Ordinary Heroes

In Ordinary Heroes, Scott Turow moves away from his usual legal thrillers and pens a novel about World War II that is part mystery, part historical fiction, and part family drama. Stewart Dubinsky is a retired journalist who comes across his father's papers dating from his service in the war. Stewart's dad, David, never really spoke much of his wartime experience while Stewart was growing up. It was something that was in the past and Stewart never pressed him for more information. The adult Stewart is then shocked to discover in these papers that his father was court-martialed and imprisoned shortly in the closing months of the war, and for some reason pardoned and released.

Stewart delves into his father's account - essentially a lengthy letter written to his lawyer in partial explanation of the events leading up to his arrest and trial. It contains some pretty incredible first-person accounts of the late stages of the war in France and Germany. Stewart learns of his father's mission - as a JAG lawyer attached to Patton's Third Army, David was ordered to locate and apprehend a rogue American officer. Major Richard Martin was a highly lauded OSS operative who had been very successful in espionage, sabotage, and wreaking general havoc behind the German lines. However, Martin cut off contact with his superiors and went "off the reservation" as they say, holing up in a chateau with his beautiful partisan companion Gita.

Stewart learns a great deal about his father's experience through reading his papers. Ordinary Heroes is a great read - it's engrossing, fast-moving, and contains several threads of mystery running throughout a gritty portrayal of that most brutal of wars. I recommend it - great beach reading. It's on the lighter side - not fluff - but certainly not overly literary.