He Charged Alone: World War I Medal of Honor Recipient Private First Class Frank Gaffney by John R. Strasburg

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MWSA Review

He Charged Alone is the story of World War I Medal of Honor recipient Private First Class Frank Gaffney. Gaffney served with Company G, 108th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 27th Division during 1918. His unit assaulted the Saint Quentin Canal tunnel, an extremely fortified portion of the Imperial German’s Army Hindenburg Line, the last line of defense protecting Germany’s occupied areas of Belgium and northeastern France.
The story covers Gaffney’s early life, civilian working life, and his journey from civilian to World War I “doughboy” as well as his combat experiences, including the tremendous acts of heroism that earned him the Medal of Honor. We get a fairly complete picture of Frank Gaffney as a man, both in and out of uniform.

Gaffney was assigned as a Lewis gunner, which was a “light” machine gun carried and employed by one soldier as a part of a three-man team. The team also consisted of an assistant gunner that carried extra ammunition and a soldier equipped with a standard rifle to provide protection for the two men dedicated to the operating the Lewis gun. Gaffney’s exploits, as reported at the time, deemed him second only to Sergeant Alvin York, America’s preeminent Medal of Honor recipient and “war hero” to the American masses in 1918. Both Gaffney and York earned their medals during the same massive Allied campaign that broke the back of the German Army, at a high cost in U.S. casualties, but essentially ending the war.

The author constructs a rich backstory of PFC Gaffney’s time in the hastily constructed basic training camps of the World War I American Expeditionary Force, including training received by both British and French soldiers in the United States. The perilous voyage to France, in which his convoy engaged with a prowling German U-boat submarine, is detailed, and then the extended period of further training and introduction to the front-line trenches in France is covered.

The author does an outstanding job of balancing details with quotes from Gaffney. Where there are no direct references by Gaffney, the author weaves information available from the officers and men of Gaffney’s unit, associate units in his regiment, and his division. The story flows in a smooth and logical manner. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in World War I and U.S. Army combat history or stories of exceptional valor in combat.

Review by Terry Lloyd ( February 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

Frank Gaffney was a 33-year-old papermaker from Western New York when America entered the Great War in 1917. While his age exempted him from serving in the military, Gaffney ran to the colors anyway. He fought bravely on Belgian and French battlefields as a U.S. Army soldier with the 27th Division's 108th Infantry Regiment. On September 29, 1918, Gaffney singlehandedly breached a section of Germany's Hindenburg Line, coming away with 80 prisoners. Six grateful nations recognized his bravery, including his own. In June 1919, the United States awarded him the Medal of Honor. Years later, the 27th Division's commanding general, Maj. Gen. John F. O'Ryan, wrote of Gaffney, "…no one man had performed more daring exploits and had exercised a bigger influence upon those about him by the gallantry of his conduct." 

In He Charged Alone, John Strasburg chronicles the life of a First World War American soldier whose bravery was once compared to that of the legendary Sergeant Alvin York. The author weaves together Gaffney’s personal correspondence with military/government records, newspaper accounts, and published unit histories. Nearly fifty illustrations--photographs and maps--augment the narrative. 

Much of the book focuses on Gaffney's military service, heroism on the battlefield, and subsequent rehabilitation from a combat injury he received in the war's closing days, but not overlooked are Gaffney's upbringing and how he managed the burden that comes with being a Medal of Honor recipient. At its core, this book memorializes a true American hero from New York State who, in life, was admired by people across the country but, in death, has been nearly forgotten. In He Charged Alone, Frank Gaffney's legacy returns to the fore, where it belongs.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 249

Word Count: 59,000

Gunny Mac Private Detective: Trouble in Chinatown by Steven Walker

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Author's Synopsis: Four recuperating wounded Guadalcanal veterans fight to stay alive after accidentally finding out about a million-dollar heist! Anybody who is somebody in Chinatown in Honolulu wants them deader than the mackerel Gunny Mac had for lunch. But after the hell of Guadalcanal, it just might be hard to kill them. Gunny Mac Navy Cross recipient, hero of Bloody Ridge, hates what he has been forced to be...a civilian. Gunny Wojohowitz, Mac's best friend needs Mac to help him kill a man that needs killing. Lt. Alan Burke a spoiled, rich Harvard graduate and Naval officer sent to the Marine Corp as punishment needs Mac to help him find redemption. Padre McCaffery, a Navy Cross recipient and Jesuit priest, padre of the 1st Marine Battalion, promises himself to keep Mac alive at all costs. One last battle...for their country and friends...one last victory!

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook, Audiobook

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-7357026-0-5, 978-1-7357026-1-2, 978-1-7357026-2-9

The Uprising: the Escambray Rebellion by Jorge Torrente

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MWSA Review
Many Americans are familiar with the foreign affairs debacle that resulted from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. However, few will be aware of the Escambey Rebellion that was occurring at the same time. Both operations would be doomed to fail, but many participants have incredible stories to be told. Author Jorge Torrente–who escaped Castro’s Cuba during the Mariel boatlift–brings this story to life in his fast-paced historical fiction novel, The Uprising: the Escambray Rebellion.  

The Escambray Rebellion, which lasted roughly five years, took place in the mountainous central-southern section of Cuba of the same name. The anti-Castro participants in this struggle were called “bandits” by the regime. Perhaps not surprisingly, a large number of their compatriots considered them heroes. 

Combat scenes are graphic and intense; the wartime relationships are urgent and, in many cases, tragically short. Yet, through it all, Torrente brings his fictional characters to life and will keep you on the edge of your seat while reading about their struggle for a Cuba Libre. 

