In July 2019, novelist Yōsuke Kuji decided to write a new novel set during the Vietnam War and traveled to Vietnam for research. Led by his Vietnamese friend Hoang Thao, a former newspaper reporter, Kuji explored Ho Chi Minh City and stumbled upon a lighter that clearly belonged to an American soldier during the war, engraved with the name “JIMMY HOWARD.” A soldier who had served on the brutal battlefields nearly fifty years earlier had inscribed his name on it. Intrigued, Kuji began to investigate, only to have one unexpected revelation after another emerge—eventually uncovering a long-buried U.S. murder case. This straight-ahead, nonstop thriller lays bare the lingering scars of war and the dark underbelly of the U.S. military.

Tetsutaka Shibata
Born in Tokyo in 1957. He dropped out of the Department of Photography at the College of Art, Nihon University. A freelance photographer by trade, he later turned to writing and is now active in both fiction and nonfiction. As a private entrant, he competed in the Paris–Dakar Rally twice, finishing the race as a driver in 1990. He made his debut as a novelist in 1991 with KAPPA. In 2006, he won the 59th Mystery Writers of Japan Award in the Criticism and Other Categories category and the 24th Japan Adventure Novel Club Award (Non-Fiction Prize) for The Shimanaka Incident: The Final Testimony. The following year, he received the 9th Haruhiko Ōyabu Prize for Tengu, establishing himself as a best-selling author. His other works include The Dancer, GEQ, Dead End, Wolf, The Shimanaka Incident: Summer of the Assassin, Wolverine, Field Guard Insect, Fifty-Six Odd Tales: The Pearl Harbor Attack, Midnight, and The Bakumatsu Chronicles, among others.

January 1968, Quang Tri
July 2009, Ho Chi Minh City
October to December 2009, Tokyo, Japan
January 2008, Columbus, Georgia
February 2008, Tokyo, Japan
February 2008, Columbus, Georgia
March 2008, Ho Chi Minh City
March 2008, Columbus, Georgia
April 2008, Vietnam
April 2009, Fort Benning
May 2009, Ho Chi Minh City