The Special Prisoner [Paperback]

Jim Lehrer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2001

John Quincy Watson was a young bomber pilot flying the new B-29 Superfortress in a mission over Japan when he was shot down and taken prisoner. Designated a "special prisoner," as were all Allied airmen, he, along with his comrades, suffered and almost indescribably brutal POW experience under a vicious camp commandant that Watson, with his friends, dubs the "the Hyena." When a chance encounter years after the war brings Watson, now Bishop Watson, into contact with a man he believes to be the Hyena, the Bishop must struggle with an anger and a desire for vengeance he thought he had long put aside. The Special Prisoner is a taut and dramatic novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An overwhelming sense of symmetry permeates The Special Prisoner, but it doesn't come in the lovely, harmonious, balanced variety. Instead it's the terrifying symmetry of life at its most basic, of innocence, guilt, death, and rebirth. Jim Lehrer's hero, Bishop John Quincy Watson, is imprisoned alternately in physical and metaphysical realms throughout the novel, a "man of God and grace" who comes to wrestle with a "long-dormant barbaric monster ... waiting in his soul."

This retired Methodist is an all-American boy who did his duty for his country in World War II at a high personal cost. Shot down over Tokyo on his 17th mission as the young pilot of a B-29 Superfortress, Watson spent the rest of the war in a Japanese POW camp. Designed specifically for bomber crews--who were considered the worst of the White Devils--it was run by a particularly ruthless guard called the Hyena. As the novel opens, the now 70-year-old, crippled Bishop has just spotted Tashimoto, the Hyena, in an airport in Texas, casually boarding a plane. Memories of the camp come flooding back and slam head-on into what Watson had presumed was a rock-solid wall of spiritual piety, and he quickly sets off on a mission of revenge. He tracks his prey to a hotel room in San Diego, and what happens next plunges him into recollections of unspeakable horror, changing his life irrevocably. The novel becomes a vicious game of back and forth between past and present, captor and captive; the Bishop unwittingly slides in and out of each role as he confronts the demon without and ousts the demon within. But is Tashimoto really the demon he seeks? If not, what monsters of delusion has the Bishop actually let loose?

Lehrer explores questions of guilt, shame, forgiveness, and self-examination with an obvious passion, if not intellectual rigor, and his eye for detail is sharp. He intertwines the stories with the precision of a chainlink fence, using such devices as the interplay between the Hyena's bamboo stick and the crippled Bishop's cane. The Special Prisoner is a densely packed, suspenseful read that gets more captivating as it gathers speed. --S. Ketchum --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

As in his previous novel, White Widow, the plot of newscaster-writer Lehrer's newest book turns on a chance encounter. In this case the pivotal meeting is between retired Methodist Bishop John Quincy Watson of San Antonio, Tex., an elderly ex-B-29 pilot and POW, and a Japanese businessman in whose eyes Watson sees the stare of the interrogator who tortured him. Incredulous that his old nemesis could have survived, Watson nevertheless discovers that the stranger has checked into a San Diego hotel under the interrogator's last name, and he decides to confront him. Mr. Tashimoto, however, denies he is the former camp official his prisoners nicknamed "the Hyena" because of his sadistic laugh. With this tension-filled standoff underway, Lehrer suspensefully alternates between Watson's harrowing memories of WWII and his present-day cat-and-mouse interrogation with the roles reversed. The first half of the narrative is a provocative, at times wrenching, dramatization of racism, war crimes and revenge--with right not necessarily on Watson's side--but the second is deprived of much of its drive when Watson tragically loses control of the situation and is brought to trial for his violent behavior. Although the ending does not satisfactorily resolve the moral ambiguity of its tantalizing premise, Lehrer's novel successfully illuminates still-sensitive issues for both the U.S. and Japan. (May)
Copyright 2000 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: 240 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586480421
• ISBN-13: 978-1586480424
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits hard at the heart, teaches us about true forgiveness!, June 16, 2000

By 

Jayson (Rancho Santa Margarita, ca, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Special Prisoner: A Novel (Hardcover)

`The Special Prisoner' is a special book. Jim Lehrer has scripted a beautiful and emotional tale about a WWII American B-29 pilot coming to grips with horrid memories that he would like to have forgotten over the past 50 years and his ability to forgive.

