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The Hill: A Novel
Many good men would die, or survive forever scarred, in the fight for Hill 875
Ty is the grunt. The point man for his platoon with the uncanny instincts to see, hear, and smell out the hidden enemy. Jason is the favored one. The football hero picked for officer candidate school who determinedly leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return.
Ty and Jason, Oklahoma brothers so different in character yet so close to soul, will reunite in the Battle of Dak To and in the harrowing battle for Hill 875—an insignificant piece of ground that will set stranger to kill stranger for no reason at all, and brother to save brother for the one reason that matters.
“An action-adventure novel at that genre’s best.”— Publishers Weekly
Ty is the grunt. The point man for his platoon with the uncanny instincts to see, hear, and smell out the hidden enemy. Jason is the favored one. The football hero picked for officer candidate school who determinedly leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return.
Ty and Jason, Oklahoma brothers so different in character yet so close to soul, will reunite in the Battle of Dak To and in the harrowing battle for Hill 875—an insignificant piece of ground that will set stranger to kill stranger for no reason at all, and brother to save brother for the one reason that matters.
“An action-adventure novel at that genre’s best.”— Publishers Weekly
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Leonard B. Scott
12 books57 followersLeonard B. Scott (Col. USA ret.) is also the author of the acclaimed novels Charlie Mike, The Last Run, The Hill, The Expendables, The Iron Men, and Forged in Honor. Scott retired in 1994 as a full colonel after a twenty-seven-year career in the United States Army, with assignments throughout the world. A veteran of Vietnam, he earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Colonel Scott devotes all his time to researching and writing his novels. He and his wife have returned to their home state of Oklahoma, bought their dream house, and declare they're never moving again.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 13, 2021
I heard somewhere there are something like 40,000 Vietnam War novels--this from the days when self-publishing wasn't even a thing. Well, here's one. It's an action novel, filled with realistic and graphic war scenes. The author Scott was a Lt. Colonel in Vietnam, so he has the experience to write this book. His characters, young, patriotic men, are real enough (as an Army Vet, Scott's perspective here is to show the sacrifice and honor of the average soldier, leaving the politics as a distant blur.)
A broader theme, if the reader cares to consider it, is the failure of asymmetrical warfare against an indigenous population. The US strategy in Vietnam was to find the enemy, hiding in the jungles and forests, and destroy him. The enemy's strategy, born of necessity, was to hide in the jungles and forests, and kill the invaders when least expected and least risky. Remember the school-days' Revolutionary War tale, of how the American Revolutionaries hid in the forests and fired on the red-coated, marionette troops sent by King George? Haha, so clever. Pity General Westmoreland hadn't heard that story. He might have thought twice before sending half-a-million US soldiers to Vietnam.
A broader theme, if the reader cares to consider it, is the failure of asymmetrical warfare against an indigenous population. The US strategy in Vietnam was to find the enemy, hiding in the jungles and forests, and destroy him. The enemy's strategy, born of necessity, was to hide in the jungles and forests, and kill the invaders when least expected and least risky. Remember the school-days' Revolutionary War tale, of how the American Revolutionaries hid in the forests and fired on the red-coated, marionette troops sent by King George? Haha, so clever. Pity General Westmoreland hadn't heard that story. He might have thought twice before sending half-a-million US soldiers to Vietnam.
April 25, 2015
This is primarily a story about two half brothers from Oklahoma, along with a strong supporting cast, who find themselves, via separate paths, in Viet Nam in the 1960s. The author is a career soldier and served in Viet Nam. His writing, I believe, to be a slice of life during this war and I found it disturbing. Reading his work makes me doubt that the American military, or perhaps political, leadership had an overall goal in mind in this conflict. It seems we were reactive more times than proactive and that lives were lost where there was no stretegic objective to be gained.
September 10, 2015
SPOILER ALERT:
Jason and Ty are brothers, who live in a small town in Oklahoma. Big brother, Jason, is a football star and got a scholarship to play in college. Ty is a senior in high school, with hopes of getting a football scholarship of his own after this final season. Unfortunately, both are picked on, Jason by his coach and Ty by the high school principal. Ty is injured in practice and unable to play football so his scholarship possibilities vanish. Later, with the backing of the principal, fellow students set-up Ty to get in trouble with the law and he is eventually kicked out of school, then immediately joins the Army against the wishes of his parents. Jason is good enough to be a starter, but isn't given a chance to play in college - doomed to be a human dummy on the football practice squad and then has his scholarship revoked by his spiteful coach. With no money for college, Jason also joins the Army, goes to OCS and becomes an officer, then follows in the footsteps of his ancestors and younger brother - going to jump school and earning his Airborne Wings.
