Free ARC from Net Galley

Wat Tyler, Chadwick's journalist hero from 'Tin Soldiers' is back in another throwback mystery from the Nixon era. Tight writing style builds on his previous success and very engaging without going over the top. There is some good POP in these pages.

This was a challenging but good read—not at all what I expected. It is a great detective story set during the Nixon era. It is a well-researched fiction novel, and I look forward to a possible reread. This story has a lot of detail, and I had to go back and read and reread to ensure I was getting the picture. All in all, it is a four-star read.

A triple homicide in Hicks, a nowhere town in California, is a big deal for local rag reporter Wat Tyler. A congressman, a businessman and a barmaid. What do they have in common? This could be the story of his lifetime, but Wat needs to play it smart and ensure that the headcount doesn’t tick over.

Lucky then that Tyler is no babe in the wood. A Vietnam vet and fiercely street wise, Tyler makes friends easily but can just as easily rile precisely the wrong people. Although Headload of Napalm is very much a character driven book, the plot and narrative are absolutely rock solid. I could quite happily read this book again straight off and there are very few instances when I can say that.

A book that keeps you hooked throughout and gives you tangible and utterly credible characters that you feel you are sharing the room with. Outstanding.

David Chadwick has once again written an historical thriller of superlative quality.
Set during a period of intense political unrest in the USA, as the war in Vietnam is drawing to a very unsatisfactory end, and the Watergate Scandal is damning President Nixon, the author weaves a complex and compelling fictional plot against this evocative factual backdrop, cementing what is fast becoming a trademark style.
Wat Tyler, Chadwick's journalist hero from 'Tin Soldiers', is in Hicks a small desert town sandwiched halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The writing is as hardboiled as anything by James Lee Burke, James Ellroy and Dennis Lehane. The characterisation makes this novel both poignant and engaging and I look forward to reading more by this author soon.