Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Free Fire 

AUTHOR:  Maya Hashim

PUBLISHER:  Evernight Publishing

LENGTH:  264 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 21, 2021

BLURB:

In 1967, nineteen-year-old Sid Cohen—an aspiring folk singer from New York City—is drafted against his will and sent to Vietnam. He finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Lieutenant Rupert Hart, a handsome English officer who thinks he knows what the Americans need to do to win the war if only they would listen to him. At first, Sid just wants desperately to go home. But as his erotic relationship with Hart intensifies, he realizes that he would do anything to stay by Hart’s side.

REVIEW:

British Lieutenant Rupert Hart is in Vietnam trying to convince the US Command that this war of attrition cannot possibly be won. He’s done a lot of work on counterinsurgency and he’s certain that Westmoreland’s plan will not work.  He’s certain that if Vietnam falls to the Communists, so will all of SE Asia.  Well we know how this one ends.

19 year old Private Sidney Cohen has been drafted and sent to Vietnam. He’s none to pleased with this turn of events, but his attempts to escape the draft and induction have failed. He has no desire to be there and following his radical mother’s thoughts, the people of Vietnam have the right to determine their own fate.  But of course he’s still stuck there.

When these two men meet, it seems like it might be fate.  Sid has no idea why he’s always been so angry and violent.  But when Hart comes on to him, he’s shocked.  But no unpleasantly so. He figures out THIS is what he’s been missing and why he never could even feign interest in girls.  But of course they are in a war zone, one is an officer and one an enlisted man and of course they are two men.  The manage to get around this little inconvenience and Hart does what he can to keep Sid as removed from the disastrous campaigns as he can.  But then comes Tet.

Both men end up injured at the onset of the Tet Offensive.  Sid is happy to be getting out of Nam, but things are not at all as he expected when he gets home.  Alienation, loss of Hart, his disabilities are all closing in on him.  And he’s missing Hart terribly.  He finally is able to locate him.  But things aren’t as he expected.  And it’s 1968 so what can they do?  It’s a watershed year in American history and things look bleak to Sid.  But maybe 1969 will be a better year 😉

Well this was a total surprised to me – and a really pleasant one.  I’ve only read a couple of Vietnam era stories where the action takes place in country.  As a student of history and particularly a lot of study of the Vietnam war, I found this to be particularly interesting, poignant and engaging.  The aftermath of that disastrous episode in history is still being felt by those who were involved and this story touches on the experiences of two men who were there – on the front lines.  Their story is happy and sad and everything in between. It was a time of extremes and a time of change

Anyone who love that time period I think we enjoy this story.  It’s not necessarily and easy read, but in the end it’s quite surprisingly satisfying.  Recommended.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Evernight