A brutal, mesmerizing, and historically compelling war story with a fully drawn protagonist.
A historical novel brings readers deep into the agonizing battles of World War II’s final year on the European front and the trials in Germany following the Allied victory.
William Connelly was raised in privilege, part of Philadelphia’s Main Line elite. His grandfather was a penniless Irish immigrant who, through fortitude and good fortune, opened his own brickyard, which his two sons expanded into a prominent paving company. Now his uncle is a United States congressman. But despite his access to a safer stateside deployment, Will, an Army lieutenant with a law degree, ships out to join the 106th Infantry Division. In December 1944, Will is stationed in Belgium when word comes that the Germans, who had been in retreat, are mounting a major new offensive. Will unexpectedly finds himself thrust onto the battlefield, to which, despite being seriously wounded, he returns, in one capacity or another, until the end of the conflict on the European front. On May 5, 1945, two days before the official armistice, Will is ordered to help liberate a “prison” camp. The shock of what he finds in the Mauthausen concentration camp in northern Austria, even more than the brutalities he witnessed in combat, is a turning point for him. He remains in Germany for several more years, attached to Gen. George S. Patton’s JAG Corps, prosecuting war criminals. These trials, less well-known than the Nuremberg Tribunals, were held at the notorious Dachau concentration camp and are riveting. A bit less than half the book graphically depicts the excruciating details of battle. Familiar luminaries make appearances, but this portion of the narrative is propelled by action and gore—it’s highly informative but tough to read. The postwar section focuses more on the scars of war, the traumas that kept soldiers like Will rooted in place, unable to return home quickly after what they had witnessed. McNulty (The Parachutist’s Daughter, 2011) delivers a vivid, fully developed hero. The author is a skillful writer, both in prose and dialogue. A few missing words can be easily overlooked, although one linguistic quirk is puzzling: He consistently writes “padded” when “patted” is required (“Will padded him on the shoulder”).
A brutal, mesmerizing, and historically compelling war story with a fully drawn protagonist.Pub Date: Dec. 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9993788-4-7
Page Count: 444
Publisher: Bashton Publications
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
