A fervid attempt of a son to 'catch' his absentee father.

In 'Ghosts of War: Chasing My Father's Legend Through Vietnam,' Eric Reguly, the son of the famous Canadian reporter Robert Reguly, tries to understand his father's work by reading the articles and traveling to the places his father wrote about.

First and foremost, the book is an excellent family story, covering several generations of the Reguly family, starting from the beginning of the XXth century and ending in the present time. The sense of inclusion will draw in readers who like to find themselves in someone else's shoes. Using the conversational writing style, the author successfully creates a friendly atmosphere, inspecting the dynamics behind the always absent journalist and his family. The well-read audience will be hooked by the overview of the journalistic guiding principles of the old days, when the main aim of a reporter was revealing the truth, not pushing through clear political agenda. To be the first to tell the story, Robert Reguly, the author's father, went into the battles of Vietnam along with the Marines, tracked down the supposed Soviet spy, and was beaten by a mob - doing all this at the emotional expense of his wife and kids, who waited for him at home.

The reason to remove stars from my rating is that, taken separately, the cover and blurb can mislead a reader to think the book is a memoir about Vietnam. The book is put into the category of journalistic biographies on the Amazon, and rightly so: though the most covered topic, Vietnam takes up a little more than a quarter of the book. For a person like me who knows nothing about the history of journalism, the book lacks a general framework to operate in. For me, as a person who previously read about the Vietnam war, the part about the country doesn't contain unknown facts or an unusual perspective.

I recommend 'Ghosts of War' as a heartfelt story of the father-son relationship shaped by the father's work as a journalist in the 1950s-1980s.

I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This offers an intriguing perspective on a war which has been covered already from so many angles. The generational impact and the personal relationship which exists between the author and the subject makes this truly a labour of love. The experience of Canadians in Vietnam is not as extensively covered in literature or film as American or Australian counterparts which also adds to the information for people interested in this part of the history of war. Very well done.

I love a book about war and even more so, I love a foreign correspondent telling me a story and this one did not disappoint. Telling his fathers story, a Canadian in the Vietnam War is something I never thought I would read about.

Robert Reguly exposed truths and was one of the most famous journalists of his time whilst Eric Reguly reminds us that just because you made it back from war doesn't mean you survived.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sutherland House Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Ghosts of War by Eric Reguly is a great story about a man following in his fathers footsteps and telling the story of him. It is an interesting and well written book about a man who spent his career searching for the next story as a journalist. The thing that got me interested was the part about Vietnam, since I find that conflict interesting but I found the story of this man just as interesting as well. I haven't read many books about canadians or reporters in the Vietnam war so it made me learn a little of a side I didn't know so much about. I wish the book could have been a little longer but it was well told and I got some laughs out of it. As well as some new insight in the evereyday life back then. I must thank @sutherlandhousebooks #SuthherlandHouseBooks and @netgalley #NetGalley for letting me read this advance copy and @ereguly for writing this book. I can really recommend it.