When Hell Struck Twelve

Billy Boyle World War II #14

by James R. Benn

The fourteenth Billy Boyle WWII mystery takes place in northern France during August of 1944.

Captain Billy Boyle is assigned to track down a French traitor, Bernard Fouch, a member of the French Resistance recently discovered to have been an informer. Fouch betrayed many members of his Resistance group who were subsequently tortured by the Gestapo and then killed or sent to concentration camps. Fouch now has information about an Allied campaign to recapture Paris from the Nazis and he is on the run to tell the Germans. The Resistance is out for blood, and they are hot on Fouch's trail. What they don't know is the plan was leaked on purpose, a ruse devised by a colonel to obscure the Allied army's real intentions to bypass Paris in a race to the German border. Now Billy and Kaz are assigned to the Resistance with orders to not let them capture Fouch: the deception campaign is too important. Playing a delicate game, the chase must be close enough to spur Fouch on and visible enough to insure the Germans trust Fouch's intentions

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Historical, World War II, Mystery Thriller, France

374 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 3, 2019

About the author

James R. Benn is the author of Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery, selected by Book Sense as one of the top five mysteries of 2006 and nominated for a Dilys Award. The First Wave was a Book Sense Notable title.
Benn is a librarian and lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAGGIE HOPE MADE ME DO IT!
This is my first Billy Boyle, recommended by esteemed historical fiction author Susan Elia MacNeal, who says she loves this mystery series.

TRACKING FRENCH TRAITOR
I can see why, as it captured my heart and imagination as Boyle, a US Army Detective, is tasked with following a French traitor leaking Allied documents to Nazis in Paris in August 1944.

TAUT NARRATIVE
The engaging Billy admirably counterbalances the recent flurry of WWII novels featuring female spies. The writing is taut, narrative gripping and insights penetrating into this critical time in history. A triumph! 5/5

Pub Date 03 Sep 2019.

Thanks to James R. Benn, Soho Press, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#WhenHellStruckTwelve #NetGalley

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest in the saga of CPT Billy Boyle and it's one of the most action filled, exciting, and suspenseful of the series. Unfortunately it's also a cliffhanger. Can't wait for the next one.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book in the Billy Boyle Series. This time, Billy and Kaz have to go after a traitor in the French resistance. This leads them to Paris, shortly before its liberation. We see the consequences of war in both Billy and Kaz. Billy, for example, finds his right hand trembling, which is one of the symptoms of PTSD. Of course, they did not really understand PTSD in those times and Billy stubbornly tries to suppress or hide this. We also see him taking methamphetamines to try to stay awake in his pursuit of the traitor. As before, I listened to the audiobook for this and it's enjoyable. One can hear from the narrator the feelings of urgency and anxiety Billy is experiencing. Normally, I would say it's okay to read these books as standalones or out of order. I mainly did that based on my local library's availability. However, this book ends with several issues unanswered, so I cannot wait to get to the next book.

[Bebe (Sarah) Brechner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another very well done, tightly executed, superbly plotted story by the best WWII mystery writer around. Readers have followed Benn's wonderfully developed, endearing character Billy Boyle, from his first days in the military in Europe, through many battles, murders, landscapes, intrigues, and horrors, on to this story, set in the weary, nightmarish post-D-Day, killing fields of France. The looming question of Paris - it's liberation or destruction, or both - surrounds this story. Benn again shows his impeccable research skills in illuminating the complex nature of the French during the occupation.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Billy Boyle and his partner Kaz are pulled out of a battle in Northern France to aid in a deception plan/sting for the liberation of Paris. After an American officer is murdered, the duo must tread their way through various partisan groups as their secrets become revealed.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 14th book in the Billy Boyle mystery series set during World War II. Publishes September 3, 2019 from Soho Press (Soho Crime).

5 stars! If I could give more, I would. This was a fantastic outing with Billy Boyle and his friends. Covers the period during the push toward Paris after D-Day, and the madness of the few days before the entry of Americans into Paris as the Germans flee. Scores to be settled. Betrayals to be repaid in kind. This is a story filled with high tension, with death around the corner, a high wire act played out under the influence of methamphetamines! Don't go much beyond page 275 if you have some place you need to be or something you need to do because you won't be able to stop until you've finished the book! My heart is still pounding!

Benn is such a good writer--great characters, lots of action, knows his history, makes everything come alive! What a pleasure to be back in the action of WWII in the hands of such a solid historian/writer. Accolades!

Thanks to the Soho Press for an advance copy. Picked it up, read about 10 pages and was totally hooked. Also loved the 'nod' to someone else's main character's family!

[Mike McKuras · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Set during World War II, James Benