Review - A Valient Deceit - 4 stars

 

 

A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves paints an interesting picture of the how women were able to get into the war effort during World War II.  The main character, Olive Bright, is a member of the F.A.N.Y. (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) who is also a budding sleuth in the fashion of an Agatha Christie novel.  She is also a keeper of homing pigeons in her area of England. During this time, it is very hard for women to be taken seriously in “real” work outside of being a secretary or nurse.  Olive is determined to help change this.

 Olive, because of her skills with the birds including their breeding and training, is a fringe player in the British/Allies using them to be dropped into Europe so intelligence can be “flown” back to England on the Nazi efforts on the Continent.  She has a cover story that she is romantically involved with one of the British Army officers, Jameson (Jamie) Aldridge.  She actually does have feelings for him that seem to always be unrequited on his part.

 The story, based on history, has a lot of twists and turns and involves some explosives being stolen, a murder of a young lieutenant all of which seem to point to a spy having infiltrated the area.  Of course, Olive wants to be in the thick of things and ferret out the culprit or culprits.  You get to follow her logic of who it must be and why.

 Not until the very end does it become totally clear who it might be and this only after a Nazi bombing raid, an attempted murder, and a few other intervening activities. Olive is required to put all her survival and detective skills to work to make sure that the spy does not keep sending information back to handlers in Germany.

 The story starts rather slowly and seems to be in what I term English slowness but as the reader progresses through the story it becomes better and better.  So, if one is a bit put off at first, please keep at it –it will be better!!

 The historic nature of this story is also inspiring to read, and the author does a great job in the “Author’s Note” at the end describing what is fully true and where she took some liberties for the sake of the story.  A most enjoyable book.

Review - Beyond the Wire - 5 stars

 

Beyond the Wire by James Shipman, is a World War II novel designed to bring home the horrors of what humans can do to each other. It is set inside Auschwitz concentration camp in late 1944 and is based on a true story. The key character is Jakub Bak and several other prisoners and a few of the Nazi guards and camp administrators.

Bak’s murdered father had given advice that Jakub promised to follow –basically “live at any cost.” There were times when Jakub wondered if he should do some of the things he was being ordered to do. He and other young, able-bodied people were pulled out to essentially be slaves in the camp.  He and others were assigned to a group  known as Sonderkommando who were to go through the clothes and possessions of those arriving who were going to gas chamber and then to move the bodies to the crematorium.

It was hellacious work and were it not for a fleeting few minutes, he was able to spend with another Jewish woman, Anna, he might not have done it. Anna was marched many kilometers to a munitions plant to work helping make ammunition for the Nazis.  She and others squirreled some of the powder away for a time in the not-too-distant future when the resistance could have an uprising. Even Jakub did not know this.

The inhumanity in Auschwitz-Birkenau is brought into the light in numerous ways along with the human failings.  All this action is set against a backdrop of the Russians approaching and the liberation of the camp at hand. Escape was a dream but one that was an aspiration. For those of us for whom this war and these camps are only from history books and maybe older parents and other family members, this is a heart-wrenching story but well worth the read.

Review - Texarkana - 5 stars

The novel Texarkana by the Johnstone syndicate (William and J.A.) starts out simply enough with Perley Gates, his trusted sidekick Possum Smith, and a young, new ranch hand, Sonny Rice moving a small herd of horses to the Double-D Ranch in Arkansas.  With three hands, two of them highly experienced, one might think this would be an easy trip. 

Alas the 150-mile journey evolves into so much more.  First a gang take one look at these three cowhands and decide that getting these prime horses would be an easy way to make some money…rustling the horses!  Nothing easy happens in a negative way when you are dealing with Perley and Possum.

Needless to say, the attempt at this underhanded dealing ends in failure and death for some of the perpetrators.  But some people have a hard time learning. The survivor of the rustling attempt makes his way to Texarkana and hooks up with a larger band of no-goods.

One of these criminals is Spade Devlin, a reputed fast on the draw gunslinger.  Mr Devlin is so focused on his own speed on the draw has obviously not heard of Perley Gates, who is a no-nonsense guy when it comes to right and wrong.  Thus begins a series of adventures that has Perley, Possum, and Sonny joining the forges of good at the Double-D to be arrayed against the outlaws and their compatriots.

These adventures are nicely conceived and leads a reader to keep at it to find out where the story is going next. Definitely a good read and you’ll have to check it out to see how the forges of good do against those of evil.  I highly recommend it.