Battle Lines
The Last Good War, Book One
-
-
4.7 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
It is 1941, and friends Adam, Joe, Dale, and Catherine are similar to most young adults. College, dating, and fast cars are what they know and live for. And in Chicago, Illinois, the near center of America, world conflict seems merely a distant rumor.
But as turmoil in Europe develops into full-scale war, Chicago suddenly abounds with talk of America's entering the fight. Drawn by the promise of freedom and the allure of battle, Joe and Dale join the Army, Adam the Marines, and Catherine the Naval Nurse Service. Far away from home and facing the reality of war in all its horror, they find the world a frighteningly big and unforgiving place, and what began as a quest for freedom becomes a battle to stay alive in one of the bloodiest wars of the twentieth century.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's January 1941, and four young friends are getting ready to enlist at the beginning of this fictional equivalent of a TV miniseries, a novel that feels like exactly what it is: the prologue to a series of novels about WWII. Joe Parker writes pulp stories; his brother, Dale, is a natural mechanic who likes to race fast cars; and Joe's friend Adam Bergman has built himself up physically to defend himself against anti-Semitic baiting, which is something that Adam's girlfriend, Catherine Tancred, hears all too much of from her Austrian father. But it's Dale's liaison with the wife of a powerful Chicago banker that leads everyone (including Catherine) to that enlistment booth, since the banker's desire for revenge against the Parkers and their friends is only satisfied when Joe and Dale agree to enlist. Author Reasoner (whose Civil War series includes the novels Manassasand Shiloh) tells a competent story, neither surprising nor disappointing; unfortunately, it's not exciting, either. There's a formulaic silver screen feel to everything, from the basic training scenes (which would probably end up on the cutting room floor) to the obvious device of setting up the only two fathers in the book as a martinet (Catherine's dad) and a drunken lout (Joe and Dale's). No tough choices for the protagonists: all they have to do to be heroic is stand up against unlikable characters. In the end, everything reads as introductory material, from Joe and Dale's assignments as radioman and mechanic to the ending itself, which manages to feel both like a clich and an afterthought. It's The Winds of War on a diminished scale call it The Breeze of War.
