In 1979, Vincent Bianca joined a construction crew with two Vietnam vets to raise money for college. Forty years later his own son is about to head off to college, paid for by his parents.

Robert Dugoni has crafted an amazing coming of age story for both Vincent and his son, with forty years of history between them. At once tender, introspective, and touching, The World Played Chess is an essential addition to your reading list. Highly recommended.

When I decided to read this book and since I have read several books from this author, I was expecting a mystery/suspense offering. However I was so wrong. And somewhat surprised. This was a very well written mainly coming of age book. I found it to be a quite enjoyable read. There was no suspense pushing you to turn the pages but an interesting narrative that propels you from page to page. This is a book which I would recommend to all.

Robert Dugoni's novels are so full of intrigue. The stories are so real and I fall into his novels every time. "The World Played Chess" is a novel that will keep you wanting more; which is great because his novels are series.

William Goodman, a veteran of Vietnam and Vincent Bianco, a teenager contemplating military service meet while working on a remodeling project in 1979. Vincent is curious about Williams’ war experiences but William will not talk about them. Both had dreams of becoming journalists.

Fast forward to current day when Vincent is a family man and lawyer who receives a package in the mail from an aging William that includes an amazing heartfelt note along with his Vietnam diary. Vincent commits to read one diary entry per day.

I loved the diary style of writing and the stunning, complex portrayal of people and inspirations scattered through the pages. Masterfully written. I paused at times to wonder if the sacrifices and lessons learned during Vietnam have been forgotten related to the tragedy of current day Afghanistan. A great story by a gifted writer.

Another unique winner by this author! Like his great book, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, The World Played Chess is a different take on feelings we all share, told this time through the lives of two different people and three different times.
While there is no great mystery or action that rivets the reader to the story, it remains a book that can’t be put down until the very end. For me, this author writes in a way that makes me recognize myself and those around me in each of his characters.
Highly recommended!

Book Review: The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni
Published by Lake Union Publishing, September 14, 2021

★★★★★ (5.0 Stars)

It was a pleasant surprise for Robert Dugoni's readers, when, with "The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell" (2018), that touching, magical story of a "red-eyed" little boy born with ocular albinism, bullied to no end and prevailing against the odds in his young life, the thriller writer took a genre detour from his extensive body of work which includes his best-selling Tracy Crosswhite police procedurals, and David Sloane legal thrillers.

He followed "Sam Hell" with another display of his versatile writing prowess by regaling readers with his first spy thrillers, two to be exact. Charles Jenkins 1 and 2 (2019 & 2020).

Now with "The World Played Chess" (2021), Robert Dugoni firmly establishes himself in the human interest genre.

Fearless, hard-hitting, "Chess" is a multi-generational, coming-of-age novel, of growing up, of overcoming odds, and of the horrors and consequence of the war in Vietnam, particularly for late teens, high school students and graduates, drafted to a war of attrition in the prime of their lives.

Dugoni's protagonists, each portrayed in their late teens, each in different eras, "play checkers" with their inner demons, until, so to speak, they learn to "play chess".

1967. William Goodman, 18, high school wrestling star, college full-ride prospect full of hope and ambition. Dreams of becoming a journalist, of writing that novel, until an injury shatters his college sports scholarship qualification prospects.

Instead of college, he "wins" the Selective Service System lottery. He gets drafted to the war in Vietnam, where he serves as a Marine grunt and combat photographer.

It is in the 'Nam, in the final days of his tour of duty, that the young man, barely out of his teens, losses his sense of values, of right and wrong, and puts him on a precipitous path devoid of a future.

1979. Vincenzo "Vincent" Bianco, 18, high school valedictorian. Accepted at Stanford that summer, then a painful reality hits him square in jaw. In a struggling family with hard working parents and ten children, Stanford tuition is out of reach.

He instead has to work as a part-time construction worker to save for community college. In the garage of a Burlingame, CA, remodel, he meets a Vietnam vet named William.

From this beer-guzzling guy, he learns about companionship and a few valuable lessons in life, the full extent of which would only reveal itself during his own son Beau's senior year of high school.

// "Dying is hardest on the living."

- William Goodman, "The World Played Chess" by Robert Dugoni //

1985. Beau Bianco, 18, high school senior, privileged son of a successful UCLA-law caliber lawyer.

He feels immortal, indestructible, sky's the limit, rock and roll, baby.

Until that summer night, when his best friend and alter ego, Chris, dies in an entirely avoidable car accident...

