Tree of Smoke ? the name given to a ?psy op? that might or might not be hypothetical and might or might not be officially sanctioned ? is Denis Johnson?s most gripping, visionary and ambitious work to date. Set in south-east Asia and the US, and spanning two decades, it ostensibly tells the story of Skip Sands, a CIA spy who may or may not be engaged in psychological operations against the Viet Cong -- but also takes the reader on a surreal yet vivid journey, dipping in and out of characters? lives to reveal fundamental truths at the heart of the human condition.
?A Catch-22 for our times? Alan Warner, Books of the Year, Observer
''The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humour like Denis Johnson''s'' Jonathan Franzen
?An epic of drenched sensuality and absurdly chewable dialogue, as though Don DeLillo and Joseph Heller had collaborated on a Vietnam war novel? Steven Poole, Books of the Year, New Statesman