Rating: 
Summary: Hickam is one of the best writers around today
Review: I think Hickam is one of the best writers around. His books are always interesting and page-turners. I love this novel. The characters are compelling such as Dosie and Josh, and Miriam and Krebs. And I learned so much in this novel. I had no idea about this big battle off the Outer Banks during World War II. My husband bought this, just loved it, which made me a little reluctant because he talked about the battle scenes. Then I read it and knew Hickam had written a romantic adventure that women can love, too. So is it a man's novel or a woman's? Remarkably, both! It is also a great tale of the sea. I could even feel the sand between my toes, smell the salt air, imagine myself standing high above the ocean on a lighthouse. Just good adventurous romantic stuff. I'm looking forward to the next in the series. The Thurlow family rocks!
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I thought it started out slow, but stick with it ,it get's better!
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I thought it started out slow, but stick with it ,it get's better!
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful story wonderfully told
Review: I very much enjoyed Hickam's first in this series. It is a touching story of a lighthouse family nearly torn apart by the loss of the keeper's son by another son, Josh Thurlow. I love Dosie, the horsewoman (like me!). Clearly, Hickam has knowledge of horses and women. Dosie wears jodphurs and long boots just as I do (they tuck inside, you know). His writing is lilting, his use of the dialect spare but just right. I was a little afraid of this book because of the U-boats and battle scenes and such but they fit so well into the overall story that I came to understand that they were the darkness to the light that Hickam was working us toward. Thank you, Mr. Hickam, for a wonderful story. I am looking forward to the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: A very good novel
Review: I was pleased with this book. It's romantic, adventurous, and literate. Hickam's use of the written word is marvelous. I loved the characters, all of them in this book. Josh and Dosie are a great couple as is Keeper Jack. At first, I was startled when the chapters changed to the U-boat captain, then I fell in love with Krebs and Miriam. Miriam's fate made me cry. The lost boy was a mystery that kept me hanging to the end and I love the way Hickam kept surprising me just as I thought I had the plot figured out. His writing keeps getting better and better. I will keep reading this series.
Rating:
Summary: Great start for a series
Review: If this is the first in a series as it says on Hickam's web site, it's a great start. It's hard for me to describe this novel but I'm going to try. First, it's a page-turner. But Hickam writes with such power, and considering his earlier books, I think he is approaching a level in his work that puts him up there with the serious writers, the Updykes, the Mailers, the Steinbecks, the Hemingways, etc. and so forth. Not that I would turn readers off with those names suggesting that this is a weighty, serious book. It isn't by any means. It is a lilting book that often had me laughing aloud. Other times, though, I was taken away by Hickam's writing that gave me much food for thought. Essentially at its basic core, this is a novel of a lighthouse family and of a man in search for his brother on a quiet island where everybody just wants to be left alone to fish. Hickam weaves in a backdrop of war that is bloody and fresh in his approach. He also tells a parallel story of a U-boat captain and his crew which is quite effective and affecting. I began to understand something of the motivation of these men and the women they left behind. All in all, this novel should set Hickam along a fiction track that should be every bit as rewarding as his series of memoirs were.
Rating:
Summary: Something for Everyone
Review: In his seventh book Homer Hickam expertly blends facts and fiction to entertain his readers with a love story set in some of the darkest days of US history. This is very different from Mr. Hickam's successful memoir books such as Rocket Boys but is a book that this reader believes will appeal to both men and women alike and earn him a new group of fans. The main plot revolves around Josh Thurlow, son of the lighthouse keeper, and Dosie Crossan, who has returned to the island to find herself. Years before, Josh's baby brother had been lost at sea and throughout his life, Josh had blamed himself. His every thought and decision in life was painted with the brush of guilt and an attempt at redemption for his actions. The book has a large cast of characters including Krebs, a German U-Boat commander with a conscience and Vogel, a Nazi commander without one, Harro, a young seaman under Krebs' command, Doc Folsom, the island's doctor, Willow, the local "hoo-doo," and Rex Stewart, a Hollywood cowboy stuntman ineligible for the draft but 'drafted' nonetheless into the coastal horse patrol. Even though Otto is the enemy, he and Josh form a strange bond and respect each other professionally. And though Josh doesn't know it, Otto may hold the key to his brother's disappearance. This book is well researched with wonderful characters. The action holds your attention and shows a realistic picture of life at sea. It also describes day-to-day life on a remote island with such realism that you can smell the salt air and feel the sand in your shoes. Mr. Hickam writes with such attention to detail that the climactic battle scene will have you gripping the arms of your chair. The Keeper's Son should appeal to everyone. It has history, romance, local color and charm, eccentric characters and battles on land and sea. It will be a great book for the upcoming cooler weather. Curl up in your favorite chair with a cup of hot chocolate and be entertained and educated. This is the first book in a series and I anxiously look forward to the next book.
Rating:
Summary: A page-turner and a triumph of good writing
Review: In this age of awkward writing, pot-boiler plots, and uninteresting characters that come from our most read authors, Hickam stands out as the best author around. I started reading him with Rocket Boys/October Sky, dropped back and read his excellent non-fiction history Torpedo Junction, then read each of his memoirs and fiction works as they came out. I began slowly to realize that Hickam is perhaps one of the finest writers around. Often compared to Steinbeck in terms of rhythmic prose and characterizations, I have come to believe that he is the modern equivalent of that author. Steinbeck was often considered simplistic by his peers but now we see that it was his amazing grasp of the language that allowed him to be efficient and direct. Hickam's writing is quite similar but often soars past Steinbeckian simplicity. No one alive today seems to be able to pack quite as much into a sentence as Hickam. This novel is a wonderful page-turner that allows a reader to feel, touch, even smell the sea. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, romantic, and an adventure all the way
Review: In this age of awkward writing, pot-boiler plots, and uninteresting characters that come from our most read authors, Hickam stands out as the best author around.I started reading him with Rocket Boys/October Sky, dropped back and read his excellent non-fiction history Torpedo Junction, then read each of his memoirs and fiction works as they came out. I began slowly to realize that Hickam is perhaps one of our best writers around, perhaps the modern equivalent of John Steinbeck. No one alive today seems to be able to pack quite as much into a sentence as Hickam. This novel is a wonderful page-turner that allows a reader to feel, touch, even smell the sea. It is fast-paced, romantic, and an adventure all the way. I look forward to the next in the series. Like most of the readers discovering this work, Killakeet Island is the place where I want to live.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Story
Review: That Mr. Hickam is not a native son of the Outer Banks is truly amazing as he tells his fascinating story of German U-boats on America's east coast during World War II. His intricate knowledge, passion and storytelling skill weaves a gripping tale with characters so alive, the reader is right there with them in their frailties, their humor and their compassion. He portrays everyday people who are drawn into the inhumanities of war, regardless of their allegiances. Beyond that, he pays the ultimate compliment to the reader, who will be unable to read this novel without begging for historic knowledge of this little known incident, this unusual time and these remarkable people who were truly alone to fight their own war. Thankfully, at the end of the book he provides a wealth of sources. Oh! To have history taught with enticements like this novel!
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