CONDUCT TO THE PREJUDICE OF GOOD ORDER The Final Years of Vietnam

This intelligent and unblinking glimpse of the final years of the Vietnam War is billed as a "JAG CORP" novel, but it's much more. This is the real unvarnished deal. Unlike the glitzy television show "JAG," Army lawyer and draftee Captain William Blake is on the muddy, loud, bloody, and many times, mundane front lines near Bien Hoa, facing endless streams of drug possession charges and AWOL cases. Not a lawyer's paradise. Ross Ballard's youthful, engaging reading reflects Blake's path from idealism to resignation to drama--as he is finally pushed to confront his superiors' apathy in his attempt to exonerate a fellow soldier. The background jungle sounds and ubiquitous helicopters overhead mirror the book's gray realism, while Mike Morningstar's poignant incidental music and final song add further to the heart-wrenching realization that nothing was simple in Vietnam. B.P. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]