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Up Country

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Overview

Former army homicide investigator Paul Brenner has just gotten used to the early retirement forced on him after the disastrous end of his last case when his old commanding officer asks him to return for one final mission: investigate a murder that took place in wartime Vietnam thirty years before. Brenner reluctantly accepts out of curiosity and loyalty...and maybe a touch of boredom. He won't be bored for long.

Back in Vietnam, Brenner meets expatriate Susan Weber, a woman as exotic, sensual, and dangerous as the nation of her voluntary exile. Here he's plunged into a world of corruption, lethal double cross, and haunted memories-as he's suddenly thrust back into a war that neither Brenner nor his country ever really stopped fighting.
UP COUNTRY

Editorial Reviews

Paul Brenner, a retired army detective (previously featured in DeMille's The General's Daughter), is asked to return to Vietnam to look into a 30-year-old murder of a U.S. soldier at the hands of another. There seems to be an eyewitness, a North Vietnamese soldier, who is probably dead but who will certainly be nearly impossible to trace in a hostile, Third World police state. Oh, yes, the Tet holiday is going on, so the country is basically closed down. Also, Brenner suspects the witness he is to locate is scheduled for assassination rather than deposition and wonders why. He also wonders why Susan Weber, who contacts him with some vital information, keeps insinuating herself into his mission and his life. Concise this isn't, but DeMille offers several hooks for the listener a travelog, a veteran's coming to terms with his Vietnam service, one of those romances based mostly on witty banter and steamy sex, and the many obstacles Brenner must overcome to solve the case. Scott Brick emerges as a budding star, giving a nuanced reading that captures the author's characters. Most libraries will want this. John Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Nelson DeMille

Nelson Richard DeMille was born in New York City on August 23, 1943 to Huron and Antonia (Panzera) DeMille. He moved as a child with his family to Long Island. In high school, he played football and ran track. DeMille spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined the Army and attended Officer Candidate School. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army (1966-69) and saw action as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was decorated with the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. DeMille returned to the States and went back to Hofstra University where he received his degree in Political Science and History. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and James, and still lives on Long Island. DeMille's earlier books were NYPD detective novels. His first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978 and still in print, as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of The Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, and American Mensa. He holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College. Nelson DeMille is the author of By the Rivers of Babylon, Cathedral, The Talbot Odyssey, Word of Honor, The Charm School, The Gold Coast, The General's Daughter, Spencerville, Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Up Country, Night Fall, and Wild Fire. He also co-authored Mayday with Thomas Block and has contributed short stories, book reviews, and articles to magazines and newspapers. His newest book, THE GATE HOUSE, is the much-awaited follow-up to his beloved novel The Gold Coast and will be released in October 2008.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Hachette Book Group USA

Filesize

4.68 MB

Number of Pages

880

eBook ISBN

9780446402323

Excerpt from: Up Country by Nelson DeMille

Chapter One

Bad things come in threes.

The first bad thing was a voice mail from Cynthia Sunhill, my former partner in the army's Criminal Investigation Division. Cynthia is still with the CID, and she is also my significant other, though we were having some difficulties with that job description.

The message said, "Paul, I need to talk to you. Call me tonight, no matter how late. I just got called on a case, and I have to leave tomorrow morning. We need to talk."

"Okay." I looked at the mantle clock in my small den. It was just ten P.M., or twenty-two hundred hours, as I used to say when I was in the army not so long ago.

I live in a stone farmhouse outside of Falls Church, Virginia, less than a half hour drive to CID Headquarters. The commute time is actually irrelevant because I don't work for the CID any longer. In fact, I don't work for anyone. I'm retired, or maybe fired.

In any case, it had been about six months since my separation from the army, and I was getting bored, and I had twenty or thirty years to go.

As for Ms. Sunhill, she was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, about a fourteen-hour drive from Falls Church, or twelve if I'm very excited. Her caseload is heavy, and weekends in the army are often normal duty days. The last six months had not been easy on our relatively new relationship, and with her interesting career and my growing addiction to afternoon talk shows, we don't have a lot to talk about.

Anyway, bad thing number two. I checked my e-mail, and there was a message that said simply, 1600 hrs, tomorrow, the Wall. It was signed, K.

K is Colonel Karl Hellmann, my former boss at Headquarters, and Cynthia's present commanding officer. That much was clear. What wasn't clear was why Hellmann wanted to meet me at the Vietnam War Memorial. But instinctively, I put this under the category of "bad things."

I considered several equally terse replies, none of them very positive. Of course, I didn't have to respond at all; I was retired. But, in contrast to civilian careers, a military career does not completely end. The expression is, "Once an officer, always an officer." And I had been a warrant officer by rank, and a criminal investigator by occupation.

Fact is, they still have some kind of legal hold on you, though I'm not really sure what it is. If nothing else, they can screw up your PX privileges for a year.

I stared at Karl's message again and noticed it was addressed to Mr. Brenner. Warrant officers are addressed as Mister, so this salutation was a reminder of my past - or perhaps present - army rank, not a celebration of my civilian status. Karl is not subtle. I held off on my reply.