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MWSA Review
Death in the Triangle: A Vietnam Story by John Podlaski is a novella that tells the account of a significant mission for First Platoon. Although listed as fiction, the story has the ring of reality, with the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions of combat. After a night of assignments on listening post duty and ambush duty, the platoon rolls out on a short mission to view the effects of the previous night’s ambush and destruction of an ammo dump. Unfortunately, the colonel overrides the mission (which should have ended around noon) and insists the platoon go further and do more. And that’s when all hell breaks loose. Action is nonstop, and death hovers in the air. In three short days, much is accomplished and the platoon finally gets a well deserved rest.
Readers are advised to read the first novella in the series (When Can I Stop Running?) before this book, so that the characters are already known, and the mission makes more sense. Readers will also need to navigate some misspellings as well as quite a few punctuation errors.
Review by Betsy Beard (March 2024)
Author's Synopsis
DEATH IN THE TRIANGLE is a sequel to When Can I Stop Running? That was one hell of a night!
Only a couple of hours passed since returning to the firebase. Now, the sleep-deprived and weary First Platoon soldiers must go back out on another patrol. Last night, an enemy mortar team fired several rounds into the base and was soon silenced by return artillery fire. The Third Squad also ambushed a group of enemy soldiers leaving nine dead bodies on the trail before moving out to a new location. A thorough search of both areas may locate items overlooked in the dark. It was thought to be an easy patrol – two clicks out and two clicks back, so the brass expected their return before lunch. At least, that was the plan.
Many patrols during the Vietnam War did not quite go as planned and this was one of them. These soldiers soon found themselves in dire straits to satisfy their battalion commander’s thirst for body counts and fame. Will they all survive?
Sixpack, Polack, LG, and the bunch are back in this new installment from the award-winning author of Cherries: A Vietnam War Novel.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 145
Word Count: 31,000