Soldier in the Rain

From Kirkus Reviews: "The author of The Temple of Gold and Your Turn to Curtsey My Turn to Bow has written a third novel which seems, at first, wholly devoted to ordinary, surface realism. Its slowly emerging qualities of whimsey and high spirits are therefore both pleasantly surprising and the more engaging. The main character, Sergeant Eustis Clay, a southern boy, is, to say the least, not too bright, but he is an operator and his entire existence is that of a small time confidence man. He has a friend, Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter, a mountain of a man, who compensates for his main liability by over-eating. Maxwell has actually found a home in the army and the two spend their time in a southern army camp, during the Korean War, making things as comfortable for themselves as possible. The plot consists of a series of minor crises into which Clay, with considerable aforethought, has worked himself, and Maxwell's efforts to keep his pal out of the guard-house. Eustis, engaged as he is, ""in a running con game with the world"" has a scheme for everything: he ingeniously managed to avoid basic training; he has a system for grading girls, from A to D; and he thinks he can make a fortune by running Pfc. Meltzer, who describes himself as an offbeat Yalie and claims to be able to run the four-minute mile, in the Rose Bowl. In the end Eustis is left alone; Meltzer is discharged; Maxwell dies of a heart condition; his dog dies and the camp closes up. But somehow one is confident that the indestructible Eustis will manage to get along. There's nothing particularly memorable about William Goldman's novel but while it lasts it can be quietly entertaining."