20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Billy Boyle Grows Up, September 24, 2008
This review is from: First Wave: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery (Billy Boyle Ww2 Mystery 2) (Paperback)
In Benn's first novel, BILLY BOYLE, we met a carefree young soldier with a good heart but a tendency to look for the easy way. My husband and I both enjoyed the book very much, for the history and the likeable Billy.
In the second book, THE FIRST WAVE, Billy has seen things that cause him to grow up, in the same way that I picture my own father must have done when sent overseas in 1943.
The mystery is clearer and the characters better drawn in this book, so I liked it even better than the first one. I like Benn's writing style and the interesting tidbits the reader picks up about army life in WWII. I plan to order the third book as soon as I finish this review, and I recommend Benn's books to historical mystery buffs everywhere.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good WWII-Set Adventure, October 12, 2007
I skipped the first installment of the WWII-era "Billy Boyle" series based on the advice of my wife, who found the first book to be somewhat "junior high-school." She felt the writing was pitched at 12-14 year-old boys, sort of in the vein of the classic English "Boy's Own" adventure. Nonetheless, I picked up this second in the series due to its Algerian setting and my general fondness for crime stories set amidst wartime. I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a lot more grim and gritty than the romantic period-style cover implies.
This entry kicks of with Lt. Boyle aboard a landing craft headed for the Algerian coast, as a leading element in Operation Torch. After being counseled by his Irish relatives in the Boston police to stay well out of the action in the war, he finagled a spot on the staff of his "Uncle Ike" Eisenhower helping out with special duties -- which nonetheless manage to put him in harm's way. (It is worth noting that this second Billy Boyle adventure reveals a great deal of information about the events of the first book, and anyone who has an interest in the series is well-advised to start with that one to avoid any spoilers.) Upon hitting the beach, Boyle and his superior are supposed to find some sympathetic French officers and get a Vichy garrison to surrender before any shooting starts.
This does not go well and the author does a very nice job outlining the various competing interests within the Vichy regime and how those complicated the Allied position. Soon Boyle's mission shifts to a more general attempt to determine enemy troop locations and strength. He then also gets caught up in the murder of an American supply sergeant, and a medical black market ring that somehow links U.S. personnel, Vichy forces, and even the SS. Here, Benn does a very nice job showing how the medical corps operations worked at the time, with a special focus on the shabby treatment of nurses. A further plotline involves Boyle's girlfriend, a British SOE agent now in the hands of the enemy. Thus he is faced with juggling his official assignment, his ad hoc investigation of the black market ring, and his personal mission to rescue his girl.
All these plotlines and layers of responsibility bump into each other a bit too often, and there's perhaps a little too much going on at times. Nonetheless, it does make for a pretty compelling read and a very grim and nasty one at times, as the villains' crimes are revealed, marking Boyle in a very personal way. The supporting cast is mixed, from forgettable to some very entertaining nurses and a feisty Polish officer. All in all, good enough to make me think about going back to check out the first book and keep an eye out for the next.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Billy Boyle invades Algeria, August 13, 2007
Now a combat-seasoned soldier, James R. Benn's Lt. Billy Boyle returns, in The First Wave, this time riding in a landing craft off the coast of Algeria. Stronger and braver than he thought, he's still "Mrs. Boyle's number one son," straight from South Boston, and still wondering how a nice Irish kid from Boston like him got in such a situation. And the situation is dangerous: he and his boss are on their way to rendezvous with a group of French soldiers, to assist them in undermining their Vichy leadership.
That mission is scrubbed, though, when they are intercepted by Vichy militia. After a brief incarceration, Billy and his boss are first detailed to collect information on enemy troop dispositions, and then to investigate a murder that seems to be connected with the theft and black marketing of precious medical supplies, including the newly developed "miracle drug," penicillin. At the same time, though, Billy discovers that his sweetheart, a Special Operations agent, has been taken prisoner, and his immediate impulse is to find her.
The plot is complex and multi-layered: it's November of 1942, and war threatens the world, made even more complicated by the political realities of North Africa and its population, and the Axis. Then there's Billy's immediate mission, to solve the murder of a supply sergeant and attendant theft of medical supplies. And finally there's his own personal mission, to rescue his love and revenge the cruel treatment she's received. But the moral universe is skewed here by war, and its imperative makes Billy's zeal for revenge a matter of self-indulgence; his "Uncle Ike," General Eisenhower in a cameo appearance, directs him to "leave things alone." (The book also chronicles the Army's shabby treatment of military nurses in World War II; it's all part and parcel of that irrational universe.)
The book is rich with detail, both natural and military. Sand is everywhere, from the shifting sands of the landing zone to the fine sand that's driven by the wind into the folds and crevices of Billy's clothes, even into the orders he carries. Gun emplacements contrast with rows of neatly planted grapevines, the stakes of which begin to look like grave markers, and the ripe smell of grapes is later replaced by the "scent of war," a mixture of salt and diesel fuel, cabbage and woodsmoke. Markets smell like spices and ripe fruit, while air raids explode in dirt and noise and steam and flames and burning rubber
Billy tells his own tale, sometimes in the brassy voice of South Boston, sometimes in the tones of remembered fear, but always eloquently. His job in South Boston was to "put things right," he always thought, and it's what he wants to do here. But in war the stakes are higher and the job is harder. There are other losses besides life--you may lose love, and trust, and maybe "part of your soul," as Billy comes to learn. In the end, war makes him stronger than he was, though far crueler. He's able to complete his mission, but the novel's denouement is shattering in every way, and though the story ends with reconciliation, there is also great sorrow.
This is a fine sequel to Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery. It's more complex, more nuanced, and even more exciting. It will be available September 1, and I certainly recommend it.
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