Book picks similar to
Valley of the Shadow by Franklin Allen Leib


f-mil-vietnam
fiction
have-it
military-fiction

The Gunny: A Vietnam Story


Raymond Hunter Pyle - 2001
    Then, if he makes it, life doesn’t get easier—he gets tougher. He may get to do the toughest job around: combat infantry. And in 1966, he will almost certainly end up in Vietnam. Frank Evans is a Navy sailor willing to do whatever is necessary to become a Marine. He’s tough enough—and he has a General interested in his success. But success is measured in many ways. Frank finds out combat and the Marine Corps’ definition of success change a man. Some of the changes are a matter of pride. Others—well, you learn to live with them.

The Hill


Leonard B. Scott - 1989
    Point man for his platoon. Jason is the favored one: a football hero picked for officer training school who leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return. Ty and Jason -- Oklahoma brothers different in character, yet close in soul -- are about to meet in the Battle of Dak To, upon the blood-drenched sides of Hill 875.

Long Range Patrol


Dennis Foley - 1992
    The special volunteers who make up Long Range Patrols are tasked with setting up ambushes and conducting dangerous night patrols, helicopter insertions behind enemy lines, and fire support in the hottest of fights.Enriched with a memorable cast of characters and thrilling details that only a Vietnam veteran could capture, Long Range Patrol is a powerhouse tale of a band of heroes fighting to keep their brothers alive.

Foxy Lady


Rags Daniels - 2012
    Late one evening she is brutally beaten, robbed and left to die.A few days later two bodies are found in the same house the assault took place. Others follow and a sewer of corruption contained beneath the razzamatazz of a General Election leads to shattering revelations and murderous passions; causing her well-organised world to turn into an arena of pursuit and terror, and where the only certainty is that nothing is certain.Bursting with penetrating insight into the seedy, sleazy world of political funding, Foxy Lady breathlessly leads the reader into the dark and sordid twilight world which lurks beneath the glamorous surface of the upper echelons of society. Revealing the true depths of the corruption which taints the lives of those who stride the corridors of power.

That Deadly Space: A Civil War Novel


Gerald Gillis - 2017
    Conor Rafferty joins the Confederate army as a young infantry officer against the wishes of his father who, in his Irish anger, is adamantly opposed to a war with the North. Conor soon finds himself in many of the war’s most consequential battles, leading from the front and risking all inside that deadly space. He serves with distinction in General Robert E. Lee’s celebrated Army of Northern Virginia as it seeks the crowning victory that will end the war and stop the carnage. Along the way, Conor becomes a protégé of fellow Georgian John B. Gordon who eventually rises to command a Confederate army corps. At the conclusion of each chapter, the narrative transitions to the now aged Conor who answers the probing questions of his grandson Aaron, himself a captain in the U.S. Army and scheduled for duty in Europe during World War I. The grandfather and grandson thus spend a week together—a week of sharing, learning, and bonding. That Deadly Space is a compelling tale that portrays the drama, heroism, romance, and tragedy of the Civil War.

The War Before The War


David Lee Corley - 2020
    After several victories, the French Army is dealt its first major defeat by Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh rebels. China and Russia wait in the wings, watching America’s resolve.With the French desperately short on troops, weapons, and aircraft, America must wrestle with the decision on how deeply to become involved in the growing conflict in Indochina. Newly elected congressman and war hero, John F. Kennedy, is joined by his siblings, Robert and Patricia, on a fact-finding mission throughout Southeast Asia. His goal – find the truth to prevent America from making a terrible mistake that could have irreparable consequences.Will the Kennedys find the truth and save America from a terrible fate?Rene Granier, former OSS Deer Team member and now CIA officer, is asked to accompany the Kennedys as their advisor and bodyguard. He is the only man alive that fought alongside the Viet Minh and the French. Now both want his head on a platter as he goes back into the lion’s den – Vietnam.Will Granier protect the Kennedys? Will he even survive?Will America make the right decision or become entangled in a faraway war with no end in sight?Read The War Before The War to find out.