Review by John Cathcart (April 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Trinidad, Cuba, 1960.

Old and sick, Elpidio Garcia lost his ranch to the new Agrarian Reform Law and died as a result. His youngest son and namesake decided enough was enough, armed himself, and fought back, but he made sure to always carry his grandfather's machete into battle. It was the beginning of a spontaneous uprising of farmers and small-town dwellers from a proud mountainous region steeped in libertarian traditions. They were all direct descendants of the men and women who had fought off Spain's colonialism in the late 1800's, and they also knew what had happened in Russia after Lenin's October Revolution and in Eastern Europe after WWII. Like-minded people from all over the island also joined the rebellion: whites, blacks, Catholics, Jewish, Santeros, a gay young woman named Rosa who couldn't care less that women were supposed to stay home, and the usual smattering of adventurers and misfits, the sum total representing the human fabric of the nation.

And fight they did, men and women, shoulder to shoulder, oftentimes to the death.

On the other side of the struggle, men like Lieutenant Antonio De la Huerta and his comrades were as passionate as their opponents and no less inclined to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Bur soon the CIA heard about it and started recruiting and training young Cuban exiles in Miami. Nestor Guttman and Luis Muriel, volunteer.

¨We are German Jews, my son, you were born in Cuba by accident!¨ Nestor´s father was desperate.

¨That´s not your fight!¨

¨Luis, no!¨ Luis´ wife can´t stop crying. ¨I´m twelve weeks pregnant!¨

This is a fact-based story, a combination of history, politics, military, action-adventure, social context of the time, and about all those people and their loved ones, sucked into the maelstrom.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 441

Ahab: A Hockey Story by Brad Huestis

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MWSA Review
Ahab: A Hockey Story is very good exposition of what the average person knows nothing about: service in "the rear." We often hear vaguely about the bureaucratic nature of the services and the VA, but few of us have to deal with the ossified regulations which frustrate the average citizen—especially twenty-year-olds. The unfairness of Foley’s injury and the tragedy of his amputation was vivid and real. The narrative following his amputation—and his communication with his father—was disappointing; I would expect more from his father.

The book is a fast read, and I learned a lot about hockey tactics. Foley’s teammates' quirks and personalities could have been expounded more fully, as competition brings out the good and lacking in most people. The ending at the Boston Garden with Foley's hero, Bobby Orr, was a surprise—as was the tragedy of his father's amputation: an interesting touch.

Review by Patrick Ritchen (April 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Ahab tells the gripping story of Corporal Will Foley, a young paratrooper stationed in Bavaria. Injured in a training jump in early 2013, he rehabs in Landstuhl and later with the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s rear detachment in Grafenwöhr. He manages to reconnect with his hard-boiled father through their shared love of Boston Bruins hockey. Then, with the help of a high-tech prosthetic, Will skates with the post hockey team and finds safe harbor at the local ice rink.

Will tells his story firsthand and in the present tense. This puts readers in the middle of the fast-paced action on and off the ice. The pacing is as quick as a slap shot and as intense as a bench clearing brawl, but the story manages to go far beyond being an exciting hockey adventure by confronting the tough issues of loss, exclusion, and suicide head-on.

The Bavarian settings are vivid, the hockey scenes are thrilling, and Corporal Foley and his friends are unforgettable, making this novel a must read for anyone who cares deeply about the physical, mental, and emotional healing of our wounded warriors.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction

Number of Pages: 376

War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat by William Hamilton, Ph.D.

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MWSA Review
War During Peace tackles a controversial and heavily documented period in recent history but manages to provide new perspectives and insights. The author takes the time to carefully research and organize a framework for his approach before laying out his conclusions. Decisions made by both political and military leaders are presented against the structure of established definitions of sound strategy, both global and military.

Dr. Hamilton offers the fresh perspective of a scholar who was also intimately involved in the conflict at the senior command level. Although the historic facts that he presents are well known, he uses the first-person accounts of an impressive number of participants in tracking the unsteady march to US failure in Vietnam.

Although Dr. Hamilton is a career Army officer, he does not avoid examining the cultural factors that made the US military vulnerable to the political processes that drove the US to defeat. He highlights critical points where stronger positions by military leaders (especially Army senior leaders) might have persuaded civilian authorities to adopt more successful policies and tactics.

No disaster is the result of a single blunder or mistake. A thoughtful reader of War During Peace should discover a clearer picture of what actually went wrong—and what did not—in Vietnam during the decades between 1955 and 1975. Despite a few formatting problems, the reader will find many explanations for the decisions that led to American forces fighting a war in Vietnam while the rest of the nation remained at peace.

Review by Peter Young (March 2020)
 

Author's Synopsis

War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat offers a probing examination of civil-military relationship gone wrong is a major contribution to military science and to the field of civil-military relations. Detailing the flaws in the Johnson Administration's Strategy of Attrition and the folly of thinking the gradual application of airpower could "modify" the behavior of the North Vietnamese leadership. War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat exposes the thinking of those who made the Vietnam War impossible for our military to win and how our political leadership continues to make many of the same mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Researched and written by award-winning author, Dr. William Hamilton, this book reveals insights into the conflict through personal interviews with many of the then retired generals and admirals who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the McNamara Era.

