Customer Reviews

The Far Reaches (Josh Thurlow Series #3)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Captain Josh Thurlow is back in a new World War II adventure, packed with action and pathos. Fans will remember the feisty U.S. Coast Guard Captain from two previous books. We first met Josh in THE KEEPER'S SON as he hunted a wolfpack of German U-boats off the Outer Banks of the Carolinas before the U.S. entered the war. In THE AMBASSADOR'S SON, Josh and his crew were sent to the Solomon Islands on a secret mission to search for President Roosevelt's missing cousin early in the war.

Captain Thurlow's sea-savvy has been duly noted by Washington after his action in the Solomons, and he is dispatched to the Mariana Islands as an observer for Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. The Americans had met blistering resistance from the Japanese in the bloody battle of Guadalcanal, and now the U.S. seeks to secure the island chain to the east as a strategic stopping point in the supply lines as they gear up for invasion of Japan. Late in 1943 the Marines are launching an assault of Tarawa.

Hickam's earlier war stories have leaned toward storytelling and character development in the early pages. Not so in THE FAR REACHES. The opening chapters are filled with graphic, action-filled battle scenes, as his impressive writing skills chronicle a near-catastrophic battle early in World War II. Based on recorded history of that battle, THE FAR REACHES aims a zoom lens on the fighting men from both sides in what began as a fiasco as the Marines tried to land under poor sea conditions. It is here that Hickam injects his rich and colorful characters into the story.

Captain Thurlow, horrified at the carnage taking place during the misguided landing, discards his observer role to jump ship and join the battle.

Meanwhile, Sister Mary Kathleen, a pretty, young Irish nun and her retinue of "fella boys," a group of South Sea Islanders fleeing a prisoner-of-war camp on a Japanese occupied island, have had the misfortune of being recaptured by the Japanese holding Tarawa. They are sequestered in a bunker under guard beneath the dunes of the small atoll and due to be executed. When the pounding begins from the American warships offshore, their future is even less certain as shells fall on the bunker.

During a lull in the bombardment, the nun and her fella boys crawl out of the smoldering ruins to give aid to the few wounded Marines still alive after the first unsuccessful beach assault. Among them are Josh and his bosun, Ready. Josh, gravely wounded during the landing, succumbs to a recurrence of malaria and is shanghaied by Sister Mary Kathleen, who has a war of her own to win back on the island she fled.

As the second wave of the 2nd Marines is gathering for what will be a successful battle for the island chain, the unconscious Josh, his bosun Ready, the determined young nun and three surviving Marines are being rowed in three reed outrigger canoes by the nun's faithful fella boys back to the island group known as the Forriges, or the Far Reaches, to help Sister Mary Kathleen exact her revenge on her brutal captor.

Members of the crew find love, honor and insights into their own human spirit as they go from hand-to-hand fighting on the brutal beaches of Tarawa to an idyllic existence on an outlying island. There, they finally confront the cruel Japanese warlord and the lives of each are changed forever.

Hickam's hero is strong, filled with zeal and brave in the face of overwhelming odds as all heroes must be. His past books have been laced with humor and hijnks by Josh and his unlikely band of sailors, but THE FAR REACHES is dead serious and strikes a darker note. The war has hardened Josh and the games are over. The curmudgeonly Captain frightens strangers but doesn't fool his trusted friends. His tough crust still surrounds a tender core for the men and women who are loyal and true.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

If you've read any of Hickam's other books you will love this one. If you haven't read any of his books yet, what are you waiting for? As a Vietnam combat veteran you can tell that Homer uses a lot of his own experiences in this novel. A must read.

The Far Reaches is a great page-turning read. I liked all the characters, especially Sister Mary Kathleen. Josh Thurlow is a character who has grown on me. In this novel, he is so real I think Hickam is either channeling him or he's based on a real person. As in all the Thurlow books, Hickam not only writes a page-turner but also teaches a little history. The opening chapters of the battle of Tarawa are absolutely spell-binding and gut-wrenching, too. I think I learned what it was really like in that battle and I'm a huge WWII buff and have read nearly everything written about Tarawa. Hickam captures the sand, grit, sweat, and stink of battle like few authors. W.E.B. Griffin seems always a little above the fray. Hickam has Thurlow right in the middle of it. After Tarawa comes the islands of the Far Reaches. I will never forget when I read of Sister's greatest sin. I thought I had it all figured out but Hickam surprised me at the end. This novel is historical fiction at its best. Just good writing and a reading pleasure.

First and foremost, I am a HUGE Homer Hickam fan. If you look back at the history of my reviews, you'll see that I've probably read and reviewed all, if not most, of Homer Hickam's books. And I have completely enjoyed Mr. Hickam's writing, up until now.

