The Last Bridge

by Brian Garfield

Cliffs hang over the rail bridge that crosses the Sang Chu River, protecting the vital North Vietnamese supply line from attack by American bombers. It’s only accessible by a parachute drop that would put American GIs deep behind enemy lines. No point on the Ho Chi Minh Trail is more crucial to the Viet Cong war effort, and nowhere is more tightly guarded. Colonel David Tyreen has just sent a team to destroy the bridge, and none returned. It’s time to assemble another team. The weather is awful, and the only plane available is a rickety old captured jet. Tyreen’s mission is suicide, pure and simple, and he asks only for volunteers. The eight men who sign on have nothing to fear from death. This is lucky, for death approaches with all the speed of the swirling Sang Chu current.

285 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Brian Francis Wynne Garfield was a novelist and screenwriter. He wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen, and gained prominence with 1975 his book Hopscotch, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. He is best known for his 1972 novel Death Wish, which was adapted for the 1974 film of the same title, followed by four sequels, and a remake starring Bruce Willis.

His follow-up 1975 sequel to Death Wish, Death Sentence, was very loosely adapted into a film of the same name which was released to theaters in late 2007, though an entirely different storyline, but with the novel's same look on vigilantism. Garfield is also the author of The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. Garfield's latest book, published in 2007, is Meinertzhagen, the biography of controversial British intelligence officer Richard Meinertzhagen.

Brian Garfield was the author of more than 70 books that sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, and 19 of his works were made into films or TV shows. He also served as president of the Western Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America.

Pseudonyms:
• Bennett Garland
• John Ives
• Drew Mallory
• Frank O'Brian
• Brian Wynne
• Frank Wynne