First published 1970
Captain Tony Gilling crouches in the Burmese jungle with his depleted company, watching Japanese forces advance through the trees. The British are retreating, vastly outnumbered, and Gilling must buy time for the main force to escape. He came from a quiet bank job back home. Nothing prepared him for this. His men are exhausted. Ammunition runs low. Subedar Nay Dun questions every order, sensing Gilling's inexperience. The enemy tortures prisoners without hesitation. Death means nothing to them. Over three brutal days, Gilling watches his soldiers fall. He forces himself to match the cruelty around him just to survive. Guilt tears at him as he witnesses the savagery inflicted on men under his command. His mind begins to fracture. A letter from his father arrives, adding fresh horror to an already unbearable situation. Gilling wavers between his desperate desire to live and a senseless need to salvage what remains of his pride.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, military-fiction, adventure, action
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Burma, Burmese Jungle
Period: World War II
191 pages · Paperback · Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, mental-illness