<p><em>Blood on the Risers</em> is a song paratroopers sing about a comrade who is killed when his parachute does not open properly, risers being the shroud lines running from the harness up to the canopy. The song is gory, and usually sung over many drinks.</p><p>In this novel, Phillip Dee, a young lieutenant reporting to an airborne unit in Germany on the eve of the Vietnam War, is shocked to see four troopers plummet to earth with their canopies tangled, their bodies crushed as they hit the ground.</p><p>Dee is even more shocked when the officer who is guiding him to his unit urges him to join in singing the song after seeing the four hit the earth, leading Dee to wonder what kind of madhouse he has been assigned to&mdash;which is what this compelling new novel is all about.</p>