Word of Honor

By: Nelson DeMille

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 28 hrs

Publisher's summary

He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity -- and together swore never to tell the world what they had done.

Now the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past -- and set him free.

©2009 Nelson DeMille (P)2009 Hachette

Critic reviews

"The flashbacks to Hue, the pre-trial investigation (involving an attractive female major), the court-martial proceedings, the emotions of the principal characters and the soul-sickness wrought by war (which is the story's effective subtext) all are depicted with marvelous vividness." ( Publishers Weekly)

This one's worth a credit!

With 4 hours of driving a day and 2 accounts I go through a lot of books!
This is great!
Demille does a fantastic job of deconstructing the war through his characters--both here and in other books. He gives us a soul victory if not a military one.
Great Story.
Scott Brick is the absolute best!

What DeMille Does So Well

I didn't like The Gate House, and it was not read by Scott Brick. I know this is an old title, and I looked for an audio edition from farther back. I'm not sure if this is completely new or a re-release, but it's a good pairing of Brick and DeMille.

I guess there are a three veins of DeMille fiction. The first is Cathedral and Charm School, Up Country and this book. The characters are strong, the detail is exceptional, and the plots move along quite well for very long books. So this is just a great part of this early period.

The Gate House and The Gold Coast are in a different category. One is great, but the later book was very disappointing.

The final category are the Corey Books. When Brick does Corey, it's what audiobooks should be. I think Night Fall and The Lion's Game are outstanding. I genuinely hope the follow-up to Lion's Game is great. Plum Island is good, but the Corey character is a little soft here and there. Wild Fire lacks the finesse of Lion's Game, and seems like the weakest Corey book.

In many ways, DeMille defines the thriller category. Many other writers are completely formulaic, macho that is cartoonish, or with endless plot gimmicks. So hopefully the second part of Lion's Game avoids some of the pitfalls in The Gate House.

One of Demille's Best

The best of Demille. The story was fast paced and action packed. It kept me interested throughout and I didn't want to put it down.
My complaint with Demille in other books was his excessive descriptions of each and every item. His excessive use of adjetives to describe the simplest item has been a problem for me in Gold Coast and The Gate House. This book did not seem to dwell on this as much. He moved rapidly through the story and kept my interest in the characters to the end.

Excellent as expected.

A very good book spoiled only by the graphic sex scenes, between the main charachter and his wife, which were not at all needed for the plot of the book. The story kept me listening even though the ending was not unexpected.

I would recommend the book.

GREAT LISTENING

I couldn't turn off my IPOD. 28 hours is a long listen, however, it was well worth my time. Fascinating...I lived through the Vietnam war. I can understand why this tradgedy happened. WELL WORTH THE LISTEN. Word of Honor was one of the best books on Audible I have ever listened to.
Thanks,
Steve, Hollywood, FL

Nelson does it again

I am a fan of Mr. Demille, and this one started a bit slow for me, but by the end I was gripped.

I would recommend.

Not what I expected

DeMille's book held my attention throughout, possibly because I come from a family with a lot of military members. Because it talked about the challenges faced by some of those who fought in Vietnam, and the messed up directions they were getting from the government's non-military political leaders, it was interesting to follow the actions of Ben Tyson, his wife (could have done without the graphic sex scenes though!), and his amazing son. I found I gained respect for Tyson as the book moved toward its conclusion; for the military tribunal as well. (Hearing about the differences between regular and military courts was interesting, too.)

Riviting story! Emotionally packed!

I have listened to most of Mr. DeMille's books and found this one right up there with his best. I found it hard to stop listening and had tears in my eyes at the end. As usual, Scott Brick did an excellent job. The author did a great job with his prepartation and detail of the workings of a Courts Martial. Bravo to DeMille!

Excellent novel, but too woordy

Nelson DeMille always tells a great story, and this book is among his best. I slightly down rate all of Demille's books because they move too slowly and are far too wordy. The abridged versions resolve this issue. Scott Brick always does an outstanding job, bur I prefer the use of a female for female voices (for example, David Baldacci's recent books use a combination of Ron McCardy and Orleagh Cassidy). I wish Brick would find someone like Cassidy for the female dialog. Scott Brick is still my favorite narrator.

OK but parts drove me nuts

Every chapter begins with "Ben Tyson" did something. After some number of hours, I started to dread the start of a new chapter. It's grating. The book is OK; the last 1/3 redeems it. The first 2/3 were not eye-opening to me who lived through that era (at least part of it), but the last 1/3 addresses more complex questions of guilt, loyalty, and respect.