// When I sat down to write this story, I told my friend Dale what my intent was, and he responded,

"It's like that adage. The world played chess while I played checkers."

... Chess is complex and strategic and requires that we think several moves ahead of our opponent. We need to map out our future and be prepared to make unexpected deviations when necessary...

- Robert Dugoni, in the "Acknowledgments" section of his latest novel "The World Played Chess" //

A must-read!

Review based on an Uncorrected Proof ARC from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book packs so much in it. Vincent is a great character. Combining present and history is brilliantly told. Nice to see a novel tackle PTSD in such a raw and realistic way. Great book.

Vietnam is real........

No one transcribes the human element as well as Robert Dugoni. He takes the complexities of the inner workings of his characters and lays them all out: bare, brutal, and extremely telling. The World Played Chess is a remarkable work of parallels. Dugoni offers his readers the realities of what constitutes an eighteen year old in 1967, 1979, and 2015. Age is a number. Nothing prepares you for where it takes you in the prime of your youth.......somewhere into the unspeakable and somewhere into the darkness of the mundane.

Vincent (Vincenzo) Bianco is a successful California lawyer. Dugoni wraps him in the regrets he is now experiencing.for the path not taken. We've all been there. In his youth, he wished to become a journalist. Writing was his passion. But Law became an alternate life course. He and his wife, Elizabeth, now have two children, Mary Beth and Beau. It's 2015 and Beau is approaching his senior year in high school and perusing colleges and careers. And this junction brings back memories for Vincent and in his own senior year and graduation in 1979.

Sometimes the presence of something tangible lifts us from one present mental situation to a locked-in memory from the past. And this is what occurs when Vincent receives a package containing a beat-up leather journal from so long ago. Vincent already knows that its contents will be heavier than anything he has ever encountered before.

Robert Dugoni takes us back to that Summer of 1979. Vincent has secured a job after graduation at a construction site in order to save money for community college. The impact of 1979 will have more far-reaching affects on Vincent than he could ever have imagined. It's here that Vincent meets William Goodman and Todd Pearson, both Vietnam Vets. Just from their appearances and early interactions, Vincent knows that these are men with damaged souls.

William is at the center of this intricate circle while Vincent will relay the telling in slow, jagged attempts with his own simple voice. But the weight and the heaviness is with William. (Oh, how I wish that William's story would have been linear in nature. It deserved a book of its own.) Dugoni's intent is to compare and contrast what was layed at the feet of most eighteen year olds in times of war, in times of prosperity.

William's journal is one of the most pressing examples of a young man's plunging into the nightmare of the Vietnam War. A call to duty as war often is. A call that still resounds today. There was never a word or phrase that likely described what these young individuals experienced before, during, and after. PTSD doesn't even adequately nail it. There was no time to process in the thick of this combat in jungle warfare. "Running into a wall over and over again until you knock yourself out." The toll in lives lost and the toll in youth squandered in war.........

The World Played Chess is a must read. Dugoni has done a stellar job in presenting the lives of these men. Be sure to read his Acknowledgements at the end which gives more insight into his writing. We'll never fully comprehend the horrors experienced in war unless we've been there. And we should be hellbent on preventing just that. The World Played Chess does give us pause. I shutter to think of the price being paid out still in generation after generation to come.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishers and to the highly talented Robert Dugoni for the opportunity.

I received a free ARC from Net Galley and Lake Union publishing in return for an honest review.
I read both of the books by Robert Dugoni in the Charles Jenkins series. This is the first standalone book by Robert Dugoni that I have read. I actually preferred The World Played Chess to the excellent Jenkins series.
The book brought me back to my own 18th year in 1973.
Dugoni's coming of age story was set in 1967,1979, and 2015. Three 18 year old males doing their best to navigate the transition from young adulthood to becoming a productive member of society. William , suffering from PTSD brought on by his service in the trenches of Vietnam during 1968. Vinnie, who met William in 1979 working on a home construction project, and Beau the son of Vinnie dealing with the death of a friend in 2015.
While many of the platitudes about the sacredness of life are well worn, the narrative hit me with an emotional force and caused me to reflect on how singular life events can impact a life direction for decades to come.
The story while powerfully tragic was also strangely hopeful. The narrative was authentic and the scenes set in Viet Nam , while horrific , rang true.
I also appreciated the reading guide for Book Clubs and the author's acknowledgement at the end of the story.
This will be an excellent and provocative book club selection.

