A flawed but enjoyable debut.
An African-American soldier battles racism and Nazis during World War II.
Lieutenant Vince LaSalle is a gifted soldier, a brilliant leader and an honorable man. He is also black, which, to the United States Army of WWII, means that he is good enough to die for his country but not good enough to associate with white soldiers. When Vince’s all-black troop is stationed in England just before the invasion of Normandy, Vince and his compatriots are relegated to mundane duties such as transporting equipment. (The British, concerned about black/white relations among the American forces, have instituted this policy.) Even more difficult, Vince had to leave behind his fiancée, Vierna, who is trying to use education to improve her position in life. Despite Vince’s menial duties in England, his reputation comes to the attention of a group of covert operatives training to retrieve top-secret papers from Nazi Germany–should they fail, the Germans will undoubtedly win the war. Despite Vince’s obvious superiority over the other operatives, he is not invited on the mission. But when the operatives are captured, Vince is called on to rescue them. Though Kelley hasn’t quite mastered the nuances of social or historical fiction–and despite stretches of purple prose–he handles the story with admirable grace. The plot is engaging, though formulaic and at times preposterous–especially the narrative thread in which Vierna, Vince’s brother Derek and Derek’s girlfriend embark on a transatlantic journey to assist in the classified mission. Still, the author provides a satisfying number of page-turning moments as the narrative follows Vince through the heart of Nazi territory. Ultimately, readers won’t be sorry to learn that a sequel is on the way.
A flawed but enjoyable debut.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 978-1-933204-13-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.
Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don’t Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.
Five years ago in Atlanta, Reese could not save his beloved wife Emma from heart failure, even though the Harvard-trained surgeon became a physician so that he could find a way to fix his childhood sweetheart’s congenitally faulty ticker. He renounced practicing medicine after her death and now lives in quiet anonymity as a boat mechanic on Lake Burton. Across the lake is Emma’s brother Charlie, who was rendered blind on the same desperate night that Reese fought to revive his wife on their kitchen floor. When Reese helps save the life of a seven-year-old local girl named Annie, who turns out to have irreparable heart damage, he is compassionately drawn into her case. He also grows close to Annie’s attractive Aunt Cindy and gradually comes to recognize that the family needs his expertise as a transplant surgeon. Martin displays some impressive knowledge about medical practice and the workings of the heart, but his Christian message is not exactly subtle. “If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart,” Reese notes of his medical studies. Emma’s letters (kept in a bank vault) quote Bible verse; Charlie elucidates stories of Jesus’ miracles for young Annie; even the napkins at the local bar, The Well, carry passages from the Gospel of John for the benefit of the biker clientele. Moreover, Martin relentlessly hammers home his sentimentality with nature-specific metaphors involving mating cardinals and crying crickets. (Annie sells crickets as well as lemonade to raise money for her heart surgery.) Reese’s habitual muttering of worldly slogans from Milton and Shakespeare (“I am ashes where once I was fire”) doesn’t much cut the cloying piety, and an over-the-top surgical save leaves the reader feeling positively bruised.
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.Pub Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-5955-4054-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: WestBow/Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
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