Fiction

Title: Cornfield Soldiers - Utah Beach to the Elbe River
Author: Paul Michael Frazee
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Pat Avery

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1882824326

Cornfield Soldiers tells the story of how 500 American fighting men fought their way from Utah Beach to the Elbe River during the Normandy Campaign of WWII. These engineers would build hundreds of bridges under fire, lay thousands of mines, help liberated Aachen, fight at the Bridge of Remagen, discover the Nazi baby factories in the Harz Mountains, survive the onslaught in the Ardennes and liberate the Dora-Mittlebau concentration camp shortly before the final destruction of the Third Reich.

Continuing the story from "Summer Storm - Prelude to Pearl Harbor," (Frazee's second novel), Cornfield Soldiers is an in-depth examination of the training received by the men who answered FDR's call to arms on 8 December 1941 and the battles they fought in North Africa and Normandy. It details both their combat and their engineering accomplishments - which eventually lead to them being one of the most-highly decorated combat engineer units in the European campaign.

Title: The Midnight Mile
Author: Denis W. Flood
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 159571393X/a>

When Marine Corporal Jackie Carroll's body comes home from Vietnam, the family and townspeople of Peekskill, New York, try to cope with the loss of a son and star athlete. The author captures the spirit of a town filled with quirky and endearing characters whose animosities and friendships bring about an unexpected celebration. A fast moving story that both charms and disarms. The Midnight Mile is a vibrant tale with a surprise ending that will move the reader to tears.

Title: Cold Winter's Kill
Author: Bob Doerr
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Reviewer: Kathy Rodgers

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1590957628

A fast paced thriller that takes place in the scenic mountains of Lincoln County, New Mexico. It was one of those phone calls former Air Force Special Agent Jim West never wanted to receive -- an old friend calling to ask if West could drive down to Ruidoso to help locate his daughter who has disappeared while on a ski trip with friends. Jim found himself heading to Ruidoso even though he believed, much like the local authorities, that if she had gone missing in the mountains in December, her chances for survival were slim. He didn't want to be there when they found her but still he drove on.

Once in Ruidoso, Jim discovers a sinister coincidence that changes everything. It appears that someone is abducting and killing one young blonde every year around Christmas. The race is on -- can Jim locate his friend's daughter on time? Jim can't wait for the local authorities to raise the priority of their search, or for the pending blizzard to pass. In his haste he puts himself in the killer's sights. Will he, too, suffer from a cold winter's kill?

Title: Dead Men Can Kill
Author: Bob Doerr
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Reviewer: Mary Sullivan

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1590957598

When Jim West, a former Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, moves back to New Mexico, his goal is simple: start an easy going second career as a professional lecturer on investigative techniques to colleges and civic organizations. He never envisioned that his practical demonstration of forensic hypnosis on stage with a state university student would stir up memories of an 18 year old murder mystery. When the student is murdered three days later, West finds himself ensnared in a web of intrigue that pits him and the small town's authorities against a ruthless, psychotic killer.

Title: Get Out of the Way
Author: Daniel Dinges
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Joyce Gilmour

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 161566274X

As Tom Daniels waits to be seen at the nearest VA hospital in 2006, he flashes back to his two years of service during the Vietnam years.

Although he does not support the War in 1968, a "Newsweek" article convinces him that his chances for staying out of combat are good, so he volunteers to be drafted. Just after his first year anniversary in the Army, Tom is ordered to Vietnam, but his Colonel gets his transfer cancelled to keep Tom working as a programmer on base. Tom's best friend deploys instead.
Five months later, after Tom is married, he has a nightmare in which his buddy is wounded in combat. Tom realizes how guilty he feels about his friend shipping out.

Suddenly the reverie is over and it's 2006 again. Tom sees a lone veteran in a wheelchair next to the far wall in the waiting room of the VA Hospital. The vet looks a lot like his long lost buddy.