cover image Spite House: The Last Secret of the War in Vietnam

Spite House: The Last Secret of the War in Vietnam

Monika Jensen-Stevenson. W. W. Norton & Company, $25 (371pp) ISBN 978-0-393-04041-8

One of the most sordid episodes to emerge from the Vietnam War involved former U.S. Marine Private Robert Garwood, who vanished in Vietnam in 1965 at age 18 and returned, as if from the dead, to an astonished U.S. in 1979. The Marines said that Garwood had defected to the Viet Cong. Garwood claimed that he was a prisoner of war who, in 14 years, never stopped trying to escape. After a much publicized trial, Garwood was convicted of collaborating with the enemy. Over the years, the case has been picked up by various authors or filmmakers seeking either to exonerate or to condemn Garwood. Now comes this potentially explosive history from former 60 Minutes producer Jensen-Stevenson (Kiss the Boys Goodbye), who has unearthed the stunning secret that after his disappearance, Garwood was targeted for execution as a traitor by a clandestine U.S. assassination team. The author organizes much of her book around her interviews with Marine Colonel Tom McKenney, self-proclaimed would-be assassin and repentant Garwood-hunter. She treats readers to long, parallel descriptions of McKenney and Garwood's backgrounds and childhood experiences, sprinkling her prose with tantalizing statements that suggest Garwood's culpability (""The White Cong, as he was called by some in the closed, small circle of men who hunted him, got a reputation for cleverness beyond belief""). But Jensen-Stevenson never states her own position clearly, substituting her description of McKenney's gradual change of mind and his 1994 meeting to apologize to Garwood. Those familiar with the case may pick through the new elements to fuel their pre-existing viewpoints. The book's meandering organization may lead general readers new to the case off course, however, before they get to the generally plausible conclusion. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Mar.)