Alison Hart

(3.5 / 5)

Having just read the main Molly series, I read the first Molly mystery to follow it up. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really have the style and heart of the main series. No one from the main series, besides Molly herself, is in this book, and Molly's summer friend Anna doesn't really have much of a personality. I do like the historical information regarding German-Americans placed in internment camps, the pro-Nazi Silver Legion, and the WASPs, of which Molly's aunt is one. This book also has a "Looking Back" section like the main series books, which goes into detail more on each of these points. The mystery in the book, which involved tracking down a Silver Legion member who was sending anti-American propaganda flyers out via planes at a local airfield, was not terribly complicated, but it was a decent vehicle for the history, keeping the book from feeling dry. Molly's strategic and slightly manipulative personality from the main series does continue here, making it a decent follow-up for anyone who has read the main series, though it could be read as a stand-alone too.… (more)

I loved this book, though parts of it made me sad. War is horrible any way you slice it, and the author really made me feel what was going on in Mercy's head and heart: her fears, her hopes, and her undaunted courage in the line of fire.
Written in first-puppy POV, we follow Darling as she leaves her human family and goes from life in the country to life on the battlefield. We feel her exhilaration at finding a wounded soldier, her intense fear as the ground explodes around her while bullets whir overhead, her gut-wrenching desperation and drive to keep digging, to keep searching, for a soldier that, for personal reasons, she simply has to save.
Darling: Mercy Dog of World War I brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know if that’s because I read it on Veteran’s Day or if I’m just overly emotional, but Darling’s story gripped me by the heart and wouldn’t let me go. I just keep thinking about what I read and how it made me feel. I also think of all our modern-day dogs of war and the men and women they protect, sometimes at the cost of life or limb.
Darling’s tale is fictitious, but it’s rooted in the truth. Multiple British families sacrificed their beloved pets to the war; horses, dogs, and pigeons were used to find wounded soldiers, carry messages, and tote supplies—and many lost their lives in the process; they made the ultimate sacrifice playing a vital part in a human war they couldn’t possibly understand.… (more)