Customer Reviews

The First Wave

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Once again our Boston city cop turned World War II Private Investigator is thrown into the fray as bullets fly, bombs drop, and murder and mayhem toss Billy Boyle into the fires of chaos. Just back from a skirmish in Norway, his uncle General Ike Eisenhower hands Billy his second mission, allowing him a not so scenic tour of exotic Algiers. This version of the Kasbah was not what Billy had envisioned.

Arriving on desert shores with the First Wave of American troops, Billy and his commanding officer Major Sam Harding, immediately encounter a barrage of submachine guns pelleting them with lead that falls like rain. Greeted by both enemies and allies, Billy and Sam scamper off the beach into town, finding headquarters at a hospital outpost. They are there to assist Algiers and convince France to join the British Allies to fight against the Germans, but the Vichy French have agendas of their own and all is not as it should be among the world of sand and palm trees.

Not even an evening passes before the heat gets turned up and Billy is forced to play detective. Two murders, a drug heist, and his beloved Diana, who is an undercover special operative agent, gets kidnapped by a sadistic French officer taking prisoners for ransom.

This second installment brings the reader a volatile, high octane historical adventure mystery packed with blood curdling action, World War II history, romance, humor and a complex murder plot to rival any of the other top Noir style mystery novels. James Benn is a top-notch writer who has the talent to pull it all together with a blend of ingredients that can only win. With loveable characters you can do nothing but root for, and pages that turn for the reader like wildfire, I doubt any avid reader could put the Billy Boyle series down. High praise all around for a series that has it all, 5 stars for James Benn. His hero is handsome, his hero is brave, now if he can only manage to get the girl! Well, he does get her, but somehow keeps losing her..... Fabulous second installment to this addictive new series!

Crime
A Brave Heart

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
By MARILYN STASIO
Published: September 9, 2007

In his first novel about Billy Boyle, James R. Benn labored a bit too strenuously to draw a picture of a young soldier-sleuth who epitomized everything decent and admirable about World War II America. Benn's hero is still wide-eyed and bushy-tailed in THE FIRST WAVE (Soho, $24), but his character has deepened, as have his thoughts. Now he earns respect for the good he does, rather than what he stands for. "War sure is educational," marvels this Irish cop from South Boston, who thought he was getting a cushy patronage job when Uncle Ike (a distant relative better known as the commander of United States forces in Europe) claimed the "rosy-cheeked youth" as his personal private investigator. Instead, the kid saw plenty of action on the European front and learned enough about undercover police work to pass what even his uncle had to admit was a tough initiation.

"The First Wave" finds Boyle coming ashore in the 1942 Allied landing in French North Africa. He's on a dangerous, if vague, mission to rally support from officers in the Vichy government forces in Algiers and to free a group of French resistance fighters, his English girlfriend among them. A better cop than secret agent, Boyle also gets wind of a smuggling ring that's depriving soldiers of the new miracle drug, penicillin, and during the course of his investigation discovers that even in the middle of a war a combat hospital offers no refuge from noncombat crimes like drug trafficking, high-stakes gambling, rape and murder.

In granting Boyle a measure of maturity, Benn takes care not to put a muzzle on him. The brash kid from Southie is still open, direct and fearless in his manner (and in his wonderfully loose-jointed use of the English language) and in no danger of losing his cover as a "happy-go-lucky Yank." But even amid the excitement of the spirited wartime storytelling, Benn allows Boyle's experiences to change him in ways both subtle and dramatic. Becoming sensitized to the status of female officers -- paid half the salary of men, unable to issue an order to the lowliest private and denied the dignity of a salute -- is one of those subtle ways. Seeing himself from the perspective of a people whose country his own has invaded is a more striking leap for Boyle, as is his new willingness to judge foreigners by their own standards. In one painful moment of introspection, he even questions his family's rigid beliefs. Where he comes from, that's real bravery.

This is even more grabbing than the first, but you should first meet the lead character at the begining.That said, this is a great continuation. It is a bit grimmer than the first with bad things happening to good people, but there is still some humor. This is more involved as a mystery than the first, although I found no surprises in the denouement. Nevertheless, the characters are again sharply drawn and developed as the war experience matures and hardens them. I am now eager to read the author's earlier book, DESPERATE GROUND.

