Book Review: The Far Reaches
Tom Miller
Jul 10, 2008
Popular fictional hero -- Homer Hickam's World War II Coastie Josh Thurlow has returned for your summer-reading pleasure.
The Far Reaches
by Homer Hickam.
Author of the best-selling Rocket Boys, Hickam brings back Coast Guard Captain Josh Thurlow for the third installment (after The Keeper's Son and The Ambassador's Son) of his entertaining World War II series.
The rough-and-tumble Thurlow is already a "legend of the Pacific war" when Navy Secretary Frank Knox sends him to observe first-hand the invasion of Tarawa. Accompanied by trusty sidekick Bosun Ready O'Neal and nemesis Marine Colonel Montague Singleton Burr—a legend in his own mind—Thurlow joins the Marines in one of the Pacific's war bloodiest battles.
Hickam's description of the invasion and battle for the tiny island is compelling and historically grounded. Along with a handful of fictional characters like Thurlow, Hickam introduces readers to the real-life heroes of Tarawa including legendary Marine Colonel Red Mike Edson and Lieutenant Sandy Bonnyman.
Suffering from multiple wounds and an incapacitating fever, Thurlow is spirited off the island in an outrigger by a determined Irish nun, Sister Mary Kathleen, who had been a captive of the island's Japanese defenders. Sister Kathleen and her native escort also pick up Bosun O'Neal and three Marines before sailing off for the Far Reaches.
The fictional Far Reaches are a group of Polynesian islands "'on the far end of nowhere." The Far Reaches include the islands of Ruka—the administrative center which is occupied by the Japanese—Burubu, and Tahila.
Sister Kathleen who's obsessed with "her terrible sins in the Far Reaches," including her "'greatest sin, the one that can never be forgiven,'" hopes that the Americans will help her convince the Japanese to surrender.
Upon arrival, they find that the Japanese commander Colonel Hideo Yoshu has massacred the villagers on the island of Burubu. He also has crucified the island's chief and left an ominous message: GIVE ME THE NUN.
Thurlow and company retreat to the island of Tahila where Sister Kathleen lobbies a reluctant Thurlow to help defend against a Japanese attack. Complicating matters, Bosun O'Neal falls in love with Sister Kathleen, and an American submarine deposits a most unwelcome Colonel Burr on the island.
Colonel Burr sets about whipping his three Marines into shape, and Bosun O'Neal teaches the island's women to shoot. The male natives prefer to confront the Japanese with their tradition machetes and spears. As Sister Kathleen's "terrible" secret begins to unravel, the island's defenders anxiously await the inevitable Japanese attack.
Hickam again puts his larger-than-life hero in a grim situation. Captain Thurlow has survived savage combat on Guadalcanal and outrun hungry cannibals. His greatest challenge yet might be contending with a scheming Irish nun with a heavy heart.
The Wit & Wisdom of Homer Hickam:
"Devils do that, you know, look like angels and talk like Irish."
"The United States Marine Corps is the right arm of God."
"But you're Coast Guard, ain't you, sir? Marines don't usually take orders from the toy boat navy."
"The Marines are happy? I suppose this means they have women."
"You do not run from evil. To hesitate allows it to grow."
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Copyright 2008 by Tom Miller
A former history professor, Tom Miller is a novelist and essayist. His most recent novel, Freshman Sensation (2007), is available from the publisher at http://www.ccjournal.com/. His reviews and essays have appeared in numerous books, journals, and newspapers, including The Encyclopedia of Southern History, American History Illustrated, the Chicago Tribune, and the Des Moines Register. He also is a former Army Officer and Vietnam Veteran.
