The Last Jump: A Novel of World War II is the story of middle-aged journalist, J. P. Kilroy, who is invited in 1997 to go to a ceremony at the White House to accept the Medal of Honor for his dead father. When his mother was dying, she had told him he needed to find his father who had left years ago but J. P. never had. He felt his father could not get over J. P.’s going to Canada to avoid Vietnam War. While at the ceremony J. P. meets a number of his father’s old war buddies and wanting to know more about his father he goes out to dinner with them. As he is a journalist, he tapes the conversation and when he uses the rest room the men acknowledge they are keeping a secret from him. This piques his interest but also some of the things they had said about his father intrigued him so he is determined to figure it out what the men are keeping from him.
The book then follows J. P. as he has conversations with his father’s old buddies and the story flashes back so we get to know J. P.’s father and his best friend, both with the last name of Kilroy. You see how Jake and Johnny meet, become friends and go through their training and then on to Europe as paratroopers. They were excellent soldiers and found themselves behind enemy lines. Nevola gives you historical and military information about the battles they are involved in and you get a real feel for the horror of the war. You are on Omaha Beach with them as the bullets buzz by.
In addition to seeing the front lines, both of the men have girls back in the states so you get to see what it was like in America during the war. There is a glimpse of the women who were working in the shipyards, and those who were WACS and flying airplanes to transporting goods but not allowed in combat situations. You saw how the role of women was changing and how the people back home were sacrificing for the war.
The story progresses and J. P. is older, now 60 and wiser. His father’s old friends are dying off. He had told he has everything he needs to figure out the secret but he still can’t solve it until he meets someone else connected to his father and it all comes together.
This book has romance, mystery, and action. As it the story moves between time periods and places, Nevola has the geographical place and date as the chapter titles so there is no confusion. I also appreciated the quotations that begin each chapter. Nevola has done his homework and gives the historical background and though a few times I felt like I was reading a history book, most of the time the fictional story and historical information flowed smoothly. Since the story is dealing with soldiers there is some salty language and there are several graphic descriptions of the horrors of the war.
This is a sweeping novel that gives a picture of a different time in America and Nevola has given the reader a sense of why Tom Brokaw called that generation the Greatest Generation.
