“JUD.US,” by Michael N. Raskin Ph.D., a professional psychologist, teacher and writer who has practiced in Lisbon Falls for 28 years; Xlibris, Philadelphia, Pa.; cloth hardback, $32.99; softcover, $22.99

This is a novel about Vietnam and its aftermath in the life of a young Marine, Jud Userle. He’s a small-town boy, extremely naive and originally from Aroostook County. He drinks Moxie and munches on Humpty Dumpty potato chips. After Marine bootcamp on Paris Island in 1963, he is stationed in Da Nang as a sentry. Jud visits a village and befriends the locals.

While on a picnic at a beach with fellow soldiers, Jud is captured by the Viet Cong and taken to North Vietnam, where he is imprisoned for 10 years. An old man from that village saves him from being executed. He eventually escapes and finds out the war officially ended years ago.

However, to get through to this, the reader must wade through 54 pages of history concerning the many colonial occupiers of Vietnam, including the Japanese, the French and even the United States, which put puppet rulers in power. Here, the author has taken to task politicians, the military hierarchy and the VA Mental Health Administration. And he is emphatic, using italics on every page and the symbols ?!!!!!

At first, I got the impression the author’s beliefs were an Archie Bunker type of liberalism. After finishing the novel, I feel he is justified, albeit this is a work of fiction. He does have empathy for the main character, and it shows.

After Jud is captured, he slips under a barbed-wired fence and again visits local peasants and is soon allowed to interact with them on a regular basis. He even teaches them how to make Maine-baked beans for Saturday night. Baked beans? Which recipe? Not B&M surely.

Jud works at a local plant that manufactures some unknown product with four other prisoners from different countries. It is now sometime in 1964. Local men are being drafted and sent south, thus hinting there is something amiss. Eventually Jud escapes south in order to find American forces. This trip takes years, as do all his experiences. He reaches English-speaking civilization by boat in 1973.

Then it gets really interesting.

That Jud didn’t know there was a war on – and the fact he had seen an American wearing sunglasses on a number of occasions up in the north – prompt suspicion. How can this be? He is repeatedly debriefed on these two subjects. Jud gets paranoid and sarcastic with the authorities, so medication is administered. Increased paranoia sets in with additional medication.

He is transferred back to the States, and the regime of mental illness caused by increased meds feeds a vicious circle. He descends ever downward into mental illness. This reminds one of Hirstwood in “Sister Carrie,” an early 20th century novel by Theodore Dreiser. In that novel, a character named Hirstwood gradually descends into destitution. Here, Jud gradually descends into madness. Both are chilling in the extreme. This is by far the best part of Raskin’s novel. The more help Jud receives, the more he is afflicted.

The quality of the narration improves as it goes along as if Raskin learns by writing, but then is reluctant to go back to the beginning and rewrite up to the level he attained at the end. The didactic first chapter is a mirror copy of the introduction, only more in depth and about 37 pages longer. I did learn a detailed history of Vietnam and how their civilization is centuries older than that of the United States, with a more gentle and family-oriented culture. There is a lack of dialogue and the point of view wavers between the main character and the author, sometimes in the same paragraph.

I enjoyed the novel for the most part. Raskin has written a serious and hopeful study of Vietnam from the American POW perspective. It is well researched. Out of 4 stars, I would give this novel a firm 2.

Xlibris books can be purchased at major bookstores, or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Xlibris.

Edward M. Turner is a freelance writer living in Biddeford. His novel, “Rogues Together,” won the Eppie Award for best in action/adventure.