‘Word of Honor’ is a mid-life crisis novel and a legal thriller. I’m most interested, however, in its place in the American zeitgeist at the time of its publication.

Here’s the hook: Ben Tyson is a successful New York businessman whose world is turned upside down when a new history of the Vietnam War reveals that he led a platoon which massacred a hospital full of civilians near the cit of Hue.

Tyson’s relationships with his wife and son, as well as the Army Investigation and court-martial which follow the revelations, comprise the narrative spine of the novel. However, they’re not the most interesting thing about ‘Word of Honor.’ The book was published in 1985, during a time I think of as the great recontextualizing of the Vietnam War. This was the decade of the Rambo movies, which took its protagonist from deeply wounded veteran struggling with PTSD to Defender of the American Way. It was the decade of the “Missing in Action” and “Bat*21,” about the heroism of the American fighting man. In other words, it was a time when American popular culture was honoring Vietnam veterans - veterans whom it had largely neglected. Author Nelson DeMille challenges that narrative by giving us a character who failed in Viet Nam; one for whom it could be said that America in Viet Nam failed him. This novel feels like the cry of a wounded animal, one with a paw stuck in a trap that it sprung on itself. It’s an important part of the story of American healing - one which is still underway.

That said, is ‘Word of Honor’ worth reading for those with no particular interest in Viet Nam or the family lives of upper class New Yorkers? I think so. This novel isn’t a life-changer, but its worth picking up if you spot it in your local library. It’s well constructed, with interesting characters and something to say about an important time in American history. I enjoyed it.