Turow shot to fame with his stunning Presumed Innocent (1987) and has not, in my opinion, bettered it. Now he has changed direction from the court room drama to the Second World War and an impressive work. It concerns a grieving son investigating the reason for his father’s court martial in 1945. With the customary descriptions of buckets of blood, battered brains and flying body parts, it is a powerful work of honour, integrity and guilt. A dreadful time brought vividly to life.
From the bestselling author of Presumed Innocent comes Ordinary Heroes, Scott Turow’s Second World War story of family and bravery. All parents keep secrets from their children. My father, it seemed, kept more than most . . . Whilst mourning the death of his father, journalist Stewart Dubin decides to research the life of a man he had always respected, always admired, but possibly never quite knew . . . As a young, idealistic lawyer during the last terrible months of the Second World War, David Dubin was sent to the European Front – ostensibly to bring charges against a brave American hero, Robert Martin, who had suddenly, inexplicably, gone local and stopped following orders. Martin has become a liability and the authorities want him neutralized. But as Dubin learns more about Martin and the demons possessing him, he finds himself falling in love with Martin's enigmatic ex-mistress – a dangerous woman of incredible courage. And someone who will do anything to protect her comrade-in-arms . . . Stewart discovers a journal written by his father – and learns of his incredible courage in the face of battle, reads first-hand of the shattering moral consequences for those caught in the chaos of war and, finally, the secret he had died protecting . . .