The novel features three young men all turning 18 in the years 1967, 1979 and 2015. All looking forward to college and starting the journey to become men. But they will all have very different journeys.

In 1979, Vincent Bianco, newly graduated from high school has landed himself a summer job working on a house extension with two Vietnam vets. He becomes close to one of the men, 30 y old William who is clearly suffering from PTSD, a condition not yet recognised or treated. In his senior year at high school William had an athletic scholarship lined up for college, but an injury saw it disappear and instead he was drafted to Vietnam, enlisting in the Marines. As they work together Vincent listened as William shared some of his stories about his time in Vietnam and what it was like to be an eighteen year old in the midst of so much death and killing. The third eighteen year old in the novel is Vincent’s son Beau, who has had a safe, carefree childhood with a loving family but will have to grow up quickly when tragedy strikes.
In 2015, William is cleaning out his house when he finds the journal that he kept in Vietnam and sends it to William as thanks for listening to him all those years ago. It is mostly through extracts from the journal that we learn of his time there, told in parallel with Vincent’s summer working with William and his own son’s senior year in college.

William’s journal makes for pretty gritty reading. It makes me fell pretty guilty that we (Australia as well as the US) sent these young men into such horrific conditions expecting them to kill and potentially be killed for reasons that they didn’t really understand or even agree with. As in William’s case, we also didn’t do enough to support them and acknowledge what they had been through when they returned home traumatised and shaken from their experiences.

In the afterword Dugoni describes how the novel is partly based on his own experience working on a construction site with two Vietnam vets during his summer breaks, when their stories opened his own eyes to the world. Before writing the book, he researched the experience of soldiers in Vietnam through watching documentaries, reading first-hand accounts, as well as articles and military papers and consulted with a friend who served in Vietnam over the correct terms and weapons. This attention to detail makes the passages in Vietnam ring true and the nightmare the men endured feel so real. The lessons William learns in Vietnam about mateship, love, endurance and faith he passes on to Vincent who in turn will try to pass them on to his son to help him through a tough time in his life. Although the book is a tough one to read, it is sensitively told and had me totally engaged with William’s story.

Robert Dugoni’s The World Played Chess is an incredible read. Three storylines intertwine to tell the story of William Goodman and Vincent Bianco, who became friends on a work crew in 1979. William is a Vietnam vet and Vincent is a recent high school graduate. As they work together, William begins to tell Vincent about Vietnam. The other storyline finds Vincent 40 years later, navigating life as his son Beau finishes high school. William sends him his Vietnam journal. The reader gets to experience the journal along with Vincent, while also hearing stories directly from William as he told them in 1979.

As with any book about war, this one is heartbreaking. William’s journal and stories bring so many of his fellow soldiers back to life. This book is the ultimate coming-of-age novel, following William, Vincent, and Beau as they encounter struggles that cause them to grow up quickly.

I loved the interwoven plots in this novel. It is masterfully done. I loved the characters and their development. This book is about growing up, but it’s also about letting go and learning to stand alone. It’s about the relationships that make and break each person.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. Sensitive readers should anticipate the violence found in a war novel, as well as racism, language, and sexual content.

I was excited to dive into a topic and era that I was not too familiar with in reading The World Played Chess. It’s written by Robert Dugoni, so if you’ve read any of his other works, you know it will be beautifully written, thoroughly researched and just generally interesting. True to form, he did not disappoint. There were indeed some lyrical turns of phrasing (worthy of a highlighter and some time to ponder) and often I found myself transported to the jungles of Vietnam or living it up as a teenage boy in the 70s. However, I respect what the author was doing in format and layout jumping between eras and yet I found myself a little dissatisfied in both – leaving the storytelling to feel a bit disjointed, rocky, and forced. Given those issues I would still highly recommend. It’s certainly no Sam Hell, but worth the read!