Quincy Watson, known as Big Red during his runs over Japan today is a fragile shell of what he could have been. Today as a retired Methodist Bishop, he `accidentally' runs into the man who tortured him so many years ago in a POW camp. The man known as `Hyena' killed many of Watson's compatriots in numerous and sickening ways, the whole time playing mind games with Watson. But Watson didn't escape easily after the war. His leg is maimed, his reproductive organs shattered, he is numb to death, and hate begins to bubble down inside. This is where Quincy spends the next 50 years recovering, an emotional hurdle to overcome, where religion is discovered and forgiveness is a key element. But his life is put to a new test in his 70's, as the world as he knew it was over, a shocking sight open up all wounds. What do you say to the man who controlled whether you lived or died if you bumped into him today?

The story is amazing, simply put. It is a fairly easy read, but the images and descriptions of the atrocities of what happens in the POW camps will leave the reader not only speechless but asking themselves of their own capacity for forgiveness. What is equally presented here is the opinions and perspectives of the Japanese. Is it really that cut and dry for Americans? I challenge you to read the side of the Japanese mentality and you may learn more about yourself than you thought you knew.

There is a `great surprise' that happens about half way through the book that I promise changes everything, but does not detract from the story, but rather adds a new challenging dynamic to it. This is not just a story you read about an old American Pilot and his Japanese nemesis, this is a story that really takes you on an emotional roller coaster and will hit you in the deepest psychological, religious, and moral ways. You don't even have to be of that generation. Jim Lehrer delivers an accurate account of human behavior in the worst conditions, and yet teaches us about love, and getting over horrific events and how we deal with them. Don't miss out, you will not be disappointed!

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting story of revenge and forgiveness, May 15, 2000

By 

Robert Oliver "Rob" (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Special Prisoner: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a novel about the best and worst of the human spirit; and some of the terrible legacies of war. The main character in the story is Bishop John Quincy Watson of the Methodist Church. In 1945 Watson was a B-29 bomber pilot, flying missions over Japan. On his seventeenth mission his plane went down over Tokyo, and he was taken prisoner by the Japanese. The Japanese authorities called downed American airmen "Special Prisoners", and reserved for them especially brutal treatment and death. Bishop Watson survived the war, but his body and soul had been permanently maimed in the Japanese prison. After the war Watson became a minister. One day fifty years after the war had ended Watson was in the Dallas Airport, and he saw the face of a man that he believed was one of the main commanders of the prison camp in Japan. Every day of his life for fifty years he had suffered pain and disability from his time as a prisoner of war in Japan, and now the source of his pain was standing before him in the airport. Watson began following the Japanese man, seeking a confrontation with him. The chapters in the book begin switching back and forth from the past to the present, describing events from the war and Watson's confrontation with the Japanese commander. Much of the little known history of American prisoners of war in Japan is given in the novel. As a minister Bishop Watson believed in forgiveness; but could he find a way to forgive a very real monster from his past? There are several moments in the novel that will go straight to your heart. There is a rising sense of tension as you keep reading; and a deep sense of wrenching truth about the nature of forgiveness and the lasting horror of war. There is a very haunting, moving quality to this novel that I will always remember. This is a deeply felt novel that I highly recommend.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A special story..., June 1, 2000

By 

Charles W. Adams "Charles W. Adams" (Adel, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Special Prisoner: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm not a regular reader or necessarily a fan of short or long fiction. When I heard this book hyped on IMUS, I decided to give it a try. Of course, I've been a fan of Jim Lehrer for years -- his no nonsense approach to journalism.

"The Special Prisoner" is an easy terrific read -- short but surprisingly complex in its treatment of major issues associated with war and theology.

The book's essence is heavy and somewhat depressing. There is nothing the least bit light and funny about this story. A great story to read in remembrance of our veterans who gave so much that we might be free.

Highly recommended.