Assignment in Saigon

by Bill Rapp

Karl Baier has been enjoying his tour on the CIA's seventh floor as the Special Advisor for Strategic affairs, a reward of sorts for his successful mission in Turkey two years earlier. But with the intensifying and divisive debate in Washington about America's future engagement in Vietnam, the Director sends Baier on a special mission to Saigon to prepare a report on the Agency's assessment of the situation on the ground and the prospects for America's growing involvement. The assignment has a specific focus and a tight deadline.But it isn't long before Baier is drawn into a dangerous operation that has much deeper implications for the war itself and the broader global and strategic competition, of which Vietnam is only one part.    

Kindle Edition

Published March 11, 2025

About the author

I may have spent the last thirty-five years as a diplomat/analyst working for the federal government, but I began my adult life as a professional historian. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in History and German, I received my M.A. in European History from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. I taught history at Iowa State University for one year but then decided to shift my efforts to something less settled and moved to Washington, D.C. That career has taken me to Berlin, Ottawa, Baghdad, and now London, with long stays in Washington in between.

Through it all I never lost my love of history and literature, especially crime fiction, which I often read to take a break from all the history books I had to study for my course work, thesis, and dissertation. Fortunately, I was able to apply that affinity for our past throughout my career with the government, while it also inspired much of my writing. You can see that, for example, in the Berlin novels, especially Tears of Innocence, as I spent several years there as a student and later as a diplomat during the fall of the Wall and Germany's reunification. Even the Naperville private detective series (Angel in Black, A Pale Rain, and Burning Altars) draws on the local history and development of the Chicago area, just as Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald--the two paragons of American detective fiction, in my eyes--did in their novels and stories set in southern California.

Reviews

[Tom Sterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Assignment in Saigon, by author Bill Rapp.

This was the fifth book in Rapp’s Cold War Thriller series about CIA analyst Karl Baier. In this book, Baier traveled to Saigon on a special field assignment back in 1964, a year before the U.S. officially became involved in the Vietnam War. He was sent to assess the newly formed South Vietnamese government and to learn everything he could learn about the situation on the ground in Vietnam.

The book was a fun and interesting read for me. My wife is Vietnamese, and her family moved from Hue to Saigon after the Tet Offensive in 1968. From discussions with my older in-laws and some books that I read, the author’s descriptions of the people and places seem pretty accurate. I also remember seeing some of the places described in the book while on vacation in Vietnam a few years ago. I like the Karl Baier character, who reminded me of that Jack Ryan character in those Tom Clancy books. I like how Baier was torn between returning home to safety and his family vs. completing his mission as best he could. Baier felt believable and I found myself rooting for him to succeed. The story was intriguing also, as Baier peeled away at the many layers of complex activities going on throughout Saigon and the surrounding countryside. The tension and danger built up as the novel progressed, and Baier discovered players working and efforts underway in the South that had previously been unknown.

This was my first book by Bill Rapp. I really enjoyed the level of detail the author put into describing the people and places, and the story kept me guessing. Rapp’s background as a historian and former official with the CIA really helped bring the story to life and made it feel true.

I’ll be reading more of Karl Baier’s adventures!

[Carol Markowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Rapp draws us into the shadowy world of Vietnam in his latest spy thriller Assignment in Saigon. His protagonist Karl Baier has been sent to Saigon on a specific mission, but he finds himself in potentially deadly situations as he investigates the politics of the country. Once again Rapp brings authenticity to his book based on his long career at the CIA. Cold war era Vietnam is brought to life through vivid descriptions of the place and its culture. The book blends history, politics, and danger, making it a great read. Anyone who grew up in the era of the Vietnam war, as I did, will find this book fascinating.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was attracted to the time and place in this atmospheric novel: Saigon, the early 1960s, before the US military buildup that went wrong got underway. The protagonist, CIA officer Karl Baier, is sent to Saigon to advise policymakers on America’s course in Vietnam. What he sees and experiences convinces him that America has immersed itself into an unwinnable quagmire. Does anybody listen? Nope. The horse had left the barn. We know how it ends. A chopper perched on a rooftop, people desperately clambering to get aboard.