This picks up where This Boy's Life left off. While there are no characters here as vivid as Toby's Stepfather, Dwight, from the earlier work, there are very touching scenes with his birth father, a man pathologically unable to tell the truth. Only about half of this book takes place in Vietnam, contrary to the impression you may get from the cover and the title. This is very different in tone from most books that deal with Vietnam. The self-pity factor is extremely low. At times it is almost like Huck Finn goes to 'Nam. Readers anxious to know more about the dysfunctional Wolff family may want to seek out Geoffrey Wolff's The Duke Of Deception.