Harts War [Paperback]

John Katzenbach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

Second Lieutenant Tommy Hart's B-25 is shot out of the sky in 1942. Burdened with guilt as the only surviving crew-member, he is held captive at Stalag XIII in Bavaria. Routine comes to a halt with the arrival of a black American airman; when he is accused of murder, Hart is expected to defend him.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stalag 17 meets the best of John Grisham in this tremendously exciting and moving new thriller, about a murder trial inside a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. John Katzenbach has taken elements of his own father's history in such a camp, added a racial twist (the defendant is a black pilot, a member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen), and created a memorable adventure story that soars with hope and cries out to be filmed.

The first thing that former law student Tommy Hart does after his B-25 is shot down and he--the only survivor--is captured, is to fill out a form for the International Red Cross, telling his family he's alive and requesting, under "Special Items Needed," a copy of Edmund's Principles of Common Law. Amazingly, the book is waiting when he arrives at Stalag Luft Thirteen in the Bavarian woods. Hart soon puts it to good use, defending (with the help of two other prisoners, a former London barrister and a Canadian police detective) the prickly, proud Lieutenant Lincoln Scott when he is charged with killing a racist and corrupt fellow prisoner. The Nazis, especially a resident SS observer, have their own reasons for wanting the trial to be seen as a fair one, and it takes place against the backdrop of a planned mass escape.

Katzenbach deftly balances a dozen major characters with credible scenes of legal and extra-legal action. His previous thrillers, available in paperback, include Day of Reckoning, In the Heat of the Summer, Just Cause, The Shadow Man, State of Mind, and The Traveler. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Vivid and unpredictable characters and diabolically imagined suspense distinguish Katzenbach's (The Shadow Man) seventh novel. Set in the desperately bleak landscape of a German POW compound during the latter days of WWII, this is a thriller with more on its mind than entertainment, as Katzenbach tackles the theme of racial bias that breeds explosive consequences. Held captive since 1942, 2nd Lt. Tommy Hart?ex-Harvard Law student and navigator on an ill-fated B-25?is one of the most senior POWs at Stalag Luft 13 when African-American 1st Lt. Lincoln Scott, P-51 pilot, arrives as a new prisoner in May of 1944. Abrasively antisocial, lone-wolf Scott isolates himself from the other American officers, and quickly becomes the target of racial hatred from oft-decorated, Mississippi-born Capt. Vincent Bedford, aka "Trader Vic"?a treacherous wheeler-dealer who will barter anything to friend or enemy alike. He is soon found in the latrine with his throat cut and Hart is appointed to defend the obvious suspect, Scott, against what seems to be his impending rendezvous with a firing squad. Facing almost hopeless odds, Hart enlists the aid of two British POWs with astute forensic credentials. Slowly, a pattern of deceit begins to take shape, revealing duplicity from both POWs and captors. Katzenbach's setting is flawlessly grim, and his characters chillingly reveal the divisive bigotry of soldiers ostensibly fighting for the same values, as well as some unexpected sources of redemption. Despite some unnecessary repetitive details (e.g., the ineffectively recurring symbol of Hart's cherished wristwatch), this deeply affecting, artfully paced war epic will hold readers enthralled to the nail-biting end. Military Book Club and Literary Guild alternates; film rights to MGM.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 490 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown Company (December 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316849529
• ISBN-13: 978-0316849524
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,891,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read!, May 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hart's War (Hardcover)

I am a company commander in the US Army and my wife recently purchased this book because she knows of my fascination with military history. I must confess, I normally read non-fiction accounts because I find them thoroughly more fascinating and compelling than any fiction can provide. However, my wife took the time and effort to get this book after I briefly mentioned seeing it advertised here on Amazon so I figured I ought to read it. I am currently in the middle of a training exercise in Louisiana in preparation for my unit's rotation to Bosnia and our peacekeeping efforts there. We have very little contact with the outside populace and are surrounded by guards, towers, wire and lights. Very eerie when reading this book. Of course, the situation we are in is by choice, but the story is much more relevant and fascinating when read inside a prison-style environment surrounded by soldiers and sweltering conditions and apportioned food and away from loved ones. I have found placing oneself in as close to the context of a book as possible brings to life more nuances from the author than would otherwise be noticed when reading in a comfortable armchair or in bed. Further, context can also reveal the nuances missed by the author. Mr. Katzenbach has not missed any. In fact he describes more touching moments of the human condition than I thought possible. There are enough wonderful synopses of this book so I would like to comment on what I felt enlightened upon. First, above and beyond anything having to do with the military or law or war, this book dealt with the human condition of American and German men in WWII as a reflection of the society they sprouted from. Namely, how we as human beings view and, more importantly, treat each other. When all is said and done, Mr. Katzenbach reminds us of a time not very long away and not very far away of prejudice, segregation, and misguided hatred. I guess this seems more poignant to me as I am headed to a region of the world that has seen more than its share of such inhumanity. Mr. Katzenbach does a wonderful job in not fully resolving these problems. To have done so would be a disservice to our actual societal conditions and weaken his story. Bravo! Second, this book is a fantastic story of relationships. It captures the essential personal and interpersonal spirit of each and every character. Most fiction focuses on one or two antagonists or protagonists or simply glosses over everyone else. A good story is about personalities, not technology, not the law, not the military...personalities. Again Mr. Katzenbach, Bravo! Finally, this is in the end a fictional story and is bleimished with having to manufacture phrases and situations and will make a great movie. If the right actors and director are selected I will look forward to watching it, if not...well, Mr. Katzenbach what a wonderful read!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A supremely satisfying story of many facets, November 9, 2000

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Hart's War (Mass Market Paperback)

At first look, the basic plot of HART'S WAR is nothing extraordinary. A black man is framed by a racist populace for the murder of an ostensibly popular white man. And, of course, a novice lawyer, with zero experience in capital murder cases, is assigned as defense counsel for the trial. Ho-hum. The premise is so threadbare that I normally wouldn't have read beyond the jacket. But, hang on a minute ...

In this multi-faceted thriller by John Katzenbach, the place is Stalag Luft 13, a Luftwaffe prison camp for allied flyers shot down in WWII. The accused, Lincoln Scott, is a fictional black pilot of the real-life, famed 332nd Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen), who was downed while heroically defending a crippled B-17 bomber. He's the only Negro prisoner in the camp, and a aloof loner by choice because, you understand, he distrusts whites. The victim, Trader Vic, is a respected bomber pilot from Mississippi that had become the stalag's expert trader in forbidden goods. Lt. Tommy Hart, the navigator of a downed B-25, stands for the defense. Tommy, who left law school to join the Army Air Corps, has essentially finished his law studies while as a POW by reading every legal text he can lay his hands on. The Senior American Officer, Col. MacNamara, and the camp commandant, Luftwaffe Oberst Von Reiter, only want to get Scott's court-martial wrapped up quickly without undue embarrassment to either the Americans or the Germans.

This novel unfolds on many levels. It is, of course, a courtroom drama. But it's also a war drama, a detective drama, a prison drama, and an escape drama. Young Hart is clearly the reluctant, white-hatted good guy, but the moral and ethical issues revealed as he squares off against the rest of the camp remain elusively gray. Who, for instance, is the most evil, black-hatted bad guy? Even the battle-maimed and bitter camp adjutant, Hauptmann Visser, is a man possessing a certain honor, and doing his duty as he perceives it. And, when the identity and motive of the real killer are uncovered, would you, the reader, condemn and convict? This is a question that Tommy himself must ultimately answer as his personality is hammered to maturity in the forge of "growing up".

I liked this book very much, finishing it over a 4-day business trip to DC. I especially liked the irony presented by the 84 hats, an "in-your-face" consequence thrust into Tommy's consciousness, the unforeseen result of a decision he, essentially a non-violent person, had to make to survive.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a mystery, this is a phenomenal book, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hart's War (Hardcover)

John Katzenbach's latest is a bit of a departure. Set in a POW camp during WWII, it combines incredible drama with timeless lessons about race, duty, and honor. The characters are unforgettable, this is a classic in the vein of To Kill a Mockingbird. The best book I've read in a while.