Product Description

Crumley's disturbing Vietnam novel. In '62, Sergeant Krummel assumes command of a crew of rebellious, drunken enlistees. Surviving military absurdities only to be shipped to Vietnam, Krummel's band confront their worst fears while losing faith in Americ

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386069 in Books
• Published on: 1987-05-12
• Released on: 1987-05-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780394735597
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap
Crumley's disturbing Vietnam novel. In '62, Sergeant Krummel assumes command of a crew of rebellious, drunken enlistees. Surviving military absurdities only to be shipped to Vietnam, Krummel's band confront their worst fears while losing faith in Americ

Customer Reviews

One of the two best military books I have read
I was in the Phillippines and Vietnam some two or three years after Mr. Crumley. His view of the places and times, and his description of the now defunct Army Security Agency is eerily accurate, as is his insight into the type of persons in the Agency at that time. Intelligent, anti-social misfits that left college from boredom and did not want to get drafted. Mr. Crumley has my highest respect

Terrific book and best ASA novel ever written, period
This book has been in print almost continuously for nearly forty years now. I'm not surprised. I first "discovered" OtCC around 1971 and it was like reading about my own first hitch in the Army Security Agency and all the crazy guys I served with. Except this is fiction, and there are some memorable and absolutely unforgettable characters here, in the protagonist, Slag Krummel, and his best-friend-sometime-nemesis, Joe Morning. About a platoon of hard-drinking and fornicating ditty-boppers, TA's and DF-ers who are a tight bunch - in more ways than one. The story is set in the Philippines and Vietnam in a time when many Americans had never heard of that small country. But check your history. The first U.S. casualty in Vietnam was an ASA soldier. I loved this book so much I bought several copies and passed 'em out and sent them to my buddies. In the past 37 year I have probably re-read this book several times. It gets a little better each time. Author Jim Crumley died this week, on 17 September 2008, out in Missoula, MT, at the age of 68. Since OtCC, he wrote several acclaimed hard-boiled private eye mysteries that won him a faithful readership not only in this country but also in Europe, particularly France, where he was very popular. I've read some of those books, including his last one, The Right Madness (2005). Crumley was a masterful storyteller and he still had it with that last book. I always hoped for another story of Slag Krummel. No such luck, I guess. R.I.P., Jim. You'll be sorely missed. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

Absorbing
I found this book while I was staying at a castle building thing in France. Here I was, middle of rural Provencial France, tons to see and do and watch and I spend my time sitting on my door step, drinking wine and smoking cigarettes and reading this book. I have never had anything to do with the armed forces (other than read other classic war books), but this one brings you in and forces you to drop and give it twenty. Excellent story and twists.