2022 Edgar Nominee Five Decembers by James Kestrel

 

Five Decembers

Author: James Kestrel

Publisher: Titan

Date of Publication: October 26, 2021

Pages: 428

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the fourth of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews.  

     This book is terrific.  It combines a fine noir murder mystery, a love story, and a well-researched historical narrative.  The settings of Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Manila, Hong Kong, and Tokyo are essential to the story and are brilliantly rendered.  The plot is complex but keeps the reader locked in.  The story starts in Honolulu in early December, 1941.  A young couple is found in an isolated shed brutally murdered.  The young woman is Japanese and the young man is a nephew of the Admiral in command of Pearl Harbor.  Detective Joe McGrady of the Honolulu Police Department is the lead investigator and follows the primary suspect across the Pacific to Manila and Hong Kong.  Before he can make an arrest, Joe is captured by the Japanese and spends the rest of the war in Tokyo.  After the armistice is signed on the U.S.S. Missouri, Joe returns to Honolulu and attempts to resurrect what is now a cold case.  Stephen King calls this "An electrifying read.  The last chapter is a real stunner."  These are, believe it or not, gross understatements.  

   I enjoyed this book for many reasons.  The large cast of characters are all well developed.  Joe McGrady is a classic 1940s gumshoe who is very sympathetic and mostly plays by the rules until he doesn't.  Gloves come off when Joe returns to Honolulu in 1945 and realizes he has been betrayed by former colleagues and things aren't what they seemed in 1941.  The plot moves along with many twists and turns.  The settings as I mentioned above, are great.  This author has done an amazing amount of research to bring these locales to life.  The descriptions of the fire bombing of Tokyo and the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are worth reading the whole book for.   This is a very worthy nominee for the 2022 Edgar Award.   

  

Book Review: The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mott Freeman

 

The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and 

His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home

Author: Sally Mott Freeman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Date of Publication: May 9, 2017

Pages: 608

    

     The Jersey Brothers was selected for monthly discussion by our neighborhood non-fiction book group.  I had never heard of the book before it was selected and doubt that I ever would have stumbled upon it to read on my own.  I am glad that our group selected it, as the book is obsessively researched, tightly written, emotional in many areas, and, on top of all of that, very educational.  

     The story is about two brothers, Bill and Benny Mott, and their younger half-brother Barton Cross.  The focus is mostly on Barton who was taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines.  The early part of the book relates much of Barton's upbringing and schooling.  The reader is also introduced to the boys' mother Helen, who becomes a major character as the book moves along.  Bill and Benny are achievers, each obtaining an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis and going on to successful naval careers.  Barton has a flair for the arts and music and doesn't seem to have the same drive to succeed.  He is sent to a private boarding school for high school to try to improve his academic standing but is not offered a position in Annapolis.  He spends a year at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. instead.  He survives all the hazing and harsh treatment as a first-year cadet.  Succeeding at The Citadel he transfers to the Naval Academy, where he endures yet another year of hazing and brutal physical punishment.  He proceeds to fail a math class by a fraction of a point and winds up at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  He graduates from there with a business degree.  The point of all this backstory regarding Barton is important for the reader to know since these experiences were very formative and explain how he could survive the ordeals inflicted by his Japanese captors.  The reader also sees Helen Cross as a manipulative and obtrusive parent, what today we would call a "helicopter parent".  She embarks on letter writing campaigns every time she perceives that her son has been mistreated.  

     Meanwhile, Bill becomes an attorney and then, as a naval reservist, becomes a Naval Intelligence officer.  Benny moves up the ladder of command at sea.  As World War II approaches, Bill, recognizing that Barton will inevitably be drafted into the Army, pulls strings and gets Barton into the Navy as a supply officer.  Bill figures that this arrangement will keep Barton out of harm's way.  Unfortunately, exactly the opposite occurs as Barton is in the wrong place at the wrong time as the Japanese overwhelm the Philippines.  

     What follow is the story of Bill and Benny's relentless pursuit of information pertaining to their imprisoned brother and Barton's horrific ordeals at the hands of his Japanese captors.  Bill uses his position as chief of the White House Map Room (the war room) and his close relationship to President Roosevelt to gain access to classified prisoner and casualty lists.  Benny gets closer and closer to the Philippines as the U.S. Navy moves across the many Pacific islands as the war progresses.  These brothers collectively are witnesses to most of the pivotal events of the Pacific war: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the naval battles at Coral Sea and Midway, the Doolittle raid, and the utilization of the atomic bomb.  The author also exposes the infighting between the Army and Navy over strategy and the personal battles between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz.  