Praise for War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat: “This is the best book yet on the origins of the Vietnam War and how politicians continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”—Lt. General Thomas G. McInerney, USAF (Ret.), a former fighter pilot who served four combat tours in Vietnam. “Why was the American public so poorly informed about the War in Vietnam? For some of the answers read: War During Peace: A Strategy for Defeat, in particular, read Chapter VI ‘Troops, Time, TET, and Truth.’”—Joseph L. Galloway co-author of We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang—The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam (1991), and co-author of We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam (2009). “Right on target! War During Peace exposes the thinking of those who made the Vietnam War impossible to win and how our political leadership keeps making many of the same mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq.”—Rear Admiral H. Denny Wisely, USN (Ret.), former commander of the Navy’s Blue Angels, former commander of the USS John F. Kennedy, and recently the author of Green Ink;

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 416

Uprooted: A Modern Odyssey by Allen Wittenborn

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MWSA Review
Kemal and Shirin are two Turkish intelligence agents fleeing their country during one of its interminable military coups during the 1980s. Shirin is the somewhat estranged and missing sister of Kemal’s girlfriend Nadiye. They join forces out of need and embark on a 5,000-mile journey via boat, car, truck, camel, and foot across some of the world’s harshest terrain and most unforgiving cultures: Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and western China. Each border crossing is an adventure unto itself. Friends and foes alike contribute to a rousing and believable tale.

Shirin proves to be a courageous woman who must adapt her appearance to the changing strict cultures and expectations for women in each country. Being a highly trained agent, she successfully gets herself out of dangerous situations with unforgiving and evil men who lack respect for women. She is not hesitant to meet violence with violence. Kemal always has her back.

A pictorial depiction at the beginning of the book provides a reference for readers unfamiliar with the clothes Shirin must wear in these mostly Muslim countries: hijib, burqa, niqab and chador. Maps of each country with their route highlighted clarifies the geography of the journey.

Wittenborn’s descriptions of the land, the people, the cultures and harsh living conditions are spot on. All of it leads to an incredible exploration which leads to a deeper understanding of each other between Kemal and Shirin and an eventual coming to grips with their relationship formed by overcoming shared challenges. Their return to Istanbul provides an unexpected and rewarding conclusion.

Review by James Elsener (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

It’s 1980 and the Middle East is engulfed in chaos and war. Turkey’s coup finds two seasoned operatives, Kemal Yilmaz and Shirin Demirel, forced to cooperate to survive. They’re complete strangers but in the world of spy craft they know about each other. Although political opposites, their common denominator is Nadiye, Kemal’s fiancée and Shirin’s estranged sister who has disappeared. But there’s no time to deal with her. Kemal and Shirin are fugitive agents uprooted from their former lives, and on the run. They agree to a mad, improvised plan to flee Turkey and head east for China’s Sinjiang province where he has relations. Together they persevere by car, bus, truck, and foot on a five-thousand-mile odyssey beset with agonizing life-or-death encounters. Their desperate flight through four war-torn countries—Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan—and into the desert vastness of western China forces them to confront their own tenuous relationship as well as to uncover the mystery about Nadiye.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 429

The Defiance of Reiko Murata by Allen Wittenborn

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MWSA Review
The Defiance of Reiko Murata is a fascinating book about a strong-willed and intelligent woman trapped in the male-dominated society in post-World War II Japan. Reiko Murata is the widow of a respected Vice Admiral war hero who commits seppuku, taking his life following the downfall of the Japanese empire. He leaves her a cryptic suicide note including a haiku that she comes back to throughout the story. She can’t decipher its meaning and whether he was encouraging her to take her life or not.

Reiko’s independent spirit drives her in unusual directions including eventual association with the infamous yakuza. Although her husband left her with comfort and wealth, she is bored with her life as a high-society widow. She yearns for more and follows her mother’s words to follow her heart and believe in herself. Reiko makes decisions and takes risks to live a life with meaning. The story puts Reiko in deep, dark, and dangerous situations, but she remains composed and defiant on the outside while struggling on the inside emotionally and intellectually.

Allen Wittenborn created a masterful plot that keeps the pages turning. The twists and turns keep the reader on edge with never a dull moment. He describes Japanese culture and traditions interestingly and intersperses Japanese language and expressions to immerse the reader in Reiko’s world. An engaging writer, his word choices are excellent and dialogue strong and believable.

The author develops Reiko’s character in such a way that a reader can’t help but feel empathy for her, particularly as her life becomes further and further complicated. He allows readers to see inside her thoughts and follow her difficult role of trying to find her way in a world that does not think the same way she does about a woman’s potential contributions to society. Wittenborn also creates memorable characters including the enigmatic Akira, the powerful Kazuo, and the mysterious princess Kyoko.

I highly recommended this book for its intriguing plot, well-defined characters, and descriptive Japanese settings in a fresh story told from an independent Japanese woman’s perspective.

Review by Valerie Ormond (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Reiko Murata is shocked and dismayed when she receives a haiku poem from her late husband, an admiral in the Japanese Imperial Navy, suggesting she follow his example in committing seppuku, ritual suicide, an appeal she strongly resists. It’s 1947, and Reiko lives a solitary and uneventful life. As she grieves his death, and struggles to deal with her loneliness, she feels torn between her desire for autonomy and the rigid customs that define Japanese society. In her search, she encounters a younger man, Akira Kusano. They begin an affair, but she is wary of a deeper relationship, especially when she discovers he is connected to the yakuza. She’s drawn into the crime syndicate’s orbit when Akira introduces her to Kazuo Fujita, the yakuza godfather. Despite her misgivings and warnings from Akira, she begins working with Fujita, and finds herself at the center of a mystery involving secret maps to a hidden fortune called Golden Lily, an authentic historical episode.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 250

Strike Hard and Expect No Mercy by Galen D. Peterson

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MWSA Review
I had trouble putting this book down. It was an easy read—and I'm not even a ground-war guy. The writing style of the author was informative and exciting. His use of metaphors was excellent and often humorous. The book not only brings the support operations onto center-stage with the combatants, it places the reader in the boots of the author. I felt that I was living it as I was reading it.

