THE LAST MISSION

by Harry Mazer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1980

In 1944 Jack Raab, 15 but big for his age, a Jewish boy from the Bronx, joins the Air Force with his older brother's ID and is soon a staff sergeant making regular bombing runs out of England. After 19 missions the pan-ethnic bomber crew, now close friends, congratulate themselves on their group survival (you're sent home after 35). But the next time out the plane is shot and Jack, the sole survivor, parachutes into captivity in Germany shortly before the end of the war. Back in the States, with Pacific duty still ahead, he tells his age to get out. (Why now? Simple. ""I'm sixteen, sir. I haven't seen my family in over a year. And Hitler's dead."") Back in high school, he gives a Veterans Day speech about the stupidity of war. Although realistic, this is essentially a competent YA reduction of a genre that is best met at full strength. Mazer doesn't flinch from the bloody death of Jack's best friend, and after the plane is shot down the story takes a somewhat more individualized course. Still, the occasional simplistic conversations and too-explicit statements of themes are reminders that this is a second-hand literary experience despite Mazer's evident and convincing first-hand acquaintance with the material. Nevertheless, it's well enough done to leave you questioning YA conventions, not Mazer's skill in following them.

Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION