The Embassy House

by Nicholas Proffitt

While working for the CIA in Vietnam in early 1970, Special Forces Captain Jake Gulliver is caught in the crossfire between duty and conscience

399 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

Nicholas Proffitt's novel Gardens of Stone was based on his service as a member of the 3rd U.S. Infantry detachment detailed to serve as the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. After his military service, he graduated from the University of Arizona with a journalism degree and went to work for Newsweek as a reporter, subsequently working in Vietnam and Lebanon. He eventually rose to the position of Newsweek's Bureau Chief in London and, later, Nairobi; he retired in 1981 and devoted his time to writing book-length fiction and short stories.

Reviews

[thebookpinguin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ended up reading this book totally randomly and, though the plot was quite good overall with interesting points of views on American soldiers and CIA agents spending their lives in Vietnam while knowing the pointlessness of their presence at war, and suspenseful plotlines-which would have made this book a serious reading- it was way too many times discredited by absurd/embarrassing, hilarious or disgusting/always inappropriate sex scenes that definitely didn't serve the plot well. Can someone erase that melon anecdote from my brain ? Also, it seemed like the introduction of every female character had to match all the possible stigmas of female soldiers/sexy badass spy agent/shy poor little thing/boob description no one asked for/. Felt like it was written by someone who has never seen a woman irl. Its absurdity and discredit made me laugh but, sadly, I was unable to take the book seriously and that's definitely a problem when you expect to read a thriller about Vietnam war.

[Pamela Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the past years, I haven't been a fan of a Vietnam war novel. But this one, this one is different.
This one left a mark on me.
I didn't know I have a fetish for war novels until I read The Embassy House.

[Steve822 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a page turner and interesting detail regarding the Vietnam War. The ending seemed a bit far fetched, with the main character (who gets to bed the important female characters who all fall in love with him - yes it's one of those books from another time) turning into some sort of super hero with the power to stretch credibility. Saying that, no regrets in reading it, sometimes you just need to put your brain on hold and go with the story flow.

[Jeff Veen]

Good read. Motives are a little hard to understand. The man knew a lot of details about things on the ground, having covered it in person. A few descriptive lines are throw aways, but overall you'll learn something about Vietnamese politics and enjoy a bit of covert mission fiction that borders on the unrealistic. A bit shocked that the author checked out in 2006 at age 63. Too young.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loosely based on my Dad's experiences in the war.