     This book is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it highlights the intense emotional toll that war has on families.  The unraveling of marriages, the disruption of any sense of normalcy, and, especially poignant, the terror inflicted on family members of prisoners of war.  Using Helen's diary entries and her many letters to naval officers, congressmen, and even President Roosevelt, the author shows the psychological damage inflicted on those at the home front.  

     In the end, The Jersey Brothers is an exhaustive look at World War II through the eyes of a remarkable family and their many contributions to the war effort.  The author is the daughter of Bill Mott, and she has obviously poured her heart and soul into this work.  She brings the horror of war down to a very personal level; Bill, Benny, and Barton are presented as the heroes that they indeed were, but with all their humanity, doubts, failings, and inadequacies presented as well.  The Jersey Brothers is a remarkable achievement and one which I will not soon forget.  

 

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publisher: Random House

Date of Publication: September 11, 2007

Pages: 235 (Nook Edition) 

     I resisted reading this book because I thought that there couldn't be any World War II/Nazi Germany/Holocaust stories which haven't been told.  I was very wrong.  The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a pre-teen living with foster parents in Nazi Germany.  The effect that this war has on this young lady, her foster family and her neighbors is excruciating.  Portraying Germans as victims is not common but certainly here the characters are indeed sucked into a vortex which they don't understand and aren't complicit with.  Acts of defiance occur despite the risk of dire consequence.  They are swallowed by the machine of war.

     The book is told by an omniscient narrator who is Death himself.  This allows the reader to be present on battlefields, in concentration camps and in Liesel Meminger's town of Molching which is caught in the cross-fire of a hellish war.  The characters are extremely strong, most notably Liesel and her foster father Hans Hubermann.  The pair work together to educate Liesel and she grows in appreciation of the power of the written as well as the spoken word.  Liesel's books, purloined from multiple sources, are her only solace.  Words and books take on even more significance when the Hubermanns elect to hide Max Vandenburg, a Jew, in their basement.  Words and books become the bond of friendship for Liesel and Max.  Words eventually even become sources of solace as Liesel reads to her neighbors in bomb shelters during air raids.

     This is a powerful book which deserves its accolades and status as a long-running New York Times bestseller.  It is a potent statement regarding the effects of war on average citizens, particularly children.  I am very glad that I read it and look forward to seeing the recent movie adaptation.   

Book Review: Death in the City of Light by David King

Death in the City of Light

Author: David King

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group

Date of Publication: June 5, 2012

Pages: 462 (Trade Paperback Edition)

     Death in the City of Light is a disturbing look at a fascinating side story to the Nazi occupation of Paris.   It begins with a grisly discovery of dismembered bodies in various stages of decay in an up-scale neighborhood of the 16^th Arrondissement of Paris.  This discovery sets off a search for the strange and puzzling owner of the building who promptly disappears. 

     The book is an attempt to define or describe Dr. Marcel Petiot.  He is a medical doctor whose past as well as his life in Paris is cloaked in mystery.  The author has done painstaking research into Dr. Petiot’s entire life story in order to help the reader try to understand the incomprehensible.    He also includes many contemporary accounts of the investigations of the despicable crimes for which the doctor was eventually tried and convicted.   The author cleverly leaves unanswered (as does history) the conundrum of which of two stories is true.  The first story (expounded at the criminal trial) is that the doctor was a merciless killer who lured innocents into a trap by promising them a road to freedom from the Nazis.  He instead stole all of their belongings, tortured them and then dismembered and disposed of their bodies.  He had a history of mental illness and there arose some question as to whether the doctor was in fact insane.  There was speculation that he had indeed also killed his first wife years before.  The second story as told by the doctor as his defense is that he was a master of deception, working for a faction of the French Resistance, did indeed help people escape to Argentina and was framed by the Gestapo.  There is some corroboration of the Doctor’s version of events.  The author presents all of the available evidence for both stories.

     There are other notable characters whom the author fleshes out in detail, including the police inspector, Dr. Petiot's wife and brother (accomplices or naive relatives?) as well as many of the victims who disappeared.  These secondary characters add a lot of texture to the story of Dr. Petiot.

     It is very interesting to read of the attempts at justice and proper police investigation by the French during the chaos of Nazi occupation.  It is also interesting to read a about a murder investigation which took place many decades before the availability of forensic studies such as DNA analysis which we so take for granted. Death in the City of Light is a fascinating book, although at times the author sacrifices pace and readability for comprehensive reporting.  The character of Dr. Petiot is portrayed as somewhat of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”  which rings true whichever story you as the reader want or come to believe.