Teamwork is a central theme. Battles are won and lost by the good or bad combination of logistics, maintenance, life support, valor, planning, command, communications, weather, mental and physical preparedness, and so on. This book embodies all of the elements. The author is straightforward and vulnerable enough to discuss his own mistakes.

In the end, lives are lost, lives are saved, and lives are broken. Warriors have their moments of "glory" but after the fighting, they are rarely the same. This book forces us to face the reality that after the guns are silent, another battle goes on—one which the broken warrior must sometimes fight alone.

Review by Jerry Burton (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Strike Hard and Expect No Mercy is the story of boots on the ground in Iraq, as seen through the eyes of a tank platoon leader. Baqubah on the eve of the Surge and Sadr City during the spring uprising of 2008 saw some of the darkest hours of the war. A tough dragon, the M1A2 Abrams tank and its crews were often called to crack the toughest nuts on the battlefield and victory, even survival, was not guaranteed. It is a gritty and visceral dive into the combat experience, flavored with the anguish of loss, the exhilaration of victories, the frustrations of defeats, and the humor required to survive. Along the way, the story shares rarely told insights into the duties and expectations of an Army junior officer.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 241

LZ Sitting Duck, The Fight For FSB Argonne by John Arsenault, LtCol USMC (ret)

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MWSA Review
LZ Sitting Duck is a collection of personal stories, one per chapter. It's different from most books in that all of these stories revolve around the same incident, the Battle of LZ Argonne in the spring of 1969. In such a circumstance there's a danger that repetition will push readers away; this book does not do that. The story is raw and the descriptions are hard to read at times, but it's a straight from the heart snapshot in time of what life was like for combat Marines in Vietnam. The next time most of those who read this tell a Vietnam Veteran, "Thank you for your service," it will not be perfunctory; they will say it with feeling.

There were countless battles large and small in the Vietnam War. Most remain unknown to all but those who fought there. The Battle of LZ Argonne is one of these, albeit a larger and lengthier one than most. LZ Sitting Duck describes this battle from the perspectives of twenty-two Marines who were there, some as riflemen, some as artillerymen, some as forward observers, some as line officers, some as helicopter pilots, etc. It provides a unique, comprehensive, immersive view of a brutal battle than ended with survivors, not victors—survivors who shared the most terrifying and likely the most formative experience of their lives on a forgotten mountain top in a remote Southeast Asian jungle, men who did their duty.

LZ Sitting Duck is a valuable resource for those interested in the history of the Vietnam War, and particularly for those who have served in combat or who care about someone who did. No one can ever truly understand combat and the effects it has on those involved except those who lived it. However, LZ Sitting Duck comes very close. Each chapter is written by a different Marine from his personal perspective, using his vocabulary in his own way. When combined in the reader's mind this forms a more complete picture of the battle and those who fought it than that of any single participant. Of course, most of the visceral aspects of the battle, the sights, sounds, smells, etc., remain solely in the minds of the participants, but that is as it should be.

MWSA Review by Jamie Thompson (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

"LZ Sitting Duck, The Fight For FSB Argonne" is a collection of personal recollections from twenty two Marines and one family member, related to a battle that took place in Vietnam, during March, 1969. FSB Argonne, Hill 1308, was located on the border with Laos and just south of the DMZ. This story is told by the Marines that fought this fight, in their own words. There are 22 stories of the same fight, all from individual perspectives and experiences. "LZ Sitting Duck" is a down in the dirt, grunt view of the Vietnam war.

This was a fierce battle for the Marines of Delta Company (+ HQ), 1st Bn, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. The "LZ Sitting Duck" moniker came from the first moments of this battle, as Marines landed on the abandoned Fire Support Base Argonne, which had become a fortified North Vietnamese Army base. When these Marines landed, they were inside the NVA fortified position, and were immediately met with intense enemy rifle, machine-gun fire coming at them from every direction. Additionally the NVA fired volley after volley of very accurate 82mm mortar fire. These Marines were “the sitting ducks” and had to fight their way out from the LZ, on open ground with little or no cover, clearing NVA bunkers one at a time.

Bing West describes this story best "What shines through from this bare-knuckled, furious battle is the core ethos. It comes through loud and clear when you read chapter after chapter in different voices. These Marines had no battlefield prep, no intelligence, no cohesive leadership. What held them together was the Marine spirit. There was nothing else. Wow! What an epic fight" As a testimonial to the ferocity of this battle, three Navy Cross citations were awarded for the actions of Marines during first 24 hours of this fight, plus numerous Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart awards where given. The navy Cross recipients were, Lt Col. Sargent (posthumous), 2nd Lt. McCormick (posthumous) and Major Pierpan, (survived) and authored the forward for this book.

Format(s) for review: Paper AND Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 309

The Pilate Scroll by M.B. Lewis

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MWSA Review
In the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark, M.B. Lewis's Pilate Scroll is the story of the fast-moving quest in search of a religious artifact. Kadie Jenkins is part of a team of scientists and academics on a noble mission to help find a cure for a virus with the capability of biological weaponry. She learns that the real mission is quite nefarious, but does she catch on in time? She unwittingly embarks on a dangerous and deadly adventure with her younger brother Brian in tow. Duke Ellsworth, a savvy pilot, finally earns Kadie's trust and reintroduces her to God while saving all of their lives over and over.

