The Last Klick [Hardcover]

Robert Flynn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1994

An urgently contemporary study of the press and TV media in a wartime setting, but not, per se, a book about combat during the Vietnam War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Few issues in American history are as likely to cause knee-jerk reactions as the Vietnam War. Some see it as an immoral and unpopular conflict; others argue that it was winnable but that our military tactics were misguided. Flynn's ( North to Yesterday ) fifth novel doesn't try to pick its way through this minefield of opinion, but instead sets off as many tripwires as it can. Sherrill O'Connell, struggling novelist and professor at a small Texas college, tries to escape the memories of his 13-year-old daughter's death by convincing a right-wing magazine named REAL to employ him as their Vietnam war correspondent. When O'Connell is caught in a small battle in which his life and those of a TV crew are endangered, he picks up a fallen soldier's rifle and kills three Viet Cong. The media turn him into an instant celebrity--a blood-and-guts monster who bears little resemblance to the mildly conservative O'Connell. Having been exploited by the editors at REAL , O'Connell is then accused of participating in a massacre of civilians. He finds himself in a maze of falsehoods, unable to change his tough image without risking his credibility. His dilemma, told clearly and simply, raises disturbing questions about perception and truth, loyalty and betrayal. Flynn, a former Marine and Vietnam correspondent, proves himself as thoroughly familiar with the human condition as he is with the military ("klick" is an Army term meaning "kilometer"). Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sherrill O'Connell is a college professor and the author of two novels about the effects of life's tragic vicissitudes on common men. As his books go misunderstood and unread, tragedy strikes home with the death of his young daughter. Finding no comfort in his wife or his work, he gets a job as a reporter in Vietnam for a right-wing men's magazine. His sense of failure continues when the magazine finds his stories too intellectual and liberal for its readers. In the midst of a fierce firefight, a desperate act makes him the news rather than the reporter and changes his perception of himself, his work, and his country. Flynn ( North of Yesterday , 1967) has written a provocative book that addresses a number of complex subjects--death, war, media manipulation, and the concept of celebrity. But it is the struggle to discover and preserve his true character that makes O'Connell someone we truly care about. Highly recommended.
- Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: Baskerville Publishers; 1St Edition edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880909219
• ISBN-13: 978-1880909218
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,493,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Flynn, professor emeritus, Trinity University and a native of Chillicothe, Texas, is the author of fourteen books. Nine novels: North To Yesterday; In the House of the Lord; The Sounds of Rescue, The Signs of Hope; Wanderer Springs, The Last Klick, The Devils Tiger, co-authored with the late Dan Klepper, Tie-Fast Country, Echos of Glory.and his most recent Jade:Outlaw. His dramatic adaptation of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying was the United States entry at the Theater of Nations in Paris in l964 and won a Special Jury Award. He is also the author of a two-part documentary, "A Cowboy Legacy" shown on ABC-TV; a nonfiction narrative, A Personal War in Vietnam, an oral history, When I was Just Your Age, and a memoir, Burying the Farm.

Also, three story collections, Seasonal Rain, Living With The Hyenas, Slouching Toward Zion, and a collection of essays, Growing Up a Sullen Baptist. He is co-editor of Paul Baker and the Integration of Abilities.

North to Yesterday received awards from the Texas Institute of Letters and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times. Seasonal Rain, was co-winner of the Texas Literary Festival Award. Wanderer Springs received a Spur Award from Western Writers of America. Living With the Hyenas received a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Echoes of Glory received a Spur Award from Western Writers of America. Flynn's work has been translated into German, Spanish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Malayalam, Arabic, Tamil, Hindi, Kanada, and Vietnamese. Flynn is a member of The Texas Institute of Letters, The Writers Guild of America, Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Associate, and P.E.N. In 1998, he received the "Distinguished Achievement Award" from the Texas Institute of Letters. (See Flynn's Blog.)

