Historical Fiction Book Reviews

Revisiting the war-torn land that scarred his youth, a filmmaker cooperates in international espionage and finds love and atonement, in Opium and the Red Rose, a wide-ranging thriller by Michael Rogers.

It’s 1982. Danny Summers is working with a film crew recreating scenes of combat, when his life suddenly changes in the face of two unrelated incidents: an accidental death during the filming, and a stranger inviting him to meet with a senator on a matter of extreme confidentiality.

The accident takes Danny back to his Vietnam years when he served the military as a member of a cinematic […]

A stunning blend of fiction and memoir, Reluctant Betrayals by Claude Renaud is a riveting plunge into the past, exposing the dangerous instability of a nation on the brink.

Working on a contract with the Ministry Information in Cambodia, young Philippe Roche lands in Phnom Penh to start his career at the bottom rung of a local magazine. The wild allures of Southeast Asia pull him in almost immediately, sending him spiraling into an exotic trap of temptation, power, control, and lust.

After being swept into the world of expats living in this powder keg of a city, including the […]

Unbreakable ties across time and a brilliant snapshot of untold history make The Adopted Son by Claude Renaud a gripping, perspective-shifting thrill.

A mysterious figure from Paul Quinn’s past appears in Sydney two decades after their fateful encounter in the days leading up to the fall of Saigon. After hearing Hao Tran’s story of struggle, and feeling sympathetic to the plight of Eric, her son, whose father was one of Quinn’s fallen military comrades, this retired spy’s quiet life turns upside down, and long-buried heroism bubbles to the surface.

Not only does he adopt a fatherly approach to this unexpected […]