Take Back the Night

Jim Hollister #3

by Dennis Foley

Facing tricky inserts, hot LZs, long nights, and emergency extractions, the LRPs struggled daily in the brutal, bloody nightmare of jungle warfare. In his third and most dangerous tour of 'Nam, Captain Jim Hollister found his unit in real trouble, as drugs spread, racial tensions soared, and morale plummeted. He had to whip these once proud Airborne Rngers back into fighting trim.

Genres: Historical Fiction

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Dennis Foley retired from the Army after several tours in Southeast Asia. He served as a Long Range Patrol Detachment commander, an Airborne Infantry company commander, a Ranger company commander, and a Special Forces “A” Detachment commander. After the Army he started working in Hollywood as an television writer. In addition to his novels, he has written and produced for television and film. He lives in Whitefish, Montana.

Dennis holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College and is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Authors Guild.

Reviews

[David Farrar]

The main character in this book is a US army long range patrol platoon leader in Vietnam. Everything in the book is told from the perspective of the main character, including his assessments of the troops he’s serving with and their missions. Every man in his platoon has volunteered for their dangerous assignments behind enemy lines. The book is about how the lieutenant learns to be a better leader of his men, how he learns to maintain their morale, and how he deals with the politics of an enormous army bureaucracy while staying focused on his work.

I particularly enjoyed this book because during the 80’s I went through the exact same training in the Australian army for long range patrol and reconnaissance. This book brought back all the officer training in field craft and “man management”. It was vivid and realistic. At times the chapters felt like descriptions of training scenarios that made me stop to think “what would I do?”

However, I’m not saying it’s a dry army memoir. It’s an exciting novel. It’s got action and suspense. It’s also got all the moral and ethical issues faced by junior officers who hold their men’s lives in their hands every day.

The author gets it right because he served as a platoon leader and eventually retired from service as a Lieutenant Colonel. The book reads so well because in addition to active service that earned him two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars he’s also taught taught fiction writing at the UCLA Writer's Program for fifteen years and been a successful screen writer and producer.

This is one of the best Vietnam stories I’ve ever read. It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read about young men going to war. I’m going to read the whole series.

[Martin Lesher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Forget!

From November 1955 to The fall of Saigon at the end of April 1975
Vietnam was the beast.
We, the zunietend States lost over 60,000 Sixty Thousand Soldiers,Sailors,
And Marines. Never Again!!
It’s a book,a story but it actually happened

[Frank Lassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vietnam war and some of the leaders and the men

good read. A book about the Vietnam war and some of the leaders and wanna Be’s best who only look out what is good for them

[Michael Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I rate Dennis Foley's trilogy among the best Vietnam books...and warfare books in general. Good character development, fast paced action, accurate details of equipment, tactics, conflicts among heirarchy, and the sad politics of the time. Highly recommended.

[G Bancroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

This book as well as the other two in the trilogy were outstanding. Interesting and well paced to keep me not wanting to stop reading. Kudos to Colonel Foley. I would read more books by him.

[william r hansel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ranger company commander

Get book! Enjoyed reading the trilogy. Highly recommended. Jim Hollister had a great career.. The bottles like Valentine are in every srmy.

[Bill Elston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Fine Book By Dennis Foley

A twisting story that finally ends with the end of the Viet Nam War. Good reading and great storytelling! Enjoy!

[David A Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

That’s it. Nothing like leaving you hanging on a conclusion. After reading the series disappointing end to the story

[Michael Mastro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly Recommend

I can't recommend this series any higher. As one who did not have the Honor Of Serving, it racked my soul and brought tears to my eyes. God Bless those who served.

[Walt Mccluskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take back the night

This has been the best series of any war stories I've ever seen.. A difficult book to put down and full of the little details that make you a participant through your mental eye. I plan to look for other books by. Foley to see if the skills shown here come back.

[Richard W Daub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reading

Foley knows how to take the reader through the action all the preparedness leading up to it. I have read several of his books and the were all first-class reading. I am looking for to more of the same.

[Sandra McLendon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q

Good story lines, lots of action. The ending was a surprise. The part about divorce was so true of what happened to so many good men in Vietnam.

[Joe Graf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great trilogy

Obviously written by someone who was there. An amazing work that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you for your service Mr. Foley.

[Veljko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great 3 book series until the ending. I am really disappointed how the author handled it, it really destroyed this series for me.