To Hunt a Sub


J. Murray - 2016
    Its task for the past six months has been reconnaissance and surveillance. The biggest danger the crew faced was running out of olives for their pizza. That all changed one morning, four days before the end of the Hampton’s tour. Halfway through the Captain’s first morning coffee, every system on the submarine shut down. No navigation, no communication, and no defensive measures. Within minutes, the sub began a terrifying descent through the murky greys and blacks of the deep Atlantic and settled to the ocean floor off the coast of Cuba and perilously close to the sub’s crush depth. When it missed its mandated contact, an emergency call went out to retired Navy intel officer, Zeke Rowe, top of his field before a botched mission left him physically crippled and psychologically shaken. Rowe quickly determined that the sub was the victim of a cybervirus secreted inside the sub’s top secret operating systems. What Rowe couldn’t figure out was who did it or how to stop it sinking every other submarine in the American fleet. Kali Delamagente is a struggling over-the-hill grad student who entered a DARPA cybersecurity competition as a desperate last hope to fund a sophisticated artificial intelligence she called Otto. Though her presentation imploded, she caught the attention of two people: a terrorist intent on destroying America and a rapt Dr. Zeke Rowe. An anonymous blank check to finish her research is quickly followed by multiple break-ins to her lab, a hack of her computer, the disappearance of her three-legged dog, and finally the kidnapping of her only son. By all measures, Rowe and Delamagente are an unlikely duo. Rowe believes in brawn and Delamagente brains. To save the America they both love, they find a middle ground, guided with the wisdom of a formidable female who died two million years ago. About the Author: J Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.

Treasure (Fox Book 5)


Adam Hardy - 2016
    Lieutenant George Abercrombie Fox was no exception. It began well with a sharp action and a prize taken. Then things began to go wrong. A lee shore and an escape against desperate odds. Treachery, death and the treasure. Always the treasure. FOX IS NOT THE NOBLE HERO OF TRADITIONAL FICTION. FOX IS A FIGHTING MAN WHO TRANSCENDS HEROISM — HE DOESN’T CARE HOW HE WINS AS LONG AS HE WINS. HE’S MEAN, CUNNING AND MOST VICIOUS WHEN TRAPPED. THERE’S NO WAY TO OUTFOX FOX! Adam Hardy was a pen name used by Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005). A prolific writer, Bulmer wrote over 160 novels and many short stories, both under his real name and various pen names. He is best known for science fiction, including his long-running Dray Prescot series of planetary romances, but he wrote in many genres.

Hamfist Over Hanoi


G.E. Nolly - 2012
    He is based at Yokota Air Base, in Japan, and becomes comfortable flying generals and other VIPs around Asia in his Sabreliner executive jet. He is adjusting to his new marriage, and aside from the stress of TDY assignments, life is placid.But the war returns with a vengeance when Hamfist suffers a personal loss at the hands of the North Vietnamese. Hamfist knows that the only way he can find inner peace is to go back for another combat tour, to try to bring the horrific war to a speedy end. And this time, he will fly a fighter, the top-of-the-line F-4 Phantom II.Hamfist checks out in the F-4 and arrives at his base in Thailand just in time for the start of Operation Linebacker, the bombing offensive over Hanoi. He soon finds himself flying over the most heavily defended area in the world, dodging Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) and dueling with enemy aircraft, the vaunted MiG-series fighters. And along the way he has picked up two new goals: completing 100 missions over North Vietnam and defeating a MiG in aerial combat.Only time will tell if Hamfist will achieve his 100 missions, score a victory over a MiG and, most important, help end the war.

Brandywine's War


Robert Vaughan - 1971
    and Vietnam has its own comic masterpiece - Lt Col Joseph M.F. May There are dozens of unforgettable characters, and scores of authentic scenes in Brandywine's War. From behind the headlines, and the front-line dispatches has come this Rabelaisian novel. Chief Warrant Officer Vaughan completed Brandywine's War while serving his second of three tours of duty in Vietnam.

