Roger Rooney
True North
Volcano Mountain, 2018
True North HALO drops the reader into the contested paddy fields and the viscous military swamp that was Vietnam divided between the corrupt Diem regime in the South and a ruthless communist-cum-nationalist fanaticism in the North - with Big Brother American raging like some crippled giant, an Ozymandias of the Mekong Delta. More than that, the readers sees the conflict through the vulnerable eyes of an Australian adviser to the South, and a fighter from the North who just happens to be a beautiful young women. The reader travels with the two protagonists, Jack and Tran, separately and together through some of the most harrowing events of the first years of the war.
Vietnam itself is evoked with an authority that is certain to engage the reader, and the battle scenes are so powerful that images remain long after the reader has returned the book to its place among the most memorable in the reader's collection. The ending is resolved with sophistication and subtlety and in a manner that is not only courageous it is beautifully symbolic at both the historical and personal levels of the narrative.
About the Author
Roger Rooney is a Canberra-based historical fiction writer and is a graduate of Deakin University with a BA (Hons) in International Relations and Strategic Studies.
