The Last Detail - Softcover

Darryl Ponicsan

3.92 out of 5 stars

520 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0976399717 ISBN 13: 9780976399711

Publisher: The Wright Press, 2005

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Unlike the other branches of the armed services, the navy draws its police force from the ranks, as temporary duty. The risk is that men on Shore Patrol might bring their humanity to the task. This accounts for the underlying tension in "The Last Detail", which takes place during the height of the Vietnam War. Billy Bad-Ass and Mule Mulhall, two career sailors in transit in Norfolk, awaiting permanent orders, are given a detail: "chaser" duty. Their assignment is to escort and deliver Larry Meadows, an 18-year-old sailor, from Norfolk to Portsmouth, N.H., where he is to serve an eight year sentence in the brig. It's good duty, on the face of it, until the two old salts realize the injustice of the sentence and are oddly affected by the true innocence of their prisoner, even though he is guilty as charged. Failure, or refusal, to carry out their duty is never a question, no matter how much they hate the detail or how wrong it seems, and yet something must be done, some gesture made in order to help their hapless prisoner survive the long ordeal he faces, and to purge their own sense of shame. "The Last Detail" was Darryl Ponicsan's first book and it catapulted him into the front rank of American novelists. It was made into the 1973 film starring Jack Nicholson, and has become a classic of the Golden Age of American cinema. This new edition of "The Last Detail" coincides with the publication of its long-awaited sequel, "Last Flag Flying", also available from The Wright Press.

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About the Author

Darryl Ponicsan divides his time between an island in the Pacific Northwest and the California wine country. The author of nine novels, he has also written several produced screenplays. Most recently, he has completed "Last Flag Flying", the sequel to "The Last Detail".

Review

"...honest, heart-wrenching..." --New York Times

"...salty, bawdy, hilarious..." --Daily Variety

"One of the ten best novels of the year" --Philadelphia Inquirer

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