnam, which made me feel like I was there. No history book was ever so engaging or compelling and I love & appreciate learning from gifted story tellers. I was left a little hungry and frustrated at the end... I wanted more. I can't tell you what I wanted more of without giving away the story and I can't do that. Perhaps if Mr. Demille reads this, he'll begin his next book with the "more" that I wanted out of the end of this one! I recommend this book highly to all readers who love to get lost in the books that they read. Who love to learn from the books that they read. And who love the over-the-top, self-depracating, black humor and sarcasm. Do I have to wait two years for another new book by Mr. Demille?
Rating:
Summary: Return to Vietnam
Review: Nelson Demille opens his newest novel, Up Country, with the old saying that "Bad things come in threes." With this latest book, Demille's Paul Brenner returns for a third trip to Vietnam, this time thirty years after his two tours during the war. Investigating the thirty-year-old murder of an Army Lieutenant by a an Army Captain during the Battle of Quang Tri, Brenner not only must deal with the ghosts of his past as an infantryman during the war, but with the present less-than-friendly security police of Hanoi and their Washington counterparts. As I've grown to expect from his previous work, I was laughing out loud by the end of the first page, but there is far more to this story and a good suspense yarn and witty dialogue. Demille doesn't paint any rosy pictures of Vietnam, now or then. This book -- as well as Word of Honor -- touches on the darkest parts of the human psyche and explores significantly deeper psychological territory than the average suspense thriller. I couldn't put this one down. I'm a Gulf War veteran, and a writer (Prayer at Rumayla: A Novel of the Gulf War), so I tend to read a lot of more serious war fiction (two of my favorites are The Things They Carried and Fields of Fire). Word of Honor fits in that tradition more than this novel, but this is still one of the better books I've read this year. As always, I was unhappy to reach the end.
Rating: 
Summary: TOUR GUIDE
Review: I found this offering the worst that Mr. DeMille has had published. Ninety five percent a tour of Viet nam of today as compared to the war torn Viet Nam of yesteryear and five percent fictional plot.The "Bruce Willis" kind of dialogue with a female character was interesting but boring after awhile. I expected entertainment fiction not a personal take on the Nam war years which, by the way, was complete and pure fiction in itself. Please, Mr. DeMille, get back on track. Your fans deserve better.
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