Dennis Johnson's novel, Tree of Smoke, is set in Vietnam during the years between 1963 and 1970. The book centers around its protagonist, Skip Sands, who joins the C.I.A. and is posted to Vietnam, where he works for his uncle, Colonel Francis X. Sands, who is the head of operations for the CIA in Southeast Asia.
Skip does not tell his own story in the novel; that job is given to his nephew, William "Skip" Sands, the Houston brothers, Bill and James, and a Canadian NGO worker, Kathy Jones.
Skip's job in Vietnam is to gather local folklore and to find out if it gives any clues as to the Vietcong's strategies and plans, but when he realizes this is largely futile, he decides to cultivate a Vietcong to work as a double agent. The story follows his attempts to change the course of the war, and to live up to the expectations of him as "The Colonel's Nephew."
The title of the book is a reference to several Biblical verses that have a similar theme to the novel, specifically the nature of culpability and chance, and also to the use of violence for honorable ends.
The book was extremely well received, both commercially and critically. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and was also given the honor of National Book of the Year.
Although Tree of Smoke stands alone as a novel, the character of Bill Houston featured in Johnson's first book, Angels, which was published in 1983.
