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MWSA Book Review

In the Shadow of Suribachi

Authors:  Joyce Faulkner

Publisher:  Red Engine Press

Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA

War is Hell!

You have to believe that author Joyce Faulkner was an old warrior from some previous lifetime – if you believed in reincarnation at all. She gives you such an honest and intimate portrayal of men who are in combat – that one would think that she was actually there. Her WWII novel about the battle on Iwo Jima “In the Shadow of Suribachi” is compelling, intense, and realistic. She writes with a male energy unbeknownst to most female authors. She will draw you into her storyline and into the people she writes about.

Faulkner allows you to meet and get to know the main characters prior to the battle and this makes the story more emotional and gripping. She uses her words like precious ammo and delivers her story with emotionally deadly accuracy. As a combat veteran, I felt the author was telling it like it was. Her obviously gifted writing skills make this literary journey through her book a pleasure. It is at all times entertaining, as well as insightful.

I think the word “authentic” applies to this accounting of the battle of Iwo Jima even though it is a fictionalize portrait of that event. This is destined to become a classic WWII book. My guess is that the author did a lot of research on this subject before undertaking the story itself. It just feels like it is so right!

I enthusiastically give this book the MWSA’s Highest Rating of FIVE STARS! A must read book for all fans of this genre.

MWSA's 2006 Gold Medal Award for Historical Fiction

Reviewer: Joe Fabel – MWSA Review Board

Joyce Faulkner opens her novel with a review of the early growing up years of her future Marines. She portrays them as average young people from a variety of backgrounds, some well adjusted; some still seeking their role in life.

We see them facing challenges as they deal with others. Their responses are as different as they are from one another: the good, the bad, and the somewhat ugly.

Boot Camp is completed and they are on their way to a world at war in the Pacific. Each Marine brings his own psychological baggage which affects their relationships with each other. Iwo Jima is the battle zone, a fight which exposes one and all to death of self or the buddy next to him. Each discovers that the danger of battle is beyond their control. The enemy’s resolve is a new experience and most frightening.

Not all return to life after war. Those few who do find their personal battles are not over. This presentation will grab your attention and hold your interest to the very end.