Soldier in the rain1960
by William Goldman
From Kirkus Reviews: "The author of The Temple of Gold and Your Turn to Curtsey My Turn to Bow has written a third novel which seems, at first, wholly devoted to ordinary, surface realism. Its slowly emerging qualities of whimsey and high spirits are therefore both pleasantly surprising and the more engaging. The main character, Sergeant Eustis Clay, a southern boy, is, to say the least, not too bright, but he is an operator and his entire existence is that of a small time confidence man. He has a friend, Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter, a mountain of a man, who compensates for his main liability by over-eating. Maxwell has actually found a home in the army and the two spend their time in a southern army camp, during the Korean War, making things as comfortable for themselves as...