While set up as a familiar war story, the book’s story line is multifaceted and complex. In place of action scenes, there’s a lot of waiting, watching, and planning involved, but such sections are involving through characterizations via shared back stories. The book’s many developments are unexpected and earned; its unhurried, gradual build and sustained tension make it engrossing. The setting—wartime Vietnam—leads to descriptions of combat that are both vibrant and satisfying.