Free-Fire Zone (review)

Readers who have followed the first two adventures of the quartet of Boston buddies off to war have already learned, albeit obliquely, that slow-witted Rudy has found a home in the Marines. Here we see Rudy’s experiences up close and understand why a kid who had so much trouble navigating life stateside flourishes in a setting in which he’s valued for respecting authority and following orders. And oh, can Rudy follow orders. When he’s told to deliver candy to soldiers embedded in a local community, Rudy accepts the mission with dignity and determination. When he’s told to take out an enemy, he wields his bayonet until the corpse is deader than dead. When they need someone to volunteer to investigate a tunnel, or step into a booby-trapped hut, or clean out a suspected nest of Viet Cong, Rudy’s on it: “I see movement, and I shoot it. I see another movement, and I shoot it. VC? Who can say for sure? Free-fire zone.” His letters and phone conversation with sharpshooter Ivan and radioman Morris indicate that his old buddies sense the profound change in their once-meek pal as they try to counsel him to take it easy. Readers will be equally troubled as they ponder how different behaviors and character traits rise to the level of virtue in peace and in war.