“JUD.US,” by Michael N. Raskin, Ph.D.; Xlibris Publishing; available in hardcover and paperback.

“JUD.US” follows the life of a small-town Maine teen seeking adventure who enlists in the U.S. Marines. His friendly disposition and naiveté enable him to survive the terror of a kidnapping; and he spends a decade as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese – suffering from a war he didn’t actively participate in or was even aware of.

“The concept for this novel developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was still in school; and it kept gnawing at me over the years,” explained Raskin, a professional psychologist, teacher and writer in Maine for the past 28 years who has a practice in Lisbon Falls.

“After 27 years of practicing as a psychologist, … the story started taking on greater definition until I had to sit at my keyboard and pound out the message that had been kept alive in my mind for so long,” Raskin said. “Living in Maine, my original concept took on new life in the character of a poor potato farmer from one of the northern counties who sought to explore the world outside of his little community and found himself wrapped up in things he could never really comprehend.

“Jud Userle, whom the Veteran’s Administration computers somehow just abbreviated as JUD.US, ventured into the world as a naive and simple boy and returned home as a naive and simple man – on whom the world had left its indelible mark,” Raskin said.

In writing this book, Raskin sought answers to questions about the Vietnam War which was often misunderstood and more often criticized.

His second book, “JUD.US, TOO,” is scheduled to be published soon.

A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and United States International University, Raskin has worked professionally with clients in state institutions, private hospital units and community mental health centers.

Copies of “JUD.US” are available at www.xlibris.com.

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