Book Review: The Rising Tide (World War Two #01) by Jeff Shaara

Renowned for his work on the Civil War in two separate trilogies and a prequel of sorts featuring Lee, Jackson and others in Mexico, Shaara turns his hand to the Second World War with the opening of a four-part series chronicling firstly the war in Europe and North Africa, and then the conclusion of the Pacific campaign.

The Rising Tide opens shortly after America has entered the war with a prologue about British tankers (similar to how Shaara opened his excellent World War One novel, To The Last Man), and then switches gears, focusing in on a group of commanding officers on both the Allied and German sides.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is a chief character in Shaara’s narrative which could be considered a little dry at times as American and British officers work their way military planning and delicate political decision-making ahead of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French-held North Africa. Shaara’s portrayal of Eisenhower is absolutely fantastic, perfectly capturing the American general’s frustrations and triumphs. He’s torn between battlefield concerns, political concerns and the continuing mission to make the Allied army allied.

Even better is Shaara’s storytelling from the point of view of Erwin Rommel. In books and movies about World War Two, Rommel is mostly a faceless enemy general, though admittedly a very talented one, but Shaara’s depiction goes a long way to humanising the man known as The Desert Fox.

How Rommel managed to have as much success in North Africa as he did is amazing, considering everything he had to battle: the Italians and their inferior army, a mystery ailment with the power to render him bedridden, the fact that Montgomery was proving a major thorn in his side unlike any British general before him, and the strange whims of Adolf Hitler. It’s a fascinating tale, and early on Rommel recognises – if only to himself – that Germany won’t win the war with a certifiably mad Hitler in charge. He’s not Hitler’s lackey like you might have expected him to be – like I expected him to be. Rommel was the most intriguing figure in this book, and by a long way!

One area where Shaara’s To The Last Man parted with his old formula of focusing main on generals, mostly behind the lines, was to tell the tales of ordinary soldiers, men who Shaara obviously researched thoroughly, and now gives excellent voice to. We get to experience the life of a tanker through the eyes of Floridian Jack Logan, and then that of a paratrooper, the hard-as-nails New Mexico native, Jesse Adams. This, for mine, makes The Rising Tide far a brilliantly-rounded story on the – mostly American – experiences in North Africa and Sicily.

It took a while to get going, and really didn’t hit it’s straps until the first Americans landed as part of Operation Torch, but from there, The Rising Tide picks up and flies along, proving that Shaara is a master of historical fiction. Can’t wait to read the next instalment.