The Last Jump: A Novel of World War II
Author
John E Nevola
Publisher
Outskirts Press
3 Review Copies Left
Would you like to thank a soldier and help a military family? Read on!
The Last Jump is a war story, a mystery, a love tale, and a tribute to the people who won World War II. Fact and fiction intermix seamlessly to unravel a secret passionately guarded by four aging soldiers. The reader is transported back in time to an imperfect America, with all is incredible virtues and vexing shortcomings, struggling with racial and gender issues while fighting for its very survival. It was a time when Americans stood shoulder to shoulder to free the world from tyranny. It celebrates the spirit and courage of ordinary citizens pitted against the militaristic regimes of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It was a time when the sons of presidents and senators served, fought, suffered and died alongside average Americans and famous celebrities.
J.P. Kilroy, a middle-aged divorced journalist, regrets ignoring his mother's deathbed request. Even her last letter, which told of the existence of a mysterious family secret, did not motivate him to reconcile with the father who left them 30 years ago. When he receives an invitation from the White House to attend a Medal of Honor awards ceremony for African-Americans, he also discovers his estranged father recently passed away.
Was the secret now lost forever?
Kilroy also discovers that four aging veterans, the only links to the past, not only know the secret but swore an oath never to reveal it. They are the free-spirited Sky Johnson, a rough and tumble paratrooper, Frank West, the studious company commander, Harley Tidrick, Omaha Beach veteran and cousin of his father's best wartime buddy, and Lincoln Abraham, the only living black honoree at the ceremony.
With the aid of Cynthia Powers, an alluring Army press liaison, Kilroy accepts the challenge to cajole the veterans into revealing the mystery. Their conversations take him back in time to a country in grave danger but a country as united as never before or since. But the old warriors stubbornly resist until the last one passes on and Kilroy's hopes are dashed. But one reaches from beyond the grave to identify the only other person who has the answer and Kilroy races death to reach her. And a shocking conclusion awaits him, if only he can get there in time!
A portion of the proceeds are donated to assist families of the fallen.
Reviews
The Last Jump: A Novel of World War II is the story of middle-aged journalist, J. P. Kilroy, who is invited in 1997 to go to a ceremony at the White House to accept the Medal of Honor for his dead father. When his mother was dying, she had told him he needed to find his father who had left years ago but J. P. never had. He felt his father could not get over J. P.'s going to Canada to avoid Vietnam War. While at the ceremony J. P. meets a number of his father’s old war buddies and wanting to know more about his father he goes out to dinner with them. As he is a journalist, he tapes the conversation and when he uses the rest room the men acknowledge they are keeping a secret from him. This piques his interest but also some of the things they had said about his father intrigued him so he is determined to figure it out what the men are keeping from him.
The book then follows J. P. as he has conversations with his father’s old buddies and the story flashes back so we get to know J. P.’s father and his best friend, both with the last name of Kilroy. You see how Jake and Johnny meet, become friends and go through their training and then on to Europe as paratroopers. They were excellent soldiers and found themselves behind enemy lines. Nevola gives you historical and military information about the battles they are involved in and you get a real feel for the horror of the war. You are on Omaha Beach with them as the bullets buzz by.
In addition to seeing the front lines, both of the men have girls back in the states so you get to see what it was like in America during the war. There is a glimpse of the women who were working in the shipyards, and those who were WACS and flying airplanes to transporting goods but not allowed in combat situations. You saw how the role of women was changing and how the people back home were sacrificing for the war.
The story progresses and J. P. is older, now 60 and wiser. His father’s old friends are dying off. He had told he has everything he needs to figure out the secret but he still can’t solve it until he meets someone else connected to his father and it all comes together.
This story has romance, mystery, and action. As it the story moves between time periods and places, Nevola has the geographical place and date as the chapter titles so there is no confusion. I also appreciated the quotations that begin each chapter. Nevola has done his homework and gives the historical background and though a few times I felt like I was reading a history book, most of the time the fictional story and historical information flowed smoothly. Since the story is dealing with soldiers there is some salty language and there are several graphic descriptions of the horrors of the war.
This is a sweeping novel that gives a picture of a different time in America and Nevola has given the reader a sense of why Tom Brokaw called that generation the Greatest Generation.
Reviewed on 07/12/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Janice Hidey
