Part thriller, part darkly humorous social commentary, this razor-sharp debut novel begins with the American exodus from Saigon. The story’s narrator is a Vietcong spy who makes it out of Vietnam and on to a new life in the US, only to become a consultant on an “Apocalypse Now”-style film – complete with a dissipated Marlon Brando-like star and a pompous Francis Ford Coppola-like director. Nyugen’s wit is biting, to be sure, but also keenly insightful.