Book Review: Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Lost in Shangri-La

Author: Mitchell Zuckoff

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: April 26, 2011 (Hardcover Edition)

Pages: 384 (Trade Paperback Edition)

     Lost in Shangri-La is an excellent example of "creative non-fiction", a genre generally recognized as invented by Truman Capote with In Cold Blood.   Mitchell Zuckoff is a former reporter for "The Boston Globe" (Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting) and a professor of journalism at Boston University.  He brings all of his investigative prowess to this work.  This is an engrossing story of a little known rescue mission which occurred towards the end of World War II on the island of New Guinea.  

     The city of Hollandia on the northern coast of New Guinea was a supply depot and support base for American troops moving up the island chain towards Japan.  A previously unknown remote central valley was discovered by Navy pilots and found to be inhabited by primitive tribes.  Twenty four soldiers embarked on a pleasure ride from Hollandia aboard a plane nicknamed "The Little Gremlin" to see this valley which had been dubbed "Shangri-La" from the 1933 novel The Lost Horizon.   There were three survivors when the plane crashed in the dense jungle covered mountainside.  The survivors included a WAC corporal, Margaret Hastings.  The story of a female soldier lost in a jungle with primitive and cannibalistic savages made for big headlines back in the States.

     The author uses contemporary documents, interviews with survivors, rescue team members and even jungle tribesmen to create a vivid and unforgettable narrative.  He deftly includes background on the natives, the geography of the region and some military politics.  All of these details are needed to understand the complete story.  The fiinal rescue mission is suspenseful and thrilling.  Photographs are included to make the story even more real.

     I found this a very compelling story of human perseverance and courage which the author tells in a very entertaining and instructive way.  I recommend Lost in Shangri-La highly.

Book Review: Flyboys by James Bradley

Flyboys

By James Bradley

(Blogger Note: This review was originally published in The LAMLight, the physician newsletter of the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine, Lynchburg, Virginia.)

     Flyboys is the true story of nine World War II dive-bomber pilots and the attacks on the island of Chichi Jima.  This island is north of Iwo Jima and was strategically critical because of two communications towers there which the Japanese used to deliver orders to the Imperial Navy in the Pacific.  Coincidental with the ground attack on Iwo Jima, the Navy attacked Chichi Jima with dive bombers.  Nine flyers were shot down during the attacks.  Eight were captured and executed and the ninth, George H. W. Bush was rescued by an American submarine and survived to become President.  The author uses recently declassified documents as well as interviews with many surviving family members and fellow combatants, including Japanese, to tell the story of these flyers.

     This book is a cold reminder that wars are fought by the best, bravest and brightest of our youngest citizens.  The portraits of these boys are poignant and the reader is left with a great sense of loss when each of these brave pilots is killed.  The concept of “what could have been” is underscored by the great contributions and successes of the elder George Bush.  One can’t help but wonder what heights the other eight could have achieved as well.

     The author also does an exceptional job of explaining the Japanese mindset leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.  He goes through the history of Japan following the visit to the previously self-contained island nation by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853.  The Japanese quickly moved from an isolationist policy to an imperialist policy which culminated nearly a century later with the Pearl Harbor attack.

     Mr. Bradley spends several chapters explaining the then radical new theory of war espoused by army colonel Billy Mitchell.  Colonel Mitchell had been in charge of America’s air support in France in WWI and witnessed the horror of trench warfare.  He had the vision to understand what he called the “Third Dimension” of warfare: air power.   In the years leading up to World War II he called for more aircraft and new strategies to utilize them.  He was loudly denounced by traditional militarists but found one believer in Franklin Roosevelt.  This set the stage for the bombing raids over Europe and eventually on the Japanese homeland during World War II.

     Mr. Bradley concludes the book with an account of the firebombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities at the conclusion of the war.  This strategy was ordered by General Curtis LeMay and accounted for more civilian casualties than the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The author uses first hand accounts from Japanese survivors to tell the horrible story of the napalm bombings of these Japanese cities.  Looking back from an era of reporting from the front lines and media immersion with combat troops, it is hard to imagine that the ghastly results of this technique were kept from the American public.

      James Bradley is the son of one of the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, an event immortalized on film and with the statue in Arlington, Virginia.  He has written that story in Flags of Our Fathers.  Flyboys is a fascinating book from both a historical and human perspective.  Mr. Bradley captures the wholly tragic individual stories of combatants from both sides within the broader historical perspective of world politics.  This book is not just for military history buffs.  This book makes the point over and over again what a horrible waste of life and potential war is.  In this era of terrorist violence this is a lesson that we obviously have not learned and need to be reminded of.