On the Texas Gulf coast, where the oil rigs stand idle and the shrimp fishing has dwindled to almost nothing, a Vietnamese fisherman is found dead in his shack. The local sheriff rules suicide, but deputy sheriff Tom Poole, a Vietnam War veteran, thinks the fisherman's death deserves at least an investigation. The sheriff refuses so Poole sets out on his own to discover murder and gold.

"An epic tale of love, loyalty, and war from the acclaimed author of Monkey Bridge Half a century after it began, the Vietnam War still has a hold on our national psyche. Lan Cao's now-classic debut, Monkey Bridge, won her wide renown for "connecting . . . the opposite realities of Vietnam and America" (Isabel Allende). In her triumphant new novel, Cao transports readers back to the war, illuminating events central to twentieth-century history through...