The Forest of Assassins


David Forsmark - 2013
    It is must-read on every page.” ----THOMAS FLEMING: Author of A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of the Civil War“The Forest of Assassins is a great read, a novel as good as the best journalism, with vivid and accurate details driving a tale of danger and deception and betrayal during the Vietnam War. This book doesn't just feel researched, it feels lived. Whether tightening the suspense – our protagonist, Navy Lieutenant Hank Dillon eyeball to eyeball with a VC soldier and watching for the skin to whiten on the man’s finger curled around the trigger of his AK-47 – or describing the oppressive heat of an innocent afternoon on the Mekong Delta, David Forsmark and Timothy Imholt make you believe every word of it. I couldn't recommend it more highly.-ROBERT FERRIGNO, NY Times best-selling novelist, Prayers for the AssassinAs real as fiction gets. A non-stop ride into combat told with perfection.-BOB HAMER, veteran FBI undercover agent and the author of The Last UndercoverThe Forest of Assassins is a historic thriller set in the earliest days of the American involvement in the Vietnam War. It involved the earliest of Navy SEAL teams. It is set in a time when the NAVY still did not admit these men existed, much less had they determined if those units would survive until the next conflict, or if the experiment would be abandoned. The Forest of Assassins tells the story of Navy SEAL Lieutenant Hank Dillon, a squad commander, deep in the jungles of South Vietnam when America’s involvement in the war was still in the “advisor” stage. Dillon’s mission is to wreak havoc among the Viet Cong guerillas who are terrorizing the countryside.Their mission—and even their presence in the region—is top secret. But Hank has a problem even bigger than a deadly and determined enemy; he has a traitor in the ranks.Meanwhile, a suspicious NCIS cop is nosing around Hank’s mysterious operation, certain that it is a front for drug running and other illegal activities.Things are tense for the young Lieutenant who just wants to go home to his wife…intact.

The President’s Weapon


Russ Snyder - 2015
    Determined to fight terrorists and protect his country and its citizens, President Williams moves ahead three weeks later with a risky plan. But first, he needs help from an old friend from the Marine Corp, Captain Richard Starr. Starr has the perfect weapon to help the president in the war against terrorism: Sergeant Marvin Styles, a seasoned recon sniper whose mission is simple—to kill the enemy by any means available. Helping Styles and Starr is fighter pilot J. C. Christman and the world’s best computer hacker, Darlene Phillips. Williams hides the quartet of experts under the umbrella of his newly-formed department tasked with filtering terrorist information gathered by worldwide intelligence agencies and then reporting its findings directly to Williams. With their agenda declared, only two mission perimeters are set—to not get caught or kill innocent people. In this political thriller, a group of experts acting on orders from the President of the United States must do everything in their power to rock the world of terrorism to its core as an anxious world waits.

Body Count: A Special Forces thriller set in the Vietnam War


Eric Helm - 1984
    BUT CHARLIE OWNED THE CLOCK! One morning there was nothing but hot, thick jungle and steaming swamp. And the Viet Cong. The next morning there were three hundred sweating, groaning men chopping and chain sawing a hole in that particular hunk of hell. And that's where Captain Mack Gerber and his Scorpion Squad were going to set up shop. Right in the VC's backyard. Gerber's orders were simple: Let the VC know they didn't own the delta anymore; let them know they were in a lastditch fight; and make sure it was the last thing they'd ever know. But Victor Charlie had their own plans. A clock was ticking. Soon all hell would break loose and there wouldn't be enough survivors left to do a ... body count.

Silent Warpath


Dominic Conlon - 2011
    He learns that project Cetus is a state of the art un-manned submarine. Built using stealth technology, it carries a new type of deadly underwater weapon.But during sea trials Natasha, analyst on the project, makes a terrifying discovery: Cetus is no longer under her control. Sean and Natasha are forced to work together to find out who is behind the sabotage.  Sean is being hunted by the very forces he is trying to help, and time is running out.Cetus is on the warpath. And it won't stop until it finds its ultimate prey.Skilfully blending elements of political manoeuvring, naval warfare and high technology, Silent Warpath is a spy thriller at heart. Written by first time author Dominic Conlon, the novel should appeal to followers of Tom Clancy, Frederick Forsyth and Clive Cussler.

Devil's Guard: The Real Story


Eric Meyer - 2010
    It's the first in the series to describe their events in the bloodthirsty combat of Indochina. Following the myths and legends about Nazis recruited by the French Foreign Legion to fight in Indochina, Eric Meyer's new book is based on the real story of one such former Waffen-SS man who lived to tell the tale. The Legion recruited widely from soldiers left unemployed and homeless by the defeat of Germany in 1945. They offered a new identity and passport to men who could bring their fighting abilities to the jungles and rice paddies of what was to become Vietnam. These were ruthless, trained killers, brutalised by the war on the Eastern Front, their killing skills honed to a razor's edge. They found their true home in Indochina, where they fought and became a byword for brutal military efficiency.