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A review by specialk136
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II by Adam Makos, Larry Alexander
3.0
The story of a mid-air meeting between a German fighter pilot and an American pilot, it truly is an amazing encounter. The author can write a really good action scene. For someone (okay, it's me) who doesn't know a lot about planes, or the military, he did a good job helping me visualize the mid-air battles.
I learned a lot about the German Air Force, too, and I especially liked how the book teaches us that there were good guys on both sides of the war.
So why only 3 stars? The encounter between Franz and Charlie, while incredible, is just that: an encounter. It's the climax of the book, the heart of the story, and yet it's about enough material for a magazine article. Plus, the author has chosen to put it in about 2/3 of the way in...I kept thinking something else had to happen between these two; there had to be more (there wasn't). The rest of the book is about Franz' wartime experiences as a German Air Force Pilot. We don't meet Charlie until well into the book, and after their encounter, the story moves back to Franz almost exclusively. I wish equal time had been given to both pilots or at least that the book description had been written so we expect the bulk of the book to tell Franz' story.
I learned a lot about the German Air Force, too, and I especially liked how the book teaches us that there were good guys on both sides of the war.
So why only 3 stars? The encounter between Franz and Charlie, while incredible, is just that: an encounter. It's the climax of the book, the heart of the story, and yet it's about enough material for a magazine article. Plus, the author has chosen to put it in about 2/3 of the way in...I kept thinking something else had to happen between these two; there had to be more (there wasn't). The rest of the book is about Franz' wartime experiences as a German Air Force Pilot. We don't meet Charlie until well into the book, and after their encounter, the story moves back to Franz almost exclusively. I wish equal time had been given to both pilots or at least that the book description had been written so we expect the bulk of the book to tell Franz' story.