The Keeper's Son

As far as a fast and easy, perhaps on the shores of the Outer Banks, type of read, this is fairly quick to get into and finish. Also good for a relatively untold or unknown fact that German U-Boats sunk many ships off the U.S.coast during the second World War; from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. The story revolved around a tiny fictional island called Killakeet during the first years of World War II. Some characters are given depth, others are as central casting as they can come. Perhaps the most intriguing character is the war-weary German U-Boat commander, Krebs. It was interesting to see how a character used to military protocol and a top fighter at sea changed through the book. Josh, the "lead" role is given some of the density as show more well, losing his brother in the first chapter of the book at a young age, but by the end of the book, he is just your pretty standard action hero. I am not saying that is bad, it was just kind of a surprise that the book more or less turned into this after a pretty heavy attempt at character expositions. Dosie, the female lead, same thing, although she has a quite touching, poignant moment at the end. Josh? He gets action hero sequel treatment in two follow-up books by the author. Overall, enjoyable enough, and decent book club light fodder. show less

Homer Hickam is a great memorist as he titles himself. His semi-autobiographical novel, Rocket Boys, is one of my treasured reads. The follow-ups to that were also works I found to be more than worthwhile. Wanting to write in a new genre, that of fiction, we turn to his account of a time that he is an expert on. That of the fighting that took place along the outer banks right when the US joined WWII.

Here I think we have not seen the full potential that we found in his earlier works. Perhaps it is the pacing, perhaps it is trying to apply a formula to the writing. Certainly the subject of the submarine attacks on american shipping are a subject that lend themselves to an historical novel. That everyone involved amongst the US are show more characters, virtually all eccentric, takes away from some of the details of the time period. Certainly our heroine typifies a modern woman in deed and attitude which also takes away from creating the nuance of the late thirties and early forties. These are things that Mr. Hickam's writing of the era of his teenage years do so well. Here I find it hard to believe in the people he has embody his story.

To some extent even our villains are not believable. Was there such a group of U-Boat men that waged war on innocents? Hard to say or know in this novel.

Perhaps with less quirky supporting characters, or even the one trait that drives the main character taken out of the story might have made this a much better and more believable book. show less