book review: Winged Escort, by Douglas Reeman

World War II. Terrible as that time was, the warriors were strong and moral, always brave, steadfast, and focused on the same goal.

Or, sometimes, not so much.

One would think a novel written in the mid-Seventies would be big on the glory, as were so many books and movies in the years after the war. But Douglas Reeman was there, and he pulls no punches about how terrible it was, to bodies and souls.

www.amazon.com/Winged-Escort-Modern-Fiction-Library-ebook/dp/B06WP5SLT9

 

 

To stop the destruction of Allied shipping in the Atlantic, small, slow escort carriers are being built to accompany convoys, and fighter pilot Rowan is assigned to the HMS Growler. It's flagship of a tiny fleet escorting a convoy through the frigid Arctic to the Soviet Union, and German forces send everything they have against it.

Rowan can only do his job as his comrades fall one by one, his superiors make foolish mistakes for selfish reasons, and his own mind takes a battering from the constant stress and danger. 

After surviving that trip Rowan falls into a love affair while recovering from injuries, then ships out to the Pacific, where the Growler faces an unexpected threat: Kamikaze attacks. So there's plenty of action, but Reeman doesn't hold back from showing the mental and physical beating the pilots and sailors went through during the war.

So, how did I end up reviewing a four decade old novel? Well, I went out of town, was feeling under the weather and didn't want to read on my phone, and--there it was. A happy accident, because Reeman wrote with a spare but still detailed style that puts you right on board that little ship. He wrote dozens of other books, and I suspect they're equally gripping--look him up.

You can find Douglas Reeman's other books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Douglas-Reeman/author/B001HCS06Q

 

 (Remember: Every time you don't buy a history book, someone invades a European country.)

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