CONNECTICUT LIBRARIES
September 2006, Vol. 48, No. 8
Recently, I had the opportunity to refresh my relationships with two acquaintances. One of them is Jim Benn, a library and information technology professional who has a new career as an author of fiction. A couple of years ago he introduced me to Billy Boyle, a young officer in the United States Army. Boyle was one of several well-drawn characters in Jim Benn's first book, Desperate Ground, a World War II story. Jim Benn's newest title is a "prequel" that introduces us to a less experienced Billy Boyle, a young Irish-American who comes from a long line of Boston police officers.
When Tom Brokaw honored American citizens of the World War II era with the title, "The Greatest Generation," he also burdened them with much to live up to. It is hard for many of us today, especially those among us who are generations removed from WWII, to grasp that the young men and women of the 1940's were, in many respects, remarkably similar to young adults of almost any era. They chose careers, found jobs, and struggled to advance. Some challenged the constraints placed on them by the depression economy and the social circumstances of their birth. Others accepted those limitations, but took advantage of whatever "pull" they or their families might have had.
Billy Boyle fits into that latter category. He seems never to have been challenged enough in civilian life to determine if he might be a bit smarter and more capable than anyone suspected. He became a policeman because that was what the men of his family did. The Boston P.D. hired him because the Boyle family looked out for its own. He walked a beat, but was introduced to detective work because his detective father had him called in to secure crime scenes. His father made sure that young Billy had every opportunity to observe how detectives operated. Billy's early promotion to detective was not the result of talent. Rather, it was due to his receiving the answers to the detective exam before the test was given. Billy had come a long way on family connections and favoritism. He understood that was simply how the whole world worked.
When it came time for Billy to do his bit in the military, as far as his family was concerned, the same rules applied. His mother recalled that she was related by marriage to an Army general who came from out west somewhere. The family assumed that their distant relative would find Billy a safe, "cushy" military assignment.
Amazingly, Billy pulls that dream assignment and finds himself on his way to England where he will meet, for the first time, his uncle, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Initially, he thinks the toughest parts of his job will be living in a cramped hotel room and getting along with the English. Remember, he is an Irish kid from Boston. Like any one of his family and neighborhood buddies, he had little use for that nation and was not accustomed to thinking of its subjects as his friends and allies.
Billy discovers that "Uncle Ike" has more on his mind than just providing a distant relative with a soft job. The General has a war to win and will employ every asset at his disposal to do just that, including Billy. He assumes that his nephew has the skills of a detective and that, as a relative, he is someone he can count on. Taking Billy aside, Eisenhower confides that he needs his assistance to identify a spy who could disrupt the Allies' secret plan to invade Norway. Perhaps for the first time in his young life, Billy is entrusted with a vital task by someone who actually believes he is able to carry it out on his own, without the help of family or crony.
Jim Benn has created, in Billy Boyle, a believable and likable protagonist who the reader will root for, despite Billy's youthful self-doubt. The author surrounds the young lieutenant with an interesting cast of characters. In addition to General Eisenhower, Billy rubs elbows with the exiled Norwegian king and his prime minister. He joins forces with Polish freedom fighter Piotr Kazimierez and the beautiful Seaton sisters, who help to change his feelings about the English. Along the way, he investigates a possible crime related to the daring eleventh hour smuggling of Norway's gold out of the country before the Nazis can appropriate it. And, of course, Billy is called upon to solve a "who dunnit," the murder of a Norwegian officer training for the invasion.
When we first meet Billy, he is neither a great detective nor a great soldier. By book's end, he has earned his place among the "greatest generation."
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