Lewis's exquisite descriptions as we traipse around the Middle East with Kadie, Brian, and Duke paint a beautiful picture of ancient icons. The twists and turns will make your head spin and you won't be able to put the book down.

Review by Sue Rushford (February 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

A quest to save the world...a secret that could change it. Forever. Kadie Jenkins is a survivor. Now part of an elite group of scholars and scientists, their mission is to stop an impending global terrorist threat. But when a colleague is murdered in Egypt, Kadie finds herself pitted against a foe more evil than the one they were trying to stop. Teaming with a renegade pilot and her younger brother, they find themselves in a race against time, greed, and certain death, can she uncover the 2000-year-old secret to save themselves and possibly the rest of the world?

The Pilate Scroll is a pulse-pounding Christian thriller. If you like complicated heroines, stunning twists, and divine light shining through the darkness, then you’ll love M.B. Lewis’s breakneck page-turner.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 346

The Chameleon by Ron McManus

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MWSA Review
Ron McManus's, The Chameleon, is so feasible you won't know if you're reading a news report or a novel. The brave hero Jake Palmer has us on edge from cover to cover. Former Navy SEAL Palmer and his colleague, Alona Green, have a string of dangerous escapades in Pakistan. Under cover of secrecy, they're in search of the elusive Chameleon, who may not even be real! Events take a terrifying turn as nuclear warheads go missing.

When the Pakistani-Indian conflict spills over into London, every minute counts. Will Palmer and Green, along with MI6's Fiona Collins (who is Palmer's girlfriend), and EOD expert Nick Cole prevent a nuclear disaster?

The non-stop espionage is perfectly portrayed (if you overlook punctuation issues) and will keep you on your toes. The characters are well developed with colorful pasts and intertwining personal and professional relationships.

Review by Sue Rushford (February 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

Jake Palmer, investigative consultant and former US Navy SEAL, has signed on as a contractor with a top-secret US Joint Special Operations Command team in Islamabad, Pakistan. Palmer and his JSOC partner work to uncover a suspected mole and gather intelligence regarding the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapon arsenal as the country prepares for war with India over control of the disputed region of Kashmir. Fears regarding security of the weapons escalate when Pakistan decides to deploy its arsenal and rumors surface that a shadowy figure, the Chameleon, will attempt to divert a nuclear warhead during the deployment. With a nuclear war countdown clock at a minute ‘til midnight, Palmer and his partner risk everything to prevent the Chameleon from carrying out his plan for the world’s first act of nuclear terrorism.

Format(s) for review: Paper AND Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 358

When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-la Raiders by H. W. "Buzz" Bernard

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MWSA Review
When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-La Raiders by H. W. “Buzz” Bernard is a gripping, mesmerizing tale of young Lieutenant Ray Howzer in the Army Air Corps who, along with his crew, has a place in history. Author Bernard crafts a well-researched story with endearing characters who participated in a harrowing raid on Japan during World War II.

Drawing upon the true story of Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders, the author gives us a detailed look at the secretive mission these young men willingly accepted on behalf of their country. The crews were chosen, they were trained, they faced incredible tasks to achieve the impossible: take off from an aircraft carrier in a fully loaded B-25 medium bomber, skim the ocean waves, and bomb Tokyo.

The tale is told through the eyes of Lt. Howzer, nicknamed “Boss,” who receives a Dear John letter and struggles with lovesickness throughout his training. After completing the mission, “Boss,” and his crew fly their B-25 bomber, Bitter Route, into China as the needle on the fuel gauge approaches empty. They know they won’t make it to the predetermined landing spot, and one by one, as directed by “Boss” they don their parachutes and bail out over China. Each of the men pray that they don’t land in Japanese occupied territory where they would surely and swiftly be executed.

On the ground, but separated, the crew struggles to walk through bamboo fields to meet up and make their way to the house of a missionary family. One of the men is seriously injured in his landing. The missionaries assist the crew of the Bitter Route with the twenty-year-old daughter using her first aid skills to do what she can for the injured man. A budding romance ensues and the plot thickens as the Japanese occupiers hunt both the crew and the people that help them.

When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-La Raider captures the spirit of The Greatest Generation and is a captivating tale of bravery, determination, and an unlikely love that will keep you hooked until the very end.

Review by Nancy Panko (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Inspired by the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s raid on Japan in 1942, The Shangri-La Raiders is the next stunning installment of the When Heroes Flew WWII historical fiction series.

This gripping novel follows an American bomber crew through their secretive training, a harrowing raid on Japan, and on their desperate journey through occupied China to Chungking, the seat of the country’s wartime government.

The crew, along with an American missionaries’ daughter whom they’ve rescued, must evade the Japanese occupiers every step of the way. And amidst all the horror and turmoil of war, a romance blossoms between the rescued woman and the crew’s pilot.

When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-La Raiders is a captivating tale of bravery, determination and an unlikely love that will leave you hooked until the very end.

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 286

The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles: Forged in Fire and Blood by Angel Giacomo

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MWSA Review
The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles: Forged in Fire and Blood by Angel Giacomo is a gripping novel about seventeen-year-old Jackson MacKenzie, raised in a military family, who enlists in the Army in December 1951. However, the story begins on April 1, 1985, when Jackson is working on his godfather’s farm. Without giving away a crucial part of the drama, Jackson is severely injured and in his struggle for survival, has a flashback to that day in 1951 and the succeeding years of his life.

