27 Knots

“An intense portrait of the men who, willingly and unwillingly, executed their [wartime] duties at the expense of their souls.” —James Brown, author of Lucky Town and The Los Angeles Diaries

Vance Leford was just a kid when he was shipped off to Vietnam. Along with seven others singled out by the US Navy, Vance was sent down the Mekong Delta on a napalm boat as part of the Mobile Riverine Force. Trained as a sniper, Vance’s mission was to destroy key Viet Cong lurking in the jungle that lined the Mekong’s shores. Vance was damn good at his job, too—he’s got twenty-seven knots tied in his Riverine beret to prove it, each one commemorating an assassination in the name of duty that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Fifty years later, lured to Washington, DC, for the funeral of a fellow Riverine, Vance is reunited with the only two survivors from his boat crew, the only people in the world who know his darkest secret. Men who were once like brothers to him. Now he believes one of them is about to blow the lid on an atrocity that could destroy everything Vance has fought for, the wife and family he has created from the ashes of loss. The fragile peace he has found.

As a man hard-wired to survive, Vance won’t go down easy. Only this time, staying alive will cost him whatever humanity he has left.

“Deserves a place of honor between Sophie’s Choice and The Things They Carried. . . . [A] masterpiece.” —Aimee Liu, author of Glorious Boy

“The year’s best war story . . . A heartbreaking tale of ‘profound love and appalling violence.’” —Cam Torrens, author of Stable, False Summit, and Scorched

“Poignant and powerful.” —David Corbett, author of The Devil Prayed and Darkness Fell

“Martin J. Smith has created characters who will live in your head for years to come.” —Samantha Dunn, author of Failing Paris