I’m a huge fan of Robert Dugoni, his Tracy Crosswhite series but especially The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. This book is another standalone. It follows the lives of three 18 year old men at different time periods. William, starting in 1967 when he enlists in the Marines and is sent to Vietnam; Vincent, in 1976 when he meets William, and Beau, Vincent’s son, in 2016, when Vincent receives William’s journal from his years as a Marine.
Dugoni does a fabulous job of putting us in the time and place of the war in Vietnam and I learned how a whole group of phrases involving the word sh** came about. I was often hit with the parallels between the war in Vietnam and the one in Afghanistan. War is always hell, but a war where you’re the foreigner, the outsider, the unknown seems worse.
It’s an important point that none of us ever know how much time we have left. “Growing old is a privilege, not a right.” The boys in Vietnam had to learn it a lot earlier than most of us.
As is so often the case with books that have multiple storylines, I was most drawn to William’s. Vincent’s story seems mostly designed to forward William’s story ten years after his stint in the war. Beau, the son of privilege, also discovers at an early age that a long life isn’t a given. The book tended to slow down when it shifted away from Williams’s direct story and a part of me wondered if it would have worked better if it had only focused on him.
The ending bowled me over. And make sure to read the Acknowledgments. They go a long way to explaining what led to the book and the research involved.
Dugoni makes some interesting points about religion, friendship and responsibility. He puts to lie the idea that there are no atheists in foxholes. This would make an interesting book club selection. Lake Union obviously thought the same as they were smart enough to include discussion questions.
My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

Raw, honest, and beautifully haunting. This story completed captivated me, and these characters evoked visceral, complex emotion within me. Dugoni has created a true masterpiece that is a must read.

“Sometimes we know so little, we aren’t even playing the same game as everyone else.”
There comes a time when every boy must become a man. Peter Pan cannot remain. But that transition, while crucial, is often ambiguous and uncertain. One day a boy. The next a man. One day carefree. The next full of weight and responsibility. There is no manual to guide a person from youth into adulthood. Or at least there wasn’t until this book.

Dugoni tackles the transition from boyhood into manhood in a heartfelt, poignant, and somber manner. It’s heartbreaking and hope filled. As I read, my mind raced with a (long) list of people who *must* read this book…boy moms, men, male teenagers on the verge of adulthood… everyone!

The story is told through three perspectives and timeframes:
-William’s war journals from 1967
-Vincent’s recollections from working alongside William in 1979
-Vincent reading William’s war journal as his son, Beau, passes from boyhood into manhood in 2015

Three young men thrust into adulthood: William, Vincent, and Beau. Each man experiences a vastly different emergence. Each must battle the weight of new responsibility. Dugoni expertly crafts these characters. They are multifaceted, complex, and flawed. Their emotions are raw and intricate as they flounder through this transition learning to manage the conflict they feel within. Each character is vivid and real. I rooted for them, cried alongside them, and didn’t want to let them go at the end of the book. But I must say, William was my favorite by far. What a story of redemption and hope! I wanted to thrust myself through the book and give him the biggest hug.

The message of this book is a beautiful and necessary one:
Lives can be impacted for the better through the simple act of kindness. Often that kindness is nothing more than really listening.

We are a military family. My husband served honorably until retirement and his war wounds continue to remind him of that service after-the-fact. He chose his service. He willingly decided to put self aside for love of country and his fellow man. I was born after the Vietnam War ended. As I grew up, I heard stories of the war and what those soldiers, most of which had no choice in the matter, endured. 18 year olds. Barely out of childhood. Used and abused by their own country. Abandoned by those who didn’t agree with their sacrifices. They never were given the choice my husband was. Reading William’s account brings life to that unchosen sacrifice. It well honors those men. And I am so grateful to Dugoni for bringing their collective story to light, showing the utmost respect for them, and giving them a place of distinction they well deserve.


I have the BIGGEST book hangover from this gem. It’s both the best and worst feeling. Best because I was able to experience this masterpiece. Worst because it’s over. This book will stay with me for a very long time.

Quote worthy:
“Growing old is a privilege, not a right.”
“No situation is hopeless unless we let it be.”

Thank you Robert Dugoni, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

It seems that no matter what Robert Dugoni writes, he nails it. His mysteries and spy thrillers are top-notch. His mainstream The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell was uncomfortably compelling. Now his historical look at the Viet Nam war and its impact on various lives hits the same sweet spot of character and story and setting.

For someone that missed the draft by only a year or two and went to high school in California, it also feels personal. I wasn't a jock, didn't go to a private school, didn't work construction and wasn't a soldier (or marine). But I was a contemporary to all that in time and space and felt all the feels that Mr. Dugoni put into this work. Much of this ground has been covered before. But Dugoni gives it a fresh perspective. I am still thinking about the three men and how their lives intersect in this book.

