One to Count Cadence [Paperback]

James Crumley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1987

Crumley's disturbing Vietnam novel. In '62, Sergeant Krummel assumes command of a crew of rebellious, drunken enlistees. Surviving military absurdities only to be shipped to Vietnam, Krummel's band confront their worst fears while losing faith in Americ

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Crumley's disturbing Vietnam novel. In '62, Sergeant Krummel assumes command of a crew of rebellious, drunken enlistees. Surviving military absurdities only to be shipped to Vietnam, Krummel's band confront their worst fears while losing faith in Americ

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage contemporaries ed edition (May 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394735595
• ISBN-13: 978-0394735597
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the two best military books I have read, January 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: One to Count Cadence (Paperback)

I was in the Phillippines and Vietnam some two or three years after Mr. Crumley. His view of the places and times, and his description of the now defunct Army Security Agency is eerily accurate, as is his insight into the type of persons in the Agency at that time. Intelligent, anti-social misfits that left college from boredom and did not want to get drafted. Mr. Crumley has my highest respect

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book and best ASA novel ever written, period, September 19, 2008

By 

Timothy J. Bazzett "ReedCityBoy" (Reed City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One to Count Cadence (Paperback)

This book has been in print almost continuously for nearly forty years now. I'm not surprised. I first "discovered" OtCC around 1971 and it was like reading about my own first hitch in the Army Security Agency and all the crazy guys I served with. Except this is fiction, and there are some memorable and absolutely unforgettable characters here, in the protagonist, Slag Krummel, and his best-friend-sometime-nemesis, Joe Morning. About a platoon of hard-drinking and fornicating ditty-boppers, TA's and DF-ers who are a tight bunch - in more ways than one. The story is set in the Philippines and Vietnam in a time when many Americans had never heard of that small country. But check your history. The first U.S. casualty in Vietnam was an ASA soldier. I loved this book so much I bought several copies and passed 'em out and sent them to my buddies. In the past 37 year I have probably re-read this book several times. It gets a little better each time. Author Jim Crumley died this week, on 17 September 2008, out in Missoula, MT, at the age of 68. Since OtCC, he wrote several acclaimed hard-boiled private eye mysteries that won him a faithful readership not only in this country but also in Europe, particularly France, where he was very popular. I've read some of those books, including his last one, The Right Madness (2005). Crumley was a masterful storyteller and he still had it with that last book. I always hoped for another story of Slag Krummel. No such luck, I guess. R.I.P., Jim. You'll be sorely missed. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Memoriam, October 30, 2009

By 

Zirkel (Denver, Co USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One to Count Cadence (Paperback)

Jim Crumley died in the fall 2008, I think, posting out a little early. He suffered from Slag Krummel syndrome (Krummel is the protagonist and narrator in OtCC). I had the pleasure of knowing James Crumley. I met him in 1970..winter quarter, just after the first of the year. I was two years back from Viet Nam, and he was the writer in residence at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. He was a helluva man, as old school as you can get, and a fine writer. He missed out on Viet Nam and was still frettng over it when I knew him.

Anyway, One to Count Cadence is a fine piece of literature. In it, you can hear the echoes of Crumley's influences..those you might expect...Hemingway, Mailer, James Jones. Crumley was a man who did indeed drive life into a corner and shake it by the ears. Married and divorced several times, I know that he was proud that he managed to stay current with his child support.

Try this book. If you like Jim Harrison or any of those influences I mentioned above, you'll enjoy the book.