John Walker Michaels was a deserter of the Vietnam war. He sought refuge with mother an old woman that never had children. No one knew her age but she was eager to take John in. She nursed him back to health and introduced him to the dragon. The dragon lived with in him, when it came to the surface it controlled him.

The dragon guided Michaels to the pharmacy. He knew the woman would be there. He also knew three men would enter intent on killing her. He recognized her as soon as he saw her. When the three men entered the building, Michaels felt the dragon came forth and he killed the assassins. The woman was Teri Altro a member of the Drug Interdiction Task Force She was all business with a closer relationship to her gun than to co-workers. After meeting Michaels her life would never be the same. Michaels spent the next 4 days introducing Altro to the Hmong mysticism.

The Valley Walker is an unusual horror story with twists and turns that will keep the reader eagerly turning the pages. Dittmer draws on people he has met and combines their traits to create his characters. His lead character is particularly interesting. Watch out Stephen King and Dean Koontz! Dittmer has penned a fantastic book chocked full of mysticism, intrigue, a bit of romance and a lot of action.

John Walker Michaels enlists in the army in 1968 and goes off to fight in Vietnam as a regular soldier even though his high test scores would qualify him for any position. He is killed in 1970, or is he? Years later, an old Laotian woman finds a man wandering in the mists of an endless cold valley and takes him to her home where she adopts him. She paints a picture on canvas of a dragon that is in the depths of the soul of her "son". He is filled with anger over the drug trafficking that takes place during the Vietnam War. It endangers the Hmong people who have sold opium for centuries and is sanctioned by people in power in the United States who collude with Asian drug lords. Back in the United States, in Michigan, many young people die from using illegal, dangerous drugs and retired Army Colonel Bill Mallory heads a Task Force to intervene. His four task force members, Pakistani Doolee, Vietnamese Sam Lu, beautiful Jessica Harmon and crusading, untouchable Teri Altro are faced with ghost-like Walker and his longtime friend older Colonel Nguy who are steps ahead of them in reaching the bad guys. What is going on? Isn't John Walker Michaels long dead?

"Valley Walker" is one of those rare, notable stories that will stay with the reader long after the book ends. It is well-written and well-edited with pace and action par non. The characters of Teri Altro, Bill Mallory, Doolee, beautiful Bao and Ka and all the others are totally believable and three dimensional, but it is John Walker Michaels' character that is beyond greatness. Is he a ghost? Is he half-living? There is something unique in the basic story line of a young soldier who turns into much more and readers everywhere will adore this tale of war, drugs, and human beings both good and bad.

"The Valley Walker" by T. W. Dittmer covers many themes – today’s war on opium traffic, government investigations, politics, the mystical ways of the Laotian Hmong people, dragons, black magic and the paranormal environment of an ancient Vietnamese world. Teri Altro is one of the special investigators on the newly formed Drug Task Force. John Walker Michaels is the man who protects her. The story begins in a drug store with Teri shopping. Three men enter the store to assassinate Teri in an attempt to stop her from investigating an opium traffic case. Before she can get her gun out, a stranger in the store has quickly killed the assassins. Teri in a panic shoots the man who has saved her life, but soon she finds herself drawn to the man. Walker is a Vietnam deserter, an adopted son of a Hmong woman, and a man no one has been able to locate for many years. As the case continues Teri is immersed into his world of dragons and mysticism. He touches her in a way that no one has done before and that will change her forever.

The past and the future join together in the “The Valley Walker” in a mystical and very real way. T. W. Dittmer has written a book that takes us from reality deep into the paranormal. I found myself pulled into the story and wanting more. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys reading about war, criminal investigation and political overtones but who also enjoys the paranormal. T. W. Dittmer has provided it all in a well-written and exciting book. "The Valley Walker" is a sure winner.

A book with an initially unsympathetic heroine, such as we have here in the form of the cold, rude Teri Altro of the Drug Interiction Task Force, is always something of a challenge to read, but despite her prickliness we quickly get drawn into the story. John Walker Michaels, the Valley Walker, is the one who holds the story together. A Vietnam War deserter, he is found in mental pieces by a village shaman who heals him emotionally while imbuing him with special Hmong mystic powers, of which the dragon is a special symbol. At the start of the story he saves Altro’s life when she’s threatened by three assassins but she doesn’t react in the way we’d expect. She seems to be more fearful of her rescuer than her would-be murderers.