Ty is sent to Vietnam as an Airborne Infantryman in the Central Highlands. There, he becomes a skilled tracker and point man, promising those with him that he would keep them safe. He, soon garners the reputation of being the best in the battalion. Jason arrives in Vietnam a few months later and heads up an infantry platoon in the mountains around Dak To. His platoon is soon ambushed and he loses most of his men on the hill, barely surviving himself. However, he's learned valuable lessons about the enemy that he will use later in his tour. Both brothers are soon reunited and end up together in the fight for Hill 875 during November, 1967.
The author has painted vivid and accurate scenes of the battles of Dak To, the story seems to follow the same sequence of events as listed in the historical registers. Although, "The Hill' is fiction, yet, it is clear that the author called upon his own memories of these terrible times. The accuracy is spot on and readers are drawn in as if there are right there with the soldiers fighting for their lives. This tome is visceral in its descriptions and tells it like it was - leaving nothing to the imagination. It's too real!
Characters are well rounded and I was saddened when they begin dying in the story. This story will also show readers how those 18 and 19 year old soldiers fought heroically and did everything in their power to protect one-another. These were the best that America had at the time.
I completely enjoyed this story and found it hard to put down - completing it within three days. I recommend "The Hill" to anyone that wants to learn more about what happened to some of us in Vietnam and why many combat vets suffer today with recurring memories and nightmares of those past days we left behind.
Thank you Leonard B. Scott for an entertaining read! Also, thank you for your Service and Welcome Home, sir!
John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel
Jason and Ty are brothers, who live in a small town in Oklahoma. Big brother, Jason, is a football star and got a scholarship to play in college. Ty is a senior in high school, with hopes of getting a football scholarship of his own after this final season. Unfortunately, both are picked on, Jason by his coach and Ty by the high school principal. Ty is injured in practice and unable to play football so his scholarship possibilities vanish. Later, with the backing of the principal, fellow students set-up Ty to get in trouble with the law and he is eventually kicked out of school, then immediately joins the Army against the wishes of his parents. Jason is good enough to be a starter, but isn't given a chance to play in college - doomed to be a human dummy on the football practice squad and then has his scholarship revoked by his spiteful coach. With no money for college, Jason also joins the Army, goes to OCS and becomes an officer, then follows in the footsteps of his ancestors and younger brother - going to jump school and earning his Airborne Wings.
Ty is sent to Vietnam as an Airborne Infantryman in the Central Highlands. There, he becomes a skilled tracker and point man, promising those with him that he would keep them safe. He, soon garners the reputation of being the best in the battalion. Jason arrives in Vietnam a few months later and heads up an infantry platoon in the mountains around Dak To. His platoon is soon ambushed and he loses most of his men on the hill, barely surviving himself. However, he's learned valuable lessons about the enemy that he will use later in his tour. Both brothers are soon reunited and end up together in the fight for Hill 875 during November, 1967.
The author has painted vivid and accurate scenes of the battles of Dak To, the story seems to follow the same sequence of events as listed in the historical registers. Although, "The Hill' is fiction, yet, it is clear that the author called upon his own memories of these terrible times. The accuracy is spot on and readers are drawn in as if there are right there with the soldiers fighting for their lives. This tome is visceral in its descriptions and tells it like it was - leaving nothing to the imagination. It's too real!
Characters are well rounded and I was saddened when they begin dying in the story. This story will also show readers how those 18 and 19 year old soldiers fought heroically and did everything in their power to protect one-another. These were the best that America had at the time.
I completely enjoyed this story and found it hard to put down - completing it within three days. I recommend "The Hill" to anyone that wants to learn more about what happened to some of us in Vietnam and why many combat vets suffer today with recurring memories and nightmares of those past days we left behind.
Thank you Leonard B. Scott for an entertaining read! Also, thank you for your Service and Welcome Home, sir!
John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel
September 5, 2021
The 1st of the books I was ordered to read by father who was a Vietnam vet years later I would find out the action depicted in the novel was action he witnessed as or had been near as a Helicopter pilot in Vietnam.... UNUSAL in VIETNAM books it presents an enemy who likable.... the protagonists in the book have their own hill thousands of miles away which one loves the way an antagonist loves his hill which becomes a battle ground. Some of heroes enemies are deceitful countrymen and messed up members of their own military. Having been to southern Oklahoma yeah....made me appreciate the book all the more.
July 6, 2023
Jason and Ty, two stepbrothers from Oklahoma, dream of playing football and going to college. But circumstances force them to take different paths into the Army. Their experiences in Vietnam threaten to tear them apart even as they realize just how strong their love for each other is. A beautiful novel about setting down deep roots and facing storms together.
January 12, 2019
Great story, well written.
March 21, 2019
The book that convinced me to go to Ranger School.....at 13
April 30, 2022
Good book. Followed true experiences in Viet Nam as we experienced.
December 30, 2023
Author keeps you engaged from the beginning.
January 12, 2016
The Hill is a story of two step-brothers from Oklahoma who both enlist in the Army for their own reasons and find themselves mired in a bloody conflict with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) on Hill 875. When we first meet the protagonists they're both still in high school; one is a star athlete on his way to college on a scholarship, the other slightly younger and a promising athlete as well, with a chip on his shoulder and a proclivity for pissing people off who aren't especially forgiving.
