Dreaming the Enemy

(Not in Napier/Taradale Libraries)

Author – Davin Metzenthen

Age – 14+ – Adult

Johnny Shoebridge has just returned from Vietnam. He’s suffering from PTSD, with constant visions of the places he’s been, the things he’s seen and the things he’s done.

Those memories are also haunted by a Viet Cong soldier Johnny saw in more than one battle in the Vietnam jungle. Johhny calls him Khan and as Johnny searches for some peace from his memories, Kahn too is looking for peace in Johnny’s dreams and nightmares.

But peace is a hard thing to find. Johnny spends time on his own, away from family and friends, while he works through his memories to finally find something to banish Khan from his mind for good.

This novel is written in third person and the tension rachets up through the novel until a firestorm between the Viet Cong and the Allied forces. This battle and Johnny’s memories up to it and through it, shapes the story and then Johnny’s future when he remembers something to finally give him some of the peace he’d been longing for.

Excellent fiction for older teens. Guys will love this. It’s gutsy and raw, taking the reader into the jungle, wondering whether a gun is being aimed at you, a mine is below your feet or a grenade is flying towards you.

Wonderful writing by this talented author.

(War, Vietnam, Fear, Grief, Friends, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)