Blood Alone A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery [Paperback]

James, R. Benn (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Soho; First Edition. proof edition (2008)
• ASIN: B002NHIP14
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,274,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Writing the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series has brought me an immense amount of joy. I've gotten to meet people in person and online from all over the world and hear their reactions, feedback, and most importantly, their own stories.

My idea for a historical mystery series set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War began with the first title, Billy Boyle, which takes place in England and Norway in 1942. The second, The First Wave, carries on a few months later during the Allied invasion of French Northwest Africa. The third, Blood Alone continues the story through the Allied invasion of Sicily. In the fourth installment, Evil For Evil, Billy Boyle voyages to his native Ireland.

The fifth book in the series deals with the infamous Katyn Massacre of Polish Officers by the Soviets, and how the uncovering of that crime affected the war, especially Polish-Americans and the Poles in exile in England. It is titled Rag and Bone (from the Yeats poem), and was released in September 2010.

Number six, titled A Mortal Terror, will be out in September 2011. It is set in southern Italy and within the Anzio Beachhead, where Billy tracks down the Red Heart Killer, who is targeting officers of increasingly senior rank. Mortal terror also refers to combat fatigue and the terrible effects of prolonged exposure to the not only combat but the rigors of winter in the mountains.

I live in Hadlyme, Connecticut, with my wife Deborah Mandel, a psychotherapist who offers many insights into the motivations of my characters, a good critical read, and much else. Our dog Ranger lives with us. We have two sons, Jeff and Ben, and seven grandchildren (Camille, Claudia, Emma, Luke, Nathaniel, Noah, Oliver).

I'm a graduate of the University of Connecticut and received my MLS degree from Southern Connecticut State University. I am a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and the Author's Guild. I've worked in the library and information technology fields for over thirty-five years. I am currently director of the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut.

I've learned two valuable lessons since I started writing which have helped me greatly. The first is a quote from Oscar Wilde, who said "The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's pants to a chair." The second is from novelist Rachel Basch, who told me "the story has to move down, as well as forward." Both sound simple. Neither is.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sorry but no more. Can't go any further., October 9, 2010

By 

Longrider33 (Pleasanton, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Blood Alone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery (Kindle Edition)

I read the first two books from this author and thoroughly enjoyed them; this one, I read 71 percent of it on my Kindle and quit, being unable or unwilling to go any further. The hero, Lt. Billy Boyle simply spends too much time in self-examination, self-doubt and self-recrimination for any action or story development to take place. In a word: Boring.

There were hints of the authors tendency to preach in the first two books, but in this one he gives his own thoughts on morality, combat, killing versus murder and any number of other such weighty subjects full reign, while we wait until the action occurs and the story moves out of compound low and into drive again.

I simply gave up. I guess that I prefer a story to page after page of character development. Dan Brown has the patent on not being able to get to the point, but I think that Mr. Benn may be running a close second with this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unknown History Well Told, August 24, 2008

By 

M. Gordon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Blood Alone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery (Hardcover)

Once again, James R. Benn integrates an interesting piece of little-known history (this time, the Mafia's involvement in the Allied campaign in Sicily) into a fictional account of WWII. The mystery will hold the reader's interest right to the end.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Boyle keeps getting better!, September 1, 2008

By 

Debbie (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Alone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery (Hardcover)

In BLOOD ALONE, Billy Boyle faces his toughest assignment yet; coming to grips with not only who he is, but the type of man he has become after months at war. Waking in a field hospital in Sicily with a bandaged head and no idea who he is, Lt. Boyle has to piece his identity and his mission together, unsure of who to trust among those offering their help. The dusty, grinding poverty of Sicily comes alive, as Boyle journeys to the center of the island and the mountain stronghold of the head of the Sicilian mafia. Blood vendettas, gangsters on the run, Germans and secret agents with their own secrets get in his way, until Billy Boyle solves the ultimate mystery of who he is and what he was set on the island to do. The setting, and the characters, are as stimulating as the fictional mystery Benn spins out, and the actual historical events he weaves into the narrative. Superb!