The Quick and the Dead A novel of "The 'Nam"

By Robert Vaughan

1984

First Published

3.82

Average Rating

323

Number of Pages

9H48M

Audio Length

"Welcome to the land of sliding doors and slant-eyed whores..." These were the words that greeted Major Jake Culpepper, USA, on arriving in Saigon as a military advisor in late November 1963. A few minutes later the fellow-officer and friend who spoke the words was dead, blown apart by a Viet Cong bomb planted in the officer's mess hall.Jake Culpepper with two draft-age sons, recently divorced by a woman who bitterly hated the army, calling it his "mistress", was the product of four generations of career Army men. But he was unprepared for this nightmare war and he asked early on; "How do we know who the bad guys are?"Here is a sweeping novel of the war with no victors, only victims. Here is the story of Mot, anguished secret agent of the Viet Cong; of Kristin, fervent Freedom Rider, intensely in love with Culpepper, who stands for all she opposes; of Culpepper's two sons—Andy who refused a commission and fought as a "grunt", and Mike, who went to Canada and defied the draft; of Larry Cantrell a black man with a brilliant future who risked everything in a war he hated; of Melinda, high-priced plaything of generals who at last found her true, impossible love.Here by a much-decorated Viet Nam veteran, is a panoramic novel that chronicles more completely and vividly then ever before, the years of the nightmare war—a novel that climaxes

Avg Rating

3.82

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

37%

4 STARS

30%

3 STARS

18%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Robert Vaughan

Author · 48 books

Robert Vaughan is an American writer. He has also written a series of contemporary and historical romance novels under several pseudonyms including "Paula Moore" and "Paula Fairman". His father served in the military and Robert followed him in the 1950s, entering army aviation. He served until the Vietnam War and won numerous medals including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal with several oak-leaf clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal, and several other medals. His early books reflected his military background: the first novel was about the US Army along the DMZ in Korea, followed by a trilogy set in Vietnam. There are more than 9 million of his books in print under various names. He was inducted into the Writers’ Hall of Fame in 1998.