Readers will follow the resilient young man through his tour of duty in Korea, where he exhibits extraordinary intelligence and the ability to strategize and lead others. Jackson garners the attention of his superior officers, who recognize his unique talents and leadership abilities. Despite being wounded in combat and suffering deep personal losses, MacKenzie grows in maturity beyond his chronological years. He achieves rank increases as quickly as he qualifies for them and ultimately an appointment to West Point, one of his ultimate goals. What he faces at West Point is, in some aspects, similar to what he experienced in the army, except for the vindictive hazing. Jackson handles the power-crazed retaliation perpetrated against him with the same regimental bearing and steadfastness typical of great leaders.

In the words of General Douglas MacArthur, "A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."

Author Giacomo has the talent to insert the reader onto the battlefield and into the heart and mind of a young man as he faces unique challenges throughout his life both in service to his country and in civilian life. If you enjoy historical fiction, you will love this book.

Review by Nancy Panko (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

USMC Camp Pendleton, 1951. Jackson Joseph MacKenzie, a seventeen-year-old with a calling, enlists in the US Army. He finds himself hip-deep in the muddy trenches, machine gun nests, human wave attacks, and artillery barrages in the Korean War. Does he have the resiliency to keep moving toward his dream after watching his friends die? Is he a leader or a follower? Will he fold under pressure? Or rise to the top? Questions he must answer before reaching for that coveted prize, an appointment to West Point.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1734567458, 978-1734567496, B094XBM6NX

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction

Number of Pages: 164

The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles: Brothers In Arms by Angel Giacomo

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MWSA Review
Angel Giacomo’s Brothers in Arms is a nail-biting installment in the Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson MacKenzie is a legend. Starting his military career as a scared 17-year-old grunt in Korea, he has risen through the ranks to be a Special Forces field grade officer. Never one to sit behind a desk, he leads from the front, moving through the jungle with his team of silent, lethal predators.

Staff Sergeant “Mikey” Roberts is new to Special Forces. After his first tour in Vietnam working at a field hospital, he has now returned wearing a Green Beret and is ready to serve as his team’s combat medic. He is in awe of his commanding officer, as is everyone else.

These two warriors, along with colorful characters like Chief and Major Russell, embark on a routine Special Forces mission, only to be detoured to rescue some downed Navy pilots. Their helicopter is shot down, and the team is captured. Together, they must endure deprivation, uncertainty, and torture as they dig deep within themselves to find a way to survive.

This book is fast-paced and details will seem familiar to anyone who served in Vietnam, Special Forces, or otherwise. Not only is it an enjoyable read, but you probably will look forward to more of the Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles.

Review by Rob Ballister (March 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Duty – Service – Love of country – Honor – Dreams – Family. Those words mean everything to young Michael “Mikey” Roberts. From a small Kansas town, Mikey wants to find his path in life. To accomplish that he joins the United States Army. During his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he found his path…medicine. He became a Special Forces medic. However, in war that path can fork many times. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. Mikey finds more horror than he expected and learns more about life than he ever wanted to know.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1734567489, 979-8483888338, B09H3QG1KW

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction

Number of Pages: 162

Combat and Campus: Writing Through War by Annette Langlois Grunseth and Sgt. Peter R. Langlois

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MWSA Review
Nearly fifty years after its peak, the Vietnam War still retains its reputation as the most turbulent and tragic of America’s military conflicts. It has produced a wide range of movies and books, many of which examine that darkness in highly-stylized ways. Combat and Campus takes a different route, however, one that is an effective complement to many notable works on Vietnam. It focuses on one soldier and his family, using the letters of Sgt. Peter Langlois during his deployment and the poetry of his sister Annette.

Langlois deployed in mid-1969 after the Tet Offensive had changed the tenor of the war and hardened American protests against it. His letters from in country are a vivid reminder of the horrors of jungle combat against a dug-in enemy and the shock felt by someone seeing those horrors for the first time. Yet what makes the story work are two other elements: pre-combat letters Langlois sent from his initial military training and poems/letters from other members of his family.

The initial letters from OCS show a new soldier who graciously looks past repetitive and pointless tasks, instead labeling the Army as “a real test of character” and growing “quite fond of Georgia” while training at the “beautifully landscaped” Fort Benning. His journalism degree resulted in a good sense for detail and an awareness of when to tell stories objectively versus when to pull back and reflect on his role in them. Things begin curdling even before Langlois leaves for Vietnam, however, and the book’s finest achievement is capturing an arc that begins with such good-naturedness and ends as far too many Vietnam experiences ultimately did.

Poetry can be difficult to objectively judge, but the inclusion of verse from Sgt. Langlois’s sister Annette accomplishes the important goal of providing insight into a family member’s parallel experience on a campus wracked by protests against the war her brother is fighting. Even the most visceral descriptions of war can become numbing, and the poetry (along with a smattering of letters to and from other people) keeps the depictions of combat from blurring together. Annette, who oversaw the process of publication, wisely left the largest chunk of poetry until the end where it can serve as a capstone to the overall story and a way of showing just how difficult these events were to process for everyone involved.

The awfulness of Vietnam is well-known and was increasingly referenced as post-9/11 military operations continued for nearly 20 years. But whether that comparison is apt is less important in many ways than the individual stories of the soldiers and families whose sacrifice is required for any type of war, just or unjust, quick or decades-long. This book does a fine job telling one of those stories.