My main criticism of this novel is with the supporting characters. Specifically, their lack of complexity gives this section of the book a Norman Rockwell/Hallmark movie feel. For example, the antagonistic characters aren't given much to do other than antagonize people, whereas the NVA officers are painted in a much more sympathetic light. This contrast creates an interesting dichotomy wherein soldiers sent to kill each other have more in common with their enemies, and more respect for them, than they do with some of the jackasses back home. This isn't to say that all the supporting characters are underdeveloped, or boring, or what have you. Not at all. The story about the hill back home in Oklahoma is very vivid and powerful--and a sense of place is rendered beautifully here. That said, it'd be nice if the supporting characters had a bit more depth.
When the story segues into recruitment and military training the characters get pretty gung ho and it begins to feel a bit like an armed forces recruitment pitch. This is contrasted by the horror of combat that comes later in the story. This is where the book really shines. In the course of reading The Hill I looked up and watched a short documentary (on youtube) about the battle of Hill 875 to get a better understanding of the book's historical context and to better visualize the geography. Scott doesn't pull any punches here. His representation of events, albeit through the eyes of fictional characters, appears to be very accurate and brutally honest.
On the whole it's a good book. The high school in small town America aspect of the story felt a bit trite at times and some of the characters are under developed. Everything else is very real and authentic. Is this a definitive novel of The Vietnam War? Probably not. That said, it's a good war story. And the fact that it still holds up more than twenty years after it was written certainly speaks to that.
My main criticism of this novel is with the supporting characters. Specifically, their lack of complexity gives this section of the book a Norman Rockwell/Hallmark movie feel. For example, the antagonistic characters aren't given much to do other than antagonize people, whereas the NVA officers are painted in a much more sympathetic light. This contrast creates an interesting dichotomy wherein soldiers sent to kill each other have more in common with their enemies, and more respect for them, than they do with some of the jackasses back home. This isn't to say that all the supporting characters are underdeveloped, or boring, or what have you. Not at all. The story about the hill back home in Oklahoma is very vivid and powerful--and a sense of place is rendered beautifully here. That said, it'd be nice if the supporting characters had a bit more depth.
When the story segues into recruitment and military training the characters get pretty gung ho and it begins to feel a bit like an armed forces recruitment pitch. This is contrasted by the horror of combat that comes later in the story. This is where the book really shines. In the course of reading The Hill I looked up and watched a short documentary (on youtube) about the battle of Hill 875 to get a better understanding of the book's historical context and to better visualize the geography. Scott doesn't pull any punches here. His representation of events, albeit through the eyes of fictional characters, appears to be very accurate and brutally honest.
On the whole it's a good book. The high school in small town America aspect of the story felt a bit trite at times and some of the characters are under developed. Everything else is very real and authentic. Is this a definitive novel of The Vietnam War? Probably not. That said, it's a good war story. And the fact that it still holds up more than twenty years after it was written certainly speaks to that.
April 19, 2013
As American troops and the North Vietnam Army lock horns in the fight for hill 875 at Dak To, two brothers Private Ty Nance and Lieutenant Jason Nance struggle to make sense of the nightmare they have landed in.
Both joined the Army for the two year terms, for different reasons, Jason to continue his studies, and Ty to save the Red Hill that his grandfather George has left for him.
Both follow different paths to Vietnam, but their paths converge at Hill 875, where both sides shed human lives, blood and limbs to prove a point, that becomes meaningless no sooner than the battle is over.
The horrors of war are described very vividly. Now after so many years, it is difficult to understand why so many lives were sacrificed on both sides.
Both joined the Army for the two year terms, for different reasons, Jason to continue his studies, and Ty to save the Red Hill that his grandfather George has left for him.
Both follow different paths to Vietnam, but their paths converge at Hill 875, where both sides shed human lives, blood and limbs to prove a point, that becomes meaningless no sooner than the battle is over.
The horrors of war are described very vividly. Now after so many years, it is difficult to understand why so many lives were sacrificed on both sides.
October 11, 2016
I absolutely loved this book! It was my work book, and it was so difficult not to read it at home. The battles and the relationships between the soldiers kept me enthralled through the entire thing. It is amazing the level of sacrifice our country has given to save the lives of others. I am a firm believer that we should always assist others in time of need no matter our personal cost. We are one world after all, not one country. We are one people.
September 3, 2016
A visceral, intense novel about the horrors of Vietnam. Scott pulls no punches and writes with a vividness that puts you in the scenes. This novel captures both the indefatigable spirit of our armed forces while also showing the harsh futility of being forced to capture nameless hills for the advancement of a political goal.
January 16, 2008
The second in the series... awesome stories.
July 6, 2009
Great Book about the eleven day offensive to take "Hamburger Hill"
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews