The Eleventh Man

by: Ivan Doig

Published by: Harcourt, Inc. (October 13 release)

Reviewed by Jamie Driggers

After an undefeated season that ended at the destruction of Pearl Harbor, all eleven starters of the Treasure State football team enlisted to defend their country. They are scattered hither and yon from the New Guinea jungle to somewhere in Europe, patrolling the Pacific and patching up smokejumpers in the contentious objectors’ camp. Except for Ben Reinking, whose job it is to chronicle the war from the perspective of each teammate for the purpose of creating hometown heroes. As he travels the globe, witnessing firsthand the destruction of World War II, always glad to return to East Base and his WASP lover Cass, Ben watches as the law of averages fails his teammates one by one.

The Eleventh Man is one of those books that makes readers like me wish they better knew their history. What I thought I knew and what I apparently know are vastly different. Time for a little non-fiction perhaps? But aside from that, this is a gripping tale of World War II that really gets inside the war. Because of Ben’s profession, readers aren’t limited to one branch of the military, nor one front of the war. We get a first-hand account of many of the turning-point battles.

This is one of those books that flies all over the place and points of view seem almost random. We go forward and backward in time and though most of the action takes place with Ben, whenever convenient, the author flips to someone else. It can be distracting at times, but the overall product is well worth a read. As I told my husband, books like this always frustrate me at the beginning because I can’t figure out what is going on, or why, but by the end I can’t put them down. Such is The Eleventh Man.

Armchair Interviews says: Another good read.

Author’s Web site: http://www.IvanDoig.com