First published 2005
Paco Sullivan lies broken and alone at Fire Base Harriette. The Viet Cong attack has killed every other soldier in Alpha Company. For nearly two days, he waits among the dead with burns covering his body and maggots in his wounds. A medic eventually pulls him out. Back in America, Paco carries metal pins in his legs and takes daily doses of tranquilizers. He steps off a bus in the small town of Boone after a storm, looking for work and a place to sleep. He finds both, but the job and the room cannot quiet what rages inside him. The war follows him into every waking moment. His body aches. His mind replays the violence. Paco tries to build something normal from the pieces of his shattered life, but the weight of what he survived and what he lost makes each day a battle he cannot win.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Fire Base Harriette, Boone
Period: Vietnam War
224 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: mental-illness, violence, war