This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Ballot by Dan Mulvagh is a powerful anti-war novel that follows the exploits of four Australian servicemen (Diggers) called up to serve in the Vietnam War. Mitch Masters' career in motorcycle speedway racing is derailed by a call-up in the 1969 Australian draft ballot. Three other twenty-year-old Australians find themselves alongside Mitch. Jay Petrovitch, the son of Russian refugees, Greg Sunderland, a dental school dropout and “wannabe” rock star, and Kiwi, a construction worker from New Zealand. By the time the four had completed basic training and were shipped off to Vietnam, they were a tight group nicknamed the Fearsome Foursome. What they found in Vietnam was blood, horror, and death that followed them for the rest of their lives and impacted them more than twenty-odd years later in a desperate mission to save one of their own.
Ballot is an incredibly addictive story. Dan Mulvagh presents four distinct yet easily recognizable characters who could best be described as typical “Aussie battlers”. None of them really knew where Vietnam was, why they were going there, and why they had to slog through the jungles of a tropical country trying to kill people for a reason they didn’t really understand, and yet they went proudly because the country they called home had told them to do so. Although some of the vernacular used is typically Australian, context is everything, and even for the uninitiated, the meaning is either clear or explained. The author does not pull any punches in describing the chaos and mayhem of the killing fields of Vietnam. I particularly appreciated the different ways the combatants dealt with their horrific memories of Vietnam on returning home. For some, like Mitch, it was necessary to get away from his old life and to start again in a new country. For Greg, it was dedicating himself to ensuring that Vietnam veterans were treated with the respect, support, and aid that they needed and deserved. I appreciate how incredibly random the ballot system of the draft was and how good friends could find their lives upended. This is a superb read that I truly could not put down. I highly recommend it.