Multi-Generational Coming Of Age. This is an interesting review to write, particularly for a man, as Dugoni explicitly notes in his author notes at the end of this book that he sought to write a book about that transition period where the world expects a boy to suddenly become a man. Thus, any man's thoughts on the book will likely be tangled with his own memories of that period in his own life, and mine are no different - for me, it was the summer I graduated HS... that ended with the Sept 11 attacks.

But the story Dugoni plays out here is with generations before and after my own, with the earlier Boomers - those old enough to fight in Vietnam in the late 60s-, Gen-X - Vincent here, and Dugoni in real life, graduated HS the summer after my own parents did -, and Gen-Z - the son here is in college just a couple of years ago as when the book is published in Sept 2021. And he captures each period and their own idiosyncracies well, despite using only really a couple of perspectives - an 18yo soldier in Vietnam, mostly told through letters and other remembrances, and an 18yo construction worker in 1979 who is also the parent in the 2010s era.

Still, the raw emotions and the conflicts and turmoils Dugoni captures here are visceral. The hits land like haymakers, and there isn't really any levity to be found. Yet even throughout, this is a story of hope, of the idea that no matter the struggles you're facing in your immediate world, things *will* get better. And it is this hope that is also so prevalent throughout the text and provides the gravitas that allows the haymakers to hit as hard as they do without the story becoming too depressing.

Truly a remarkable work, and very much recommended.

Thank you so much, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an early copy of this book to read and review!

"Growing old is a privilege, not a right.”

What a phenomenal book!! Robert Dugoni is one of my all-time favorite authors and The World Played Chess is going on the list of my all-time favorite books!

It's 1979 and Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. He hopes to earn some extra money and hang out with his high school buddies his final summer before college. He lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew working alongside two Vietnam vets, one of whom is suffering from PTSD. Vincent gets the education of a lifetime! Now, forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, Vincent ponders those experiences and settles down to read a journal sent to him by one of those co-workers, who served in Vietnam.

I found it very easy to follow the story. (The journal pages were indented so there was no confusion.) What those boys and men sent to Vietnam went through!! My heart goes out to ALL veterans, and I thank each and every one of you for your service.

The World Played Chess is a haunting book that's filled with heart. I wouldn't have missed it for anything!!!

This is a marvelous book, from an author I’ve never read before. It’s evident that a lot of research and emotion has been poured into the story! It would make a great movie.
Set in my area of California, and during an era when I was a young wife and mother, I realized that although that I was knowledgeable about this war, I really had no awareness of what these boys that went over there suffered. I was against the war, but never against the young men fighting over there.
This story is set in three different timeline. William’s experiences, told through a journal he kept, as an 18 yr old Marine recruit, Vincent’s as an 18 yr old, working on a construction job with William and Todd the boss, another Vietnam Vet. And finally Vincent’s story as a husband and father of a son coming of age.
This is a story that is full of life’s lessons, disappointments, tragedies, family and best friends, that make boys into the men they become. It was an emotional journey and really did hit me, about the brutality and complete futility of that war, in which nothing was accomplished and there was no victor, although there were many victims that both died and survived. I think this story will stay with me for awhile, but I’m glad I read it.
My thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Three characters, all 18 years old, in different time eras. The points of confluence and the impact on one another, the mistakes made and the lessons learned - this is the story that Robert Dugoni develops in his latest book "The world played chess".

When I started reading I was not sure the formula that Dugoni used to write this book would work to make a coherent story flow, but oh, was I wrong! It definitely did. Sometimes in first person, sometimes in third, and sometimes as a journal entry, every episode and every situation is thoroughly developed and smoothly leads to the next chapter.

I love the title of the book, the world around so complex and the three young men learning painfully through their personal experiences, coming out of their own safety net, having to endure unpredictable change, submitting to their own luck. Although beautifully written, parts of the book are difficult to read, especially all the journal entries about the Vietnam War. They really make you cringe.

Having read most of the books Dugoni has written, the two stand alone and all his series; still amazes me, that as a writer he can wear that many hats and wear them all so well! I continue to debate whether to give this book four or five stars, but it will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to #Netgalley #TheWorldPlayedChess #RobertDugoni and #LakeUnionPublishing for an ARC copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this one more than I thought I would! I love historical fiction but haven’t really read anything about the Vietnam war before. This book was very well written, and I love books with multiple viewpoints and timelines. There were some storylines I enjoyed more than others - I did feel like the journal entries had more depth, but all in all I felt like Dugoni did a good job tying all the plot lines and characters together.

Thank you to Netgalley, Robert Dugoni and the publisher for the ARC.