"Dress
Gray" by
Lucian K. Truscott IV
This book is about life at the US Military Academy in 1968. There is a murder, a cover-up, and plotting by officers for their own betterment. One cadet knows the deceased and accidentally learns of some of the details and realizes there is something very wrong. When he is found out by those officers running the sham, all sorts of pressure is brought to bear to make him shut up. Strategies include the offer of promotion, extra punishment, harassment, and attempted entrapments via the Honor Code of Cadets. This book is a page-turner and even though fiction, I believe I learned a lot about how the Academy used to be. The author is a graduate of the school and gives the reader a great feel for the place. The book also has some good humor as only young people caught in very tight places can exhibit.
Available from:
Signet
Penguin Books USA Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
Reviewed by Ken Smith, 17 March 1999
