Book Reviews

Title: The Kaiser's Yanks
Author: Gary C. Warne
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Weymouth Symmes

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1935683098

Grab your parachute and join the pilots of Jasta von Steuben, the American-filled squadron of the German Army Air Service as they contest the skies over the trenches against the British and the French in World War I. Page after page of roaring engines, stuttering machine guns, the howl of artillery and anti-aircraft fire, the quiet of blossoming love amidst the terror and uncertainty of war, and the honor men find even as they attempt to kill the men they face in battle. This is aerial combat at its best!

Title: Mollie's War: The Letters of a World War II WAC in Europe
Author: Mollie Weinstein and Cyndee Schaffer
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Ruehrdanz

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0786447915

Why did an average American woman become a WAC during World War II and place herself in peril?
Mollie’s War documents the human side of life during the war—a life that alternates between fear and romance, exhaustion and leisure. Some of that story was picked up by the Detroit Jewish News in her hometown when a columnist for the paper asked her to be his overseas correspondent. The newspaper and B’nai B’rith raised $165,000 in War Bonds in Mollie’s name.

It took many letters home telling everything from daily challenges to exciting experiences (when the censors allowed) for her story to emerge. What was it like to be in England while the country was under constant bombardment by unmanned German missiles? Imagine being among the first WACs to enter Normandy after the D-Day invasion. Did you ever wonder whether you would use your foreign language skills from high school? Well, Mollie used those skills when she was transferred to Paris, acting as an interpreter in both work and social situations. Envision being a young Jewish woman in Frankfurt Germany on Rosh Hashanah 1945 and walking with other G.I’s to the rededication of the only standing synagogue.

This collection depicts vividly Mollie’s experiences from her first train trip to Daytona Beach, Florida for basic training in Oct. 1943 to the dramatic image of seeing the Statue of Liberty as her ship approached the shores of the USA in Nov. 1945.

Title: The Lost Priest
Author: Karl Boyd
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Reviewer: Sandra Miller Linhart

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1604520442

Once again, in his longest novel thus far, The Lost Priest, Karl Boyd works his magic and paints vivid pictures with words to bring a diversified cast of characters to life in a two part adventure/thriller/romance tale set in Texas, Bermuda and the steamy jungles of Brazil.

Title: Lost in the Blue Room
Author: Richard Barone
Genre: Fiction, Literary
Reviewer: Carmen Stenholm

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0975471163

America's-most-wanted-novel-that-nobody-wants holds one thousand passengers hostage 35,000 feet over the Atlantic and becomes the greatest bestseller of all time. Would the Twin Towers still be standing if federal air marshals were flying on September 11, 2001? Ex-sky marshal Jack King thinks so, and he's about to make the government and airlines pay for gross negligence. Armed with a top-secret gun-cloaking device, he hijacks a new blended-wing airliner and demands that the passengers take a journey with him back to 1970 when the original sky marshals flew. Andrea High flies first class for a living, compliments of the besieged airlines. Andrea is a college professor, a plastic surgeon, a Buddhist monk, or anyone that fits a sky marshal's cover story, except, of course, a sleeping passenger. To survive boring hours of wakefulness, waiting for a skyjacker to strike, Andrea writes a journal and challenges the woman of his present with the man of her past. Highly addicted to the anonymity of the job, Andrea explores drugs, violence, and sex, loses sight of the destination, and turns the story into a terrorism of obscurity--the very thing the passengers are helpless to destroy.

Title: The Last Jump
Author: John Nevola
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Bob Flournoy

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1432756656

A mother's dying wish propels her only son headlong into an astonishing adventure in The Last Jump. Fact and fiction intermix seamlessly as he endeavors to unravel a wartime secret passionately guarded by four old soldiers who swore an oath never to reveal it. As our protagonist reaches out to these aging warriors to solve the puzzle, he uncovers truths he never could have imagined including the shocking conclusion.

The Last Jump is a war story, a mystery, a love tale and a narrative about the gritty men and women who won World War II. It was a time when ordinary citizens of an imperfect America, with all its incredible virtues and vexing shortcomings, stood shoulder to shoulder against the world?s most evil powers in a fight for survival.