Review by John McGlothlin (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

An infantryman's riveting letters from Vietnam, preserved for fifty years by his family, share experiences of living the war that are honest, raw, and graphic. As a journalist and soldier with the 25th Infantry Division, riding armored personnel carriers into rice paddies, engaging in night time sweeps of the jungle, Sgt. Peter Langlois chronicles the smells, sights, and sounds during some of the darkest days of the war from 1968 - '69. He would return home to a nation still protesting the war in which his younger sister, Annette, had walked to class behind National Guardsmen marching across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Their correspondence and her poetry offer a unique perspective of the war in Vietnam and social change happening at home. Together, they share what was learned and what was lost.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN HARD COPY 978-1-940863-12-2, ISBN E-book: 978-1-940863-13-9

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 180

No Hero's Welcome by Jeffrey K. Walker

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MWSA Review
No Hero's Welcome offers us a very close and personal account of the struggles one fictional family in Ireland had in the early 1900's. Author Jeffrey K. Walker has done a masterful job in describing life and mixed loyalties that divided families against themselves. Mostly set in the decade beginning in 1916, this was the time of the Irish Revolution.

As a recently widowed woman mourns the loss of her husband to a war that also returned a crippled son to her, she is faced with another, younger son who begins to hate the English. Eda, the mother, runs a tavern frequented by friends and regular customers. Included in this mix are loyalists to the English crown and revolutionaries who strive to keep their loyalties secret. Violence and betrayal surround them and are only hidden by a thin veil of secrecy.

This book is thought provoking yet still an easy read.

Review by Bob Doerr (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

The horrors of the First World War devastated many a Dublin family and the Brannigans weren’t spared. Struggling to get past their heartache, the family finds itself divided by both the rebellion against British rule and the wide Atlantic. Devoted matriarch Eda Brannigan witnesses her family unraveling. Sean and Molly make startling choices with potentially lethal consequences. Francis steeps in a drunken angry stupor. Young Brandon is so eerily quiet. Eda desperately wishes her beloved firstborn, Deirdre, wasn’t living so far away. But with a determined resolve, Eda soldiers on in her bustling pub, The Gallant Fusilier, where tragedy, triumph and even love unfold. Can this family endure the violence and intrigue of the Easter Rising, the bloody struggle for independence, and a bitter civil war?

ISBN/ASIN: 1947108042, 978-1947108042, B07X1Z232D

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 280

Truly Are the Free by Jeffrey K. Walker

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MWSA Review
Truly Are the Free by Jeffrey K. Walker is a carefully woven tapestry of nationality, race, sex, and prejudice during a difficult time in world history during the early 1900s. The textures of this literary fabric are rich and thought-provoking, rough in spots (war), smooth in others (peace), but always intriguing.

Author Walker creates a life-changing intersection for two extraordinary men. One is American Ned Tobin, a World War I veteran who has seen the ravages of war.Harlem-born attorney, Chester Dawkins, raised in a respectable, tightly knit black family, is the second character to give texture to this story. Chester joins the military with a strong sense of patriotism and pride to become an officer in an all-black regiment dubbed Harlem’s Hell Fighters. Ned is tasked as a liaison with Chester’s regiment, and he and Chester are sent into battle against the German forces. The two officers form an unbreakable bond in battle as they fight for survival from brutal enemy attacks.

In a compelling writing style, Jeffrey K. Walker weaves the stories of these two families during and after the war into the tumultuous years of the Roaring 1920s. Readers are treated to a journey of love, war, loss, and redemption through the artist community of Paris, prohibition-era Harlem, and into the lush green farm country of Ireland as the tale threads itself in and out of the lives of both men.

Review by Nancy Panko (March 2022)

 

Author's Synopsis

South Boston-native Ned Tobin has all the luck. Alive after the Somme, he meets, beds and falls in love with the alluring Adèle Chéreaux. Their love affair is suddenly upended in 1917 when Ned is called home and Adèle flees the last German advance of the First World War. Young Harlem lawyer Chester Dawkins dutifully joins a new regiment anxious to fight for their chance at valor in the face of deep-rooted racism. Meanwhile, his sister, Lena, is left at home to shoulder a crippling legacy of family debt. Ned finds himself back in France with Chester's regiment. Can these soldiers from very different backgrounds overcome long-held prejudices and find common cause in the bloody trenches? Will Ned ever find Adèle again? And what will become of Lena? Journey through avant-garde Paris, Prohibition-era Harlem and newly independent Ireland in this heart-wrenching yet hopeful story of love and loss.

ISBN/ASIN: 1947108026, 978-1947108028, B077SB7ZLH

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 278

None of Us the Same by Jeffrey K. Walker

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MWSA Review
None of Us the Same by Jeffrey K. Walker is a powerful look at how war affects not only its combat participants but also the medical personnel who tend to them and the families whose soldiers come back as a far different person than the one who left. Based on the author’s extensive research into World War I, the story alternates between a group of young Newfoundlanders and the Irish nurse who befriends and cares for them, both physically and emotionally. Since there are not many books written about Newfoundland’s and Ireland’s involvement in World War I, this novel adds depth and understanding to the era as well as to the awful cost of trench warfare and its effect on the bodies and minds of those who fought. Despite the horror, the book is engagingly written with beautiful detail. This is a must read if you are interested in WWI, nursing care, war tactics, post-traumatic stress, and coming of age novels.

Review by Betsy Beard (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Fiery Deirdre Brannigan had opinions on everything. She certainly hated the very idea of war in 1914. Childhood pals Jack Oakley and Will Parsons thought it a grand adventure with their friends. But the crushing weight of her guilty conscience pushes Deirdre to leave Ireland and land directly in the fray. Meanwhile the five friends from Newfoundland blithely enlist. After all, the war couldn’t possibly last very long…

They learn quickly how wrong they are and each is torn apart by the carnage in France.

