What do you think?
Rate this book
QL 4
A story of intrigue, betrayal, and crime among soldiers on the same side in an unpopular war.
PFC Bell, a newly-minted U.S. Army MP, quickly discovers that there’s more than a war going on along QL 4, the main road from Saigon into the Mekong Delta. It’s old-fashioned crime and corruption. He doesn’t want to get involved, just serve out his time and go home, but life for an American MP in Vietnam in 1970 doesn’t work that way. QL 4 leads Bell deep into a swamp of deception, mayhem, and death that insinuates its way both into towns the MPs patrol each day and into the old French villa where they live.
PFC Bell, a newly-minted U.S. Army MP, quickly discovers that there’s more than a war going on along QL 4, the main road from Saigon into the Mekong Delta. It’s old-fashioned crime and corruption. He doesn’t want to get involved, just serve out his time and go home, but life for an American MP in Vietnam in 1970 doesn’t work that way. QL 4 leads Bell deep into a swamp of deception, mayhem, and death that insinuates its way both into towns the MPs patrol each day and into the old French villa where they live.
379 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2017
5 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2017
In QL 4 Jim Garrison skillfully lays out a story of murder, corruption and intrigue, all set within the Military Police ranks of soldiers serving in the War along the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam. Not really a war novel, QL 4 draws upon the personal experiences and perceptions of Garrison’s own service. The story builds and develops interesting characters in the complex interplay between Military Police and the Vietnamese culture along the major highway known as QL 4. Throughout the story “lifers,” who have chosen the military as a career, and draftees and non-career volunteers, who are only attempting to survive and then return home, are participants in subplots orbiting around the intersection of race, rank and social status within the a wartime military; however the major plot unfolds as unexplained deaths and events raise questions in the mind of the lead character, PFC Bell, whose primary personal objective is to stay clear of trouble, serve his hitch and then return to finish graduate school. Gradually, Bell realizes that he cannot ignore the pattern of unexplained deaths, mysterious happenings and strange behaviors and takes big risks to do his duty and resolve the mystery.
I found this novel extremely interesting and well-written, with expressive language and short, topical chapters which allowed many start and stop opportunities. I came to know and to care about characters and was quickly drawn into the story. The novel should be interesting to both veterans and those who did not serve, yet who had family and friends in the War. ~~ Tom Watts
I found this novel extremely interesting and well-written, with expressive language and short, topical chapters which allowed many start and stop opportunities. I came to know and to care about characters and was quickly drawn into the story. The novel should be interesting to both veterans and those who did not serve, yet who had family and friends in the War. ~~ Tom Watts
July 23, 2017
Another war story? Yes, and no, and that is a good thing. James Garrison draws on his own experience as an MP in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War and brings to life a moment in our history still controversial. QL4 is a major highway crowded by American trucks, Vietnamese three-wheeled rickshaw-like vehicles and people on foot still living as they have for thousands of years in a cacophony of noise and pollution, a clash of cultures in this long, seemingly pointless war. But Garrison uses this place and time simply as the backdrop for his whodunit thriller filled with characters that come alive in a visceral setting of sweltering humidity, boredom alternating on a nearly daily basis with terror. This is a book you will not be able to put down!
May 13, 2017
QL 4 is a most realistic story from an author who experienced the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, 1969 – 1970 first hand. So much of what happened during that time in history we cannot imagine happening today. The war was not about anything but money and greed that was twisted to sound like we were going to save the South Vietnamese from implosion and assimilation. We did our best; gave our all. So many of our boys died for political and monetary gain. God bless them and God bless the USA.
Read
March 24, 2018MWSA Review
This is the fictionalized story of the author’s year as a drafted MP in Vietnam during the war. The story moves forward in a vaguely chronological pace, but the chapters focus on one individual at a time whose name is in the chapter title. Everything that went wrong on bases throughout Vietnam is described as all happening at this small base, and the young MP observes hints of problems while being unsure who can be trusted among his superiors. He comes to realize that the illegal activities involve people in town and in the ranks of their counterparts in the South Vietnamese Army, and he questions the deaths of those who may have become aware of the problems. His duties range from mind-numbing gate guard duties to patrols in town that can be dangerous to crowd-control during a riot. Underlying the story of relationships during the Vietnam war are the cultural tensions between some Americans and the native Vietnamese as well as between black and white American soldiers and between the more and less educated soldiers.
While the extreme foul language is off-putting at first, the reader is drawn into the story as it develops. The main character, SPF4 Bell, has completed one year of law school before being drafted. Not only is he unhappy to be in Vietnam because he does not support the war, but the regular army members (referred to as lifers by Bell) are not impressed with college boys who do not know how to fight or police. Bell and his fellow “new guys” have had only 8 weeks of training and arrive to find that they will learn their new duties “on the job” while patrolling with experienced army regulars who may or may not be trustworthy. Some of these senior soldiers are biased against the native people, blacks, Jews, and the more educated. Some are trigger happy – especially when drunk, which is frequently. Bell becomes more and more curious and, of course, gets into more and more trouble while sometimes being surprised about the support he receives.
Reviewed by Nancy Kauffman, MWSA Reviewer
This is the fictionalized story of the author’s year as a drafted MP in Vietnam during the war. The story moves forward in a vaguely chronological pace, but the chapters focus on one individual at a time whose name is in the chapter title. Everything that went wrong on bases throughout Vietnam is described as all happening at this small base, and the young MP observes hints of problems while being unsure who can be trusted among his superiors. He comes to realize that the illegal activities involve people in town and in the ranks of their counterparts in the South Vietnamese Army, and he questions the deaths of those who may have become aware of the problems. His duties range from mind-numbing gate guard duties to patrols in town that can be dangerous to crowd-control during a riot. Underlying the story of relationships during the Vietnam war are the cultural tensions between some Americans and the native Vietnamese as well as between black and white American soldiers and between the more and less educated soldiers.
While the extreme foul language is off-putting at first, the reader is drawn into the story as it develops. The main character, SPF4 Bell, has completed one year of law school before being drafted. Not only is he unhappy to be in Vietnam because he does not support the war, but the regular army members (referred to as lifers by Bell) are not impressed with college boys who do not know how to fight or police. Bell and his fellow “new guys” have had only 8 weeks of training and arrive to find that they will learn their new duties “on the job” while patrolling with experienced army regulars who may or may not be trustworthy. Some of these senior soldiers are biased against the native people, blacks, Jews, and the more educated. Some are trigger happy – especially when drunk, which is frequently. Bell becomes more and more curious and, of course, gets into more and more trouble while sometimes being surprised about the support he receives.
Reviewed by Nancy Kauffman, MWSA Reviewer
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews