No book I’ve read better captures the anomie that poor, befuddled Palmer struggles with. Behind the wheel of a taxi, Palmer finds his place in America?permanently on the move, always changing his destination?a destination chosen by others. ~ David Wilson, Vietnam Veterans of America Books in Review II, June 23, 2017 Read David Wilson’s full […]
The long, second novel of Reilly’s Vietnam trilogy takes a dark turn, though the innocence of Private Palmer from The Enlisted Men’s Club sometimes feebly glows. After he is assigned to an MP detachment in Vietnam, Palmer’s fledgling talents as a goldbrick come to fruition. Read the John Mort’s full review of The Detachment on […]
With The Enlisted Men’s Club, published in 2014, Running Meter launched Reilly?s Vietnam trilogy, which introduces the self-absorbed Private Palmer, formerly a slacker civilian who works hard to become a slacker MP at the Presidio as he awaits his orders for Vietnam. Palmer is a practiced, lonely drinker clearly on his way to alcoholism, and […]
Unlike Reilly, whose pomp and bluster create chaos, Murph is a go-with-the-flow philosopher (comparisons to The Dude in The Big Lebowski seem somewhat inevitable), a man who wants to avoid people and will do almost anything to avoid confrontation, but whose internal monologue makes him a fascinating companion. Every few pages readers will find an […]
The ones I have read, all of the Asphalt Warrior series published so far?along with the first novel in his Vietnam War-related series?support the contention of the Denver Post that Reilly is a master wordsmith. All of Reilly?s books provoke me to laugh out loud?and I am not easily provoked. –David Willson on Vietnam Veterans […]
Question and Answer session with the folks behind Running Meter Press on Think Banned Thoughts.
National Public Radio’s Scott Simon occasionally interviews London cab driver Will Grozier, who Simon says is one of the best-read people he knows. This year, on Dec. 20 (2014), Grozier picked the works of the late Gary Reilly as his favorite fiction for the year and called the series “huge fun.” Full exchange is here.
One of the most thoughtful and detailed reviews ever of “The Asphalt Warrior,” published on the Think Banned Thoughts web site. “Gary Reilly is an astute observer of the human condition and he lays it all bare in this book. It?s raw, and real, and gets to you in places generally reserved for close friends.” […]
“Reilly?s genius lies in his ability to create a real, three-dimensional person out of disparate descriptions and monologues strewn throughout the story. In a way, though, it is not these ?facts? that fully describe Murph. Rather, it is the breezy, almost constant running commentary on all that happens or has happened in his life that […]
