Army Blue

by Lucian K. Truscott IV

From the bestselling author of Dress Gray. “Part-war story, part-family saga . . . zeroes in on the men of the Blue family, three generations of soldiers” (The Washington Post). In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his first novel, Dress Gray, Truscott turns his attention to the Vietnam War and delivers a suspenseful, sprawling court-martial drama set in Saigon in 1969.  At twenty-three, platoon leader Lt. Matthew Nelson Blue is the youngest member of an army family; his father is a colonel and his grandfather a profane, cantankerous retired general. Shortly after one of his men is killed by friendly fire while on routine patrol, Blue is arrested and charged with desertion in the face of the enemy. Arriving in Vietnam, his father and grandfather end their long estrangement and join forces to clear the young soldier’s name. Truscott’s plot offers less than initially meets the eye; the nature of the conspiracy and cover-up that nearly destroy Blue is fairly easy to predict, as is the disillusionment about Vietnam that eventually befalls his seniors.  The author’s intimate portrayal of the texture of army life gives his narrative a more deeply felt sense of anger and regret than others in its genre, and makes its final revelations more powerful than they might otherwise have been.

Genres: Fiction, Military Fiction

514 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Lucian Truscott IV is an American writer and journalist.Truscott was born in Japan to US Army Colonel Lucian K. III and Anne (née Harloe). His grandfather Lucian Jr was a US Army general during World War II where he commanded the 3rd Infantry Division and later the Fifth Army in Italy. His father Lucian III served in the US Army in Korea and Vietnam, retiring as a colonel.

Truscott attended the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1969.He was then assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado. There, he wrote an article about heroin addiction among enlisted soldiers and another about what he felt was an illegal court martial. He was threatened with being sent to Vietnam, so he resigned his commission about thirteen months after graduating, receiving a "general discharge under other than honorable conditions."

Eyewitness to the July 1969 Stonewall riots.

Starting in 1970, he joined The Village Voice as a freelancer and later staff writer.Truscott's first novel was Dress Grey and was about a West Point cadet who was found dead. It was a bestseller, appearing thirteen weeks on The New York Times hardcover bestseller list and seven weeks on the paperback list. He has since published five additional novels.

He lives in Sag Harbor, New York with his wife Carolyn.

Reviews

[Matt Hardman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truscott's Army roots come through in his writing. A dramatic page-turner that's more Hemingway or Remarque than Clancy or Coonts.

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good novel about the Vietnam War. It shows some of the advantages the ranked military personnel had in the war. Living is Saigon, black marketeering., taking advantage of their positions, etc. I enjoyed it and it was difficult to put down.

[Don Ekback · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never gained much interest and felt it was largely a waste of my time.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1990. The story of three generation of soldiers.

[David Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucian Truscott’s Army Blue is the story of 3 generations of Army officers in the Vietnam Conflict. The family is divided by the falling out of the Colonel and the General, the lieutenant’s father and grandfather respectively. The grandfather and the father are notified that their grandson/son had been arrested for treason. The Colonel and General must join forces in order to protect one of their own. However, they stumble onto a truth so far-fetched that they require the assistance of a reporter and one of the Lieutenant’s men. Eventually, they get to the bottom of the issue, are able to save the Lt., and the Father and Grandfather become reconciled.
This is one of the few historical fiction books about the Vietnam Conflict that I like. It really shows that the author is an Army officer and from an Army family. For once an author gets all the little details that annoy those with even a casual knowdge of the content, unlike many other historical fiction works about the Vietnam war that seem to have been based off a Hollywood movie versions of the Vietnam Conflict.
The main theme in this book is family; it shows how the values are passed on to the next generation that will make then successful. It also shows the power of family over any barriers that have been set up by those in the family. Finally, it shows the concept of taking care of one’s own and the importance of blood especially, in the south.

[Rob Tesselaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect this book has lost something with the passage of time. It's not a bad plot, standard Vietnam War corrupt senior officers theme.

[Booknblues · Rating 3 out of 5]

A court martial in Saigon in 1969