ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A WAR, AND A YOUNG AMERICAN WHO THOUGHT OF HIMSELF AS THE QUIET AMERICAN AND THE UGLY AMERICAN, AND WHO WISHED TO BE NEITHER, WHO WANTED INSTEAD TO BE THE WISE AMERICAN, OR THE GOOD AMERICAN, BUT WHO EVENTUALLY CAME TO WITNESS HIMSELF AS THE REAL AMERICAN AND FINALLY AS SIMPLY THE FUCKING AMERICAN. THAT'S ME.

Tree of Smoke - the name given to a 'psy op' that might or might not be hypothetical and might or might not be officially sanctioned - is Denis Johnson's most gripping,visionary and ambitious work to date. Set in South-East Asia and the US, and spanning two decades, this is the story of Skip Sands, a CIA spy who may or may not be engaged in psychological operations against the Viet Cong. It is also the stow of Skip's uncle, the Colonel, who is CIA as well, and either misunderstood or mad - or possibly the victim of internal politics and power struggles. And then there's Eddie, Voss and Jimmy, who Skip runs into - or from - every now and again; he doesn't know whose side they're on,although he does know it's not necessarily his.

Describing a world where almost everyone is lost or looking for something, where disinformation is the ultimate weapon and disillusion the most insidious enemy, and where war is just another way to self-destruction, Johnson takes the reader on a surreal yet vivid journey, dipping in and out of characters' lives to reveal fundamental truths at the heart of the human condition. Timely and timeless, Tree of Smoke is a novel unlike any other - past, present or future.