Robert Flynn is a native of Chillicothe, Texas, the best known Chillicothe outside of Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, despite its size. Chillicothe is so small there's only one Baptist Church. Chillicothe is so small you have to go to Quanah to have a coincidence. Chillicothe is fairly bursting with truth and beauty and at an early age Flynn set out to find it.

His life and work could be described as 'The Search for Morals, Ethics, Religion, or at least a good story in Texas and lesser known parts of the world'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Stylized, Deeply Thoughtful, Outrageously Cynical, November 12, 2009

By 

Robert Flynn (Chillicothe, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Klick (Paperback)

The Last Klick
I'm a history buff, so I have read numerous books on war - the Civil War, World War II and, of course, the Vietnam War. Some were non-fiction like We Were Soldiers Once and Young by General Hal Moore and some were fiction like Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow. I enjoy non fiction, biographies and the like, but my true love is fiction because I love great writing. The Last Klick by Robert Flynn is the best of both worlds - great writing combined with the realities of war as he saw it as a writer for True Magazine on assignment in Vietnam.

The main character, Sherrill O'Connor, is recovering from the pain of losing his only daughter to a fatal illness while attempting to restructure his life in some manageable and tolerable way in the aftermath. Leaving his wife, Marie, back home, he heads to Vietnam to make his name as a writer for REAL Magazine and to rediscover himself as a disoriented husband and childless father.

Trailing the grunts, O'Connor soon finds himself in a dangerous firefight where he must pick up a weapon and kill enemy soldiers in order to survive.. For this and his adrenalin-driven statements, he is heralded by other war correspondents whose embellished stories make their way back home. He is told this is "his moment" to seize toward achieving the fame his novels have yet to provide. Carpe Diem. A series of incidents, conversations, unauthorized editing of his stories and outright lies propel him into a surrealistic predicament whereby he is constantly denying and justifying his beliefs and behavior. Soon, his wife, who has taken a job in his absence, is caught up in the anti-war crowd who has portrayed him as a monster, and it shakes the very foundation of their marriage.

Flynn takes the reader on a bizarre journey. weaving through the decadent, seedy back streets of Saigon.

"A short distance away was a hole where a rocket had landed. Rags, tarpaulin, twisted sheets of metal littered the streets. Vietnamese threaded their way through the debris, but Sherrill stopped to watch old women propping up a house that had been blown down but not obliterated. Other houses, though standing, had been holed by shrapnel and spattered with mud and bits of cloth. The smell of earth, fouled by centuries of habitation mingled with the odor of drying blood. Flies buzzed. Sherrill saw a matted bloody thing that he thought was a rocket-blasted rat but might have been the scalp of a small child."

We go deep into the steaming jungle where he eloquently and vividly describes the horrors of war, death and the palpable fears of the fighting soldier.

"They climbed over bomb craters and shattered trees. Bits of cloth and strips of flesh hung from branches. They lay under trees that dripped gore while a half-crazed survivor wandered about, softly reciting what might have been his comrades' names, a song, a prayer. He was young, giddy with fear. A slight, scholarly-looking Marine who seemed too fragile for this world, rose from the ground and with an embrace, killed him with a Ka-Bar, the forlorn boy curling into the knife like a woman into her lover's embrace. The Marine held up a dripping ear to signal his success; his comrades flashed silent smiles. Afterdeath dripped from above."

Flynn examines war, but he also deftly examines the motivations, cynicism and self-serving attitudes of the American war correspondents, too often exploiting the war for their own purposes and gain, seemingly oblivious to the horrors they step over at every turn in an effort to get a "good story."

Flynn's first-hand experience and amazing command of the language combine to make this a great read - highly stylized, deeply thoughtful and outrageously cynical. While one of his earlier works among many, ([...]) this is a compelling book that might change the way you look at war correspondents and war itself.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonder what war's all about? Take a look . . ., March 20, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Klick (Hardcover)

Robert Flynn's view of the Vietnam war through the eyes of journalist Sherill O'Connell is a scarily good look at war. It is a must for anyone who thought that John Wayne movies accurately portray war, and a must for anyone who ever wondered what the media looks like from within.