What began with enthusiastic dreams of parades and dances with handsome young soldiers turned into long days and nights in the hospital wards desperately trying to save lives. And for the good and decent young men in fine new uniforms aching to prove themselves worthy on the field of battle, the horrors of war quickly descended.

But it is also the war which brings them together. Deirdre’s path crosses with Jack and Will when they’re brought to her field hospital the first day of the slaughter on the Somme. Their lives part, their journeys forward fraught with physical and emotional scars tossing them through unexpected and often painful twists and turns. But somehow, a sliver of hope, love and redemption emerges. And their paths cross again in St. John’s.

When the guns finally fall silent, can Deirdre overcome her secret demons through a new life with battered Jack? Can shell-shocked Will confront his despotic father’s expectations to become the man his young family deserves?

ISBN/ASIN: B071F8ZBKR, 194710800X, 978-1947108004

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 285

Believing In Horses Out West by Valerie Ormond

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MWSA Review
Believing in Horses Out West is an excellent follow-on to award-winning Valerie Ormond's Believing in Horses (2012) and Believing in Horses, Too (2014). The story continues with Sadie, who turns fourteen in this story, seeking and finding her true purpose in life. In this book, the author enlarges the storyline to include animal cruelty and human trafficking. She also continues with the coming-of-age experiences of a teenage girl in today's complex society, with emphasis in this book on interaction with boys.

Both overcoming fears and the transition to teenage years are central themes in Believing in Horses Out West, and it should appeal to readers beyond the YA set. Sadie faces her fears, never gives in, asks for help when needed, wins by working hard and not by luck, accepts kindness, and is rewarded for her efforts.

Ormond is clearly a passionate horse person and a gifted author who draws the reader into the story with characters that show numerous equestrian techniques. She writes well, and readers of all ages will have no problems enjoying the book. I particularly appreciate the use of chapter titles as a way to provide a clue to the next phase of the plot. I also loved the resolution that is complemented by tying up all the loose ends to make a most satisfactory outcome.

The book is sprinkled with additional gifts of wisdom passed on from one generation to the next – primarily from the grandmother character. Among those are: faced with what appears to be insurmountable obstacles you can find solutions, rely on your instincts, you have to believe you can do it to succeed, everyone needs a helping hand at some time, constantly beating yourself up over mistakes does no one any good, you need situational awareness, not all parents do a good job, being on your own is exhilarating but can be fraught with danger, there are temptations in life, jealousy and envy are normal but need to be monitored, sometimes not everyone needs to know what happened, being with a horse is a partnership, teenage girls have difficulty understanding themselves and it is normal, boys have difficulty understanding girls, boys have a sensitive side but are reluctant to display it, older brothers can be a pain in the neck but they (like dad) always have your back, every life has a purpose, and the most important is crime does not pay.

I highly recommended the book for those who enjoy children's horse books, coming of age fiction, teen and young adult equestrian fiction, teen and young adult family, and equestrian sports.

Review by Jim Tritten (January 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

Sadie Navarro rescued a mare from an auction accomplishing what she thought was the most important mission of her young life.

Now, that mare is headed to a ranch in Montana and a home Sadie knows nothing about.

She wants to make sure the horse is in good hands, but Montana is far away and a different world from Maryland.

Will fourteen-year-old Sadie need to stand up to rugged cowboys to protect her special rescue horse?

ISBN/ASIN: 9780985187422, B09H3V1V2Q, 9780985187415

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)

Number of Pages: 260

Dead Men Flying, A Remembrance by Mike "Mule" Mullane

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MWSA Review
Dead Men Flying describes the rapid pace at which a college “kid” is turned into a hardened combat veteran. The book’s pages reveal, with vivid descriptions, the author’s struggles through flight training, admitting failures and successes alike. Quickly maturing, the author advances his account after initial Naval Aviation flight training with his preparations for war, flying the famous and nimble A-4 Skyhawk. Then, from an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam during the deadly months of 1967 the author, Mike “Mule” Mullane, in a first-person account, does the math. As missions mount and friends die, depicted with highly accurate descriptions of dodging deadly missiles while bombing targets in North Vietnam, he realizes time remaining and missions to go are longer and greater than his life’s expectancy based on pilot losses in his squadron. A brotherhood, with bonding only experienced by warriors where their very lives depend on the other, is fully revealed through the author’s somber remembrances. Fatalism becomes an overriding factor affecting his life ever after. Carrier flight operations and tactics flying the Skyhawk are real and written with precision and clarity even a non-aviator can understand. Wartime missions flown in the Skyhawk and trials experienced by their pilots are as real as any ever revealed in the written word.

Review by Tom Beard (February 2022)
 

Author's Synopsis

The squadron starts with twelve A-4E Skyhawks and twenty-two pilots. Seven days later the squadron was down to eight aircraft and nineteen pilots. With 200 days of combat to go, the arithmetic is inescapable. The author knows he will never see home again.

An honest, unflinching account of a college kid becoming a Naval Aviator and doing what he must to become a warrior among his squadron's brotherhood of combat pilots.

Intense real-time descriptions of combat bring he perishable art of aerial combat to life. Experience the transformed state of being where mind-body-aircraft become one, senses stretch to the horizon, time slows, and comprehension is quicker than thought.

The author flew 212 combat missions between June 1967 and January 1969.

Dead Men Flying offers the reader a vicarious experience of carrier operations and combat against the densest and most experienced defenses of their time.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-13 9798692604477, ASIN B098GV14MT

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 393