Billy Boyle was a young Boston cop, just promoted to detective, when the Pearl Harbor attack catapulted him into the army. He's also (supposedly) a distant cousin of Gen. Eisenhower, and his intention in the first book of this entertaining series was to use that connection to land a nice, safe spot on the security detail at the War Department -- but instead, he found himself at Uncle Ike's headquarters in London, dodging air raids. Now, it's November 1942 and Billy is accompanying his boss, Maj. Harding, in the first wave of landings in Vichy-controlled Algeria -- Operation Torch. They get picked up by the fascist police almost immediately, though, which means they've been betrayed. The force of the Allied invasion gets them out of that corner -- but not before he gets a glimpse of Diana, the girl he fell in love with in the first book, who is an SOE operative supporting a local uprising against the Vichy. She's been captured, too, and her fate is likely to be a lot less pleasant than his. He tries, frantically, to figure out where she and the other failed rebels have been taken, and at the same time has to investigate a couple of murders connected with the disappearance of the local army hospital's complete supply of the super-secret new wonder drug, penicillin.

This is a pretty good series, actually, and the narrative this time is a great improvement on the occasionally awkward prose of the first volume. I thought I had figured out "whodunit" pretty early in the story, but I wasn't quite sure I was correct until nearly the end. The characters are well drawn, especially that of Billy's friend, Kaz, a rather slight Polish translator in love with Diana's sister, Daphne, who was murdered; rather to his surprise, he finds he enjoys war -- but what has he left to lose? I also like the fact that the author, a fellow librarian who knows his World War II, sets his stories in relatively obscure corners of the conflict. In fact, the milieu of the story is often more interesting than the murder mystery itself. How many people this days have ever heard of the "deal with Darlan" that came close to losing Eisenhower his job? An above-average series so far.

This second story in the Billy Boyle series is much heavier on character development than the first. The plot was good, and the setting in North Africa during WWII was a refreshing difference from the typical European Theater. I will definitely continue with this series.

"The First Wave" by James R. Benn is second book in the fictional Billy Boyle series. In the Billy Boyle book we meet the young Boston cop who has been enlisted as a special investigator to his uncle in Washington during WWII. Only that his uncle is Ike, and he takes Billy with him overseas.

The characters from the first book are being assembled, this time in Algeria, getting ready for the Allied forces to take over, hoping the French won't put up a fight (they did). Stations in a military hospital, Boyle discovers that a drug smuggling ring involving many high ranking Vichy officials is operating with aid from someone who is knowledgeable about top secret data.
Mix the smuggling up with a coup, murders and a kidnapping and you got the making of an interesting story.

Billy not only has to uncover the corruption which has become the norm, but also be sensitive as to not screw up Eisenhower's notorious "deal with Darlan" - the fascist, antisemitic highest ranking leader of the French Vichy government.

While the first book in the series I considered historical-fiction, this book is more of a crime story which happens during war time. The history is there, but it there are far too many liberties taken with time-line and the story-line does not deal with any specific occurrences (such as Operation Jupiter from the last book).

The author did make this clear at the end notes, otherwise my rating would dropped.That being said, I like the fact that the stories revolve around little known events of World War II instead of the big ones we all learned about.

In "The First Wave" Billy has matured, he has seen devastation, revenge, backstabbing and some more of the acts men do in war time. Much like Billy, so has Mr. Benn's narrative matured. The book is still an easy read and fast paced , but is more darker in storyline as well as tone.

The competing Vichy (that's the French government the Nazi's installed) interested are outlined by Mr. Benn are very interesting. Those interests shows how complicated and somewhat unrealistic were the hopes of the Allies that they would be greeted as liberators (we were not).

The book also centers around two other main subject, while not as exciting as murder & mayhem are no less important and in my opinion even more. The first is Pfizer's ability to mass produce penicillin. The second is the important role of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. It was very inspiring to read a book which honors those women who despite holding a "Relative Rank" (meaning they didn't have to be saluted to) and getting 50% less than their male counterparts, still volunteered in droves to serve in combat zones.

This is the second in the Billy Boyle mysteries. Although it is not essential that the first, BILLY BOYLE, be read before this one, it certainly helps. By reading the first, the characters make much more sense. That knowledge gives the main characters more depth than they would have from just this novel.

Billy Boyle, who keeps looking for the cush assignment he expected on joining Uncle Ike's staff, is sent before the first wave of troops to invade Africa. He and Major Harding are to meet up with insurgents who are going to aid the invasion. There are murders, of course, for the "detective" to solve and intrigue within the French and local armies/police. As a mystery, it worked fairly well.

This book is not up to the high standard set by BILLY BOYLE. In that book there was a depth of moral uncertainty combined with good history and a good mystery. Here, the mystery is good, the history seemed more in the background and there was not the depth of morality that charged the first book.

This is an entertaining historical mystery - easily good enough for four stars. It just is not as good as its predecessor. Entertaining and recommended.