SHADOWS OF SAIGON

From just the cover art and title you know this will be a sad story, The U.S. involvement in Vietnam is messy and complicated and always has a sad ending. This was no exception. Written beautifully and weaves a tale of love and sorrow and the aftermath for our soldiers that served so faithfully. It's a good book overall and reading Grady's story will help put things in perspective for us to not take anything for granted.

Thank you NetGalley, author Mark R. Anderson, and Old Stone Press for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4 stars
If you are looking for a book that demonstrates a love and loss that endures time, this book is for you.
This book is set during the time of the Vietnam era. During the 1950s, Grady finds himself in the final year of high school, hoping for a chance at a sports scholarship and dating his dream girl, Grady has everything going for him. But when an incident causes no school to want to offer him a scholarship, Grandy finds himself drafted into the Army. Grady finds himself fighting in the Vietnam War. With all the confusion, anxiety, and trauma, Grady is able to find the love of his life Tien, the daughter of the most prominent businessmen in Southeast Asia. After her family kicks her out of the house, Tien and Grady get married and welcome a newborn son. On the eve of their immigration to the US, Tien and Grady take their son to meet Tien's family before their move. But fate has other plans. While at the restaurant , a VC bomb goes off in the restaurant. What happen to Grady's wife and child? Did they survive? Now in his 70s, Grady is in the hospital due to a failing heart, when the doctor sees the photo of Tien and her son next to Grady's hospital bed. Can the doctor help Grady find the answers he has been searching for all these years?
This book was beautifully written. The writing really transports you to the time period of the Vietnam era. From the social expectations to the day-to-day experiences of the soldiers that served in the war. The author did a wonderful job writing this book with the voice of someone who did their research about the War and the soldiers. I appreciated the way the author handle some of the more sensitive subjects that came up during the war. The characters were well developed. I loved how much Grady was invested in the relationships he had with the women in his life. The love Tien and Grady shared was beautiful yet tragic. The ending had me tearing up and was well satisfied. Overall, this was a great debut novel by author Mark R. Anderson and will be looking for more books by this author in the future.

Shadows of Saigon is the story of Grady Cordeaux. A Vietnam veteran who after suffering a heart attack sees his life flash before his eyes. His past comes back to him - high school, a scholarship that doesn't happen and then leaving his small town to fight in the Vietnam War. The author shows both the good and the bad that comes out of this time in Grady's life. He gets married to Tien and they have a son together. After a tragic event he doesn't know what became of his family. Now many years later he might finally find the answers he has been looking for all this time.

It was a great book and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. It had a great storyline and I enjoyed the characters.

Shadows of Saigon is the story of Grady Cordeaux who is a 68 year old Vietnam Vet. While under sedation after suffering a heart attack, he relives his high school days and the incidents that forced him into the Army during the Vietnam War. He also relives all of the trauma and combat that he suffered in Vietnam. He was a very loyal to his high school girlfriend while in Vietnam when most of the other soldiers were engaging with local prostitutes. After she finally breaks up with him, he falls in love with the daughter of the most prominent businessman in Southeast Asia. He and Tien share a very deep love and get married against the wishes of her parents. They have a son together. Grady has made arrangements to take his wife and son to America but they go to see her parents to try again to reconcile with her family when a VC bomb explodes. Grady survives but is injured and when he wakes up months later in the hospital, no one knows what happened to his family. He spends the rest of his life searching for them and never marries again. While he is in the hospital for his heart attack, there is a chance encounter with a Doctor that may have the answers to what happened with his family. I recommend this book.

Shadows of Saigon by Mark R Anderson was a wonderful and beautifully written book and I loved it especially as Mark is a new author to me. I am so glad I had a chance to read this book. This book just took my breath away especially as I love Vietnam were this book is set but during the 1970's and it was so different to today. It was nice to read what it was like back then. Grady Cordeaux, is in the final year of high school and has a great chance to get a sports scholarship and also to start to date a girl of his dreams. Then everything changes for the worst! His high school does not offer him the sports scholarship! Grady then finds himself be drafting into the Army and then fighting in the Vietnam war and that's when his story starts

Mark has written this book with so much thought and care especially as this is a sensitive subject and still can be painful today to talk about it, so Mark did very well within this book! The characters within this book were great and all fitted well within The shadows of Saigon. The ending to this book was just WoW....Brilliant and I needed tissues and lots of them.

I loved this Book it was spot on and I highly recommend it.

I will be looking forward to read more books from Mark. A big 5Star read from me!

Thank you NetGalley, author Mark R. Anderson, and BooksGoSocial for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

this was a great historical fiction novel, the characters were what I wanted from it and I enjoyed the themes of the book very much.