Apart from the two main protagonists, the characters are perhaps a little flat, such as Jessica, nicknamed Princess, and Bob Mallory, the head of the DITF team. There is more to him than meets the eye, as we discover, but he never quite makes it interesting. But Altro and Walker are masterful creations. Altro is on a life journey. She becomes more human in front of our eyes, while Walker becomes less so. From her self-imposed loneliness, Teri, as she finally allows herself to be, is eventually part of a family. Does the mixture of mysticism with modern crime-fighting methods and twenty-first century politics work? It is neither horror nor paranormal nor straightforward thriller but a shifting combination of all three, with an element of war story too. It is a book that is hard to classify. A slightly challenging read. it’s absorbing, original and thought provoking.

John Walker Michaels enlists in the army in 1968 and goes off to fight in Vietnam as a regular soldier even though his high test scores would qualify him for any position. He is killed in 1970, or is he? Years later, an old Laotian woman finds a man wandering in the mists of an endless cold valley and takes him to her home where she adopts him. She paints a picture on canvas of a dragon that is in the depths of the soul of her "son". He is filled with anger over the drug trafficking that takes place during the Vietnam War. It endangers the Hmong people who have sold opium for centuries and is sanctioned by people in power in the United States who collude with Asian drug lords. Back in the United States, in Michigan, many young people die from using illegal, dangerous drugs and retired Army Colonel Bill Mallory heads a Task Force to intervene. His four task force members, Pakistani Doolee, Vietnamese Sam Lu, beautiful Jessica Harmon and crusading, untouchable Teri Altro are faced with ghost-like Walker and his longtime friend older Colonel Nguy who are steps ahead of them in reaching the bad guys. What is going on? Isn't John Walker Michaels long dead?

"Valley Walker" is one of those rare, notable stories that will stay with the reader long after the book ends. It is well-written and well-edited with pace and action par non. The characters of Teri Altro, Bill Mallory, Doolee, beautiful Bao and Ka and all the others are totally believable and three dimensional, but it is John Walker Michaels' character that is beyond greatness. Is he a ghost? Is he half-living? There is something unique in the basic story line of a young soldier who turns into much more and readers everywhere will adore this tale of war, drugs, and human beings both good and bad.

John Walker Michaels was a deserter of the Vietnam war. He sought refuge with mother an old woman that never had children. No one knew her age but she was eager to take John in. She nursed him back to health and introduced him to the dragon. The dragon lived with in him, when it came to the surface it controlled him.

The dragon guided Michaels to the pharmacy. He knew the woman would be there. He also knew three men would enter intent on killing her. He recognized her as soon as he saw her. When the three men entered the building, Michaels felt the dragon came forth and he killed the assassins. The woman was Teri Altro a member of the Drug Interdiction Task Force She was all business with a closer relationship to her gun than to co-workers. After meeting Michaels her life would never be the same. Michaels spent the next 4 days introducing Altro to the Hmong mysticism.

The Valley Walker is an unusual horror story with twists and turns that will keep the reader eagerly turning the pages. Dittmer draws on people he has met and combines their traits to create his characters. His lead character is particularly interesting. Watch out Stephen King and Dean Koontz! Dittmer has penned a fantastic book chocked full of mysticism, intrigue, a bit of romance and a lot of action.

“Two salt tablets, a canteen of water and push on grunt.” This is the mantra that drives John Walker to maintain his purpose. Walker is a larger than life character whose objective is to right the wrongs created by the heroin lords of Laos, those vile creatures who are responsible for the deaths of far too many college students and whose business is the ruination of an otherwise prosperous future for too many trusting individuals. Walker’s wife doesn’t even know what motivates her husband who she hasn’t seen in years, having buried his war veteran body some time ago. Special Investigator Teri Altro unknowingly becomes Walker’s champion in his campaign to eradicate the plans of the drug terrorists who have infiltrated the US. Walker’s plan seemed to have evolved many years ago when he became infatuated with America’s participation in the Vietnam conflict. While there he was “adopted” by individuals more powerful than the mere mortals. It is up to Altro and her team to uncover Walker’s plan and learn to trust in the unexplainable.

T. W. Dittmer has created a mystical tale that fluctuates from war story to ancient legend. Just when you are caught up in his story of dragons and ancient magic, he weaves us back into the present reality of criminal investigation and political injustice. More than once I found myself analyzing the symbolic meaning behind the descriptions and the true meaning of the military mantra of “two salt tablets, a canteen of water and push on grunt.”