A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA

Basinski’s legal procedural is set on Georgia’s Fort Daley Army base in 1969 when the Vietnam War is raging and the anti-war protest movement is gaining traction.

Drafted after completing law school, Pvt. Frank Grabowski is in basic training and not by choice. It’s a cold October morning when he learns that Sgt. Eustice Benson has been killed, repeatedly stabbed to death during the night. Benson had been an especially brutal drill sergeant, but he was also a war hero. The Army intends to conclude the case quickly. Within the day, they arrest Pvt. Perry Morrocco and charge him with premeditated murder. A year earlier, Perry had rescued Frank from the police-instigated violence during Chicago’s Democratic convention. Now they are serendipitously serving in the same unit in Fort Daley. Perry has been an active anti-war protester, and his induction in the Army was the unconventional result of having been arrested for drug possession after leaving Woodstock. It’s through such narrative snippets that Basinski evokes the political, legal, and social turmoil that was roiling the country at the time. Much to Frank’s surprise, Perry is refusing to talk unless his just-out-of-law-school buddy is assigned to the Judge Advocate General defense team. JAG attorney Lt. Karen Farrall is co-counsel, and she and Frank begin the search for other plausible suspects, indulging in a bit of romance along the way. This is first and foremost an engaging legal drama, pitting the idealism and naiveté of an inexperienced attorney against the institutionalized power of the U.S. Army. But it also serves to highlight one of the tragic ancillary problems arising out of the Vietnam debacle—the easy availability of drugs in Southeast Asia, resulting in a dependency that plagued too many returning troops. Legal enthusiasts will find some disturbing examples of the differences between civilian and military codes of justice. Conversational narration and easy-flowing dialogue propel the story forward at a good pace, with a couple of surprises along the way, including an unsettling epilogue.

An enjoyable, intriguing read that captures the atmosphere of a chaotic era.