I just didn't get the feeling that I'd finished a masterpiece with The Far Reaches. The initial few chapters make Josh Thurlow seem to be some sort of an invincible Rambo, surviving multiple injuries that would have done in a mere mortal. The rest of the book plows forward, and has some interesting moments. I'll admit that at times I longed to be sitting in a hammock on The Far Reaches, which was a great accomplishment by Mr. Hickam.

The dialogue of the fella boys wasn't quite what it was in The Ambassador's Son, and the "nostalgia" factor just wasn't there.

Yes, I get it that this was a differenct perspective on the harsh realities of war, and I get it that there were some new characters introduced, and I did like the Sister character.

To me, the best part of the book was Colonel Burr's realization of what his life had become, and the short conversation between him and Josh. I wish that had been more of the theme of the book, rather than what it ended up being.

I just finished this book and didn't feel like I connected with any of the characters like I have before, and I just wasn't thrilled with this one.

I expected more out of Homer Hickam, savvy?

I just finished reading this book and came away impressed again. The story moves along at a brisk pace and there are very few slow parts. It holds your attention. The only flaw I found in the book was toward the beginning when Josh Thurlow was shot up pretty bad and survived. A previous poster mentioned he was like rambo and I have to agree with that. That doesn't take away from the book at all for me though. Great summer reading!
Do yourself a favor a pick this one up.

Homer Hickham is the literary equivalent of a Quentin Tarantino screenplay filmed by Sam Peckinpah. He doesn't pull any punches for fear of causing offence.

Another great novel by Homer Hickam Jr. This is the 8th book of his I've read. All 5 stars...read my reviews. The Far Reaches is the 3rd of 3 in the Josh Thurlow series. His other two The Keeper's Son and The Ambassador's Son were great too...5 stars.

In the Far Reaches Homer Hickam Jr. is great with character development and a great plot. The book, 313 pages is a page burner. I read it in 3 days. There are no boring parts and the reader wants to read on.

This fictional tale takes place in WW2 on some small Islands in the Pacific. Our hero and main character, now USGC Captain Josh Thurlow and his crew, with US Marines and native people fight the Japanese. Josh gets married twice to a black" Marie" and later to a widowed Islander woman with two kids. We see the hardships of war and the loses in Josh Thurlow's life and USGC Boson Ready's life. Plus there is nun Katherine who is raped repeatedly by a Japanese Colonel and has his baby. Much, much more in this exciting novel.

The reader develops deep empathy with the many characters in the book. Even though this is a fictional novel, Homer Hickam did a lot of reading and research to get his characters, places and battle situations believable from the actual truth. In the back of the book he lists the various books he read to get an understanding of the WW2 islands in the Pacific and the battles with the Japanese on them. Homer lists good books for the reader to find information on this period in WW2.

I wont ruin the novel for you by saying too much. The beginning of the book is a little slow as Homer builds up his characters. That OK. As the book progresses we get more and more non stop action. It keeps getting better and better.

If the reader likes to read WW2 battle action with great characters and superb plots, all three of the Josh Thurlow books are recommended. All 5 stars

I loved the first two book in the Josh Thurlow series. Far Reaches had the makings of another good Josh Thurlow Adventure. That however seemed to change once they got on Tahila. The author began to reach a little to Far for even my imagination. None of the characters seemed to endear you in this one like the first two books in this series. As a matter of fact, I started to disliked Josh more as a person in this story. I thought Ready's character became a little to crazy. The Sister's Story was a little to much to believe. It just seemed like the author tried to do a little to much, with his rampant idea of free love on the island. Far Reaches started out very promising, however for me it turned into a reach to far and huge disappointment at the end. The Josh character I loved in the Keeper's Son, seems to have become more of a drunkard with no loyalties to past relationships. I'm wondering if the Author might have had the "Fever" when he wrote this one. It is definitely not up to par with the first two books of this series.

I really enjoyed the third in this series, but the ending fell flat for me. It's obvious the author intends to write a fourth to continue the story, but after four years I can only wonder where it is.

I didn't want this book to end and perhaps, if I'm lucky, it won't, as it is the third in a series after The Keeper's Son and The Ambassadors Son. I'm glad I had already read the first two books, but the author weaves enough background into each story that doing so is not a necessity. The book traces the adventures, insights and unanswered questions of a cast of fictional but historically accurate characters during WWII in the islands of the South Pacific, as they deal with their personal struggles in the midst of the strange realities of war. I highly recommend each of these books, and look forward to reading more from Homer Hickam,