One Very Hot Day

Halberstam’s book is a sort of Vietnam-themed One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, following an ARVN infantry patrol and its American advisers. Captain Beaupre is tired and full of self-loathing, Lieutenant Anderson is professional and ambitious, Lieutenant Thoung cynical and prideful. They stumble forwards through the soul-crushing heat towards an elusive enemy, following intelligence they distrust and the orders of men they do not respect in service to a purposeless cause.

This book is a good picture of the early adviser’s war, written by a man who clearly knew the country, but it’ll never be a classic. The deeper literary ambitions never really came together, and ultimately something that might’ve had punch as a short story is spread over 200 pages and three narrators. Recommended only for completionists.