Dog Soldiers
Robert Stone · 1937–2015 · United States
Why it matters
A journalist's Vietnam heroin-smuggling scheme detonates back in America, dragging a washed-up ex-Marine and a strung-out wife into its violent collapse. Stone's National Book Award winner reads the war's rot as it came home.
At a glance
crime & noirwar novel
Difficulty 6/10fast pace342 pagesParanoid, drug-addled plotting and morally murky characters slow the pace.
Deep dive
Why the most disciplined man in the novel turns his own code of honor toward smuggling a suitcase of heroin — and why that isn't the contradiction it looks like.
Where to go next
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William Faulkner · 1930As I Lay DyingLvl 9Medium pace