One of the most celebrated debuts of 2015, "The Sympathizer" is a Vietnam War novel like no other. The narrator, one of the most compelling characters in recent fiction, is a man with dual thoughts and divided loyalties – a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist sleeper agent living in America after the war's end. It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. In his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese Army drinks whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, compiles a list of those to be evacuated on the last flights out of the country. Unknown to the general, this captain is a covert communist operative who instructs him to put his own name on the list and accompany the general to America. As the general and his comrades begin a new life in Los Angeles, the captain continues to observe the group and sends coded letters to an old friend.