Back

Back Part 1: Across the Fence follows a covert 1968 Special Forces (SOG) mission to the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the jungles of Laos, led by Spike Miller. In alternating chapters it also follows the modern-day story as Spike, now dying of cancer, gives his grandson, Mark, a combat journal and asks him to go back to find something he left in the jungle before he was extracted at the end of that mission. Mark, his friend Brad (an ex-US Marine) and a group of students from NYU prepare to go back into the Vietnam War-ravaged jungle of the tri-border area of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, on a modern-day backpacking trek to find what Spike left behind in 1968. Picking up the company of a trio of dodgy British backpackers as they travel through Phnom Penh, Vientiane and Vang Vieng, the group ends up deep in the jungle and deep in trouble.

Back Part 2: Into The Jungle follows the modern-day trekkers into the Laotian jungle as they travel to the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the tri-border area of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, looking for what Mark's grandfather, Spike, left behind on his 1968 Special Forces mission. They have to deal with psychological, natural, historical and Vietnam War-related problems which unexpectedly arise as they penetrate deeper into the jungle, including wild animals, booby traps and unexploded ordnance, as well as far greater dangers... They are put at risk by the actions of their fellow-travelers and end up being hunted through the jungle, imprisoned and tortured and need to escape, when Brad's Marine Corps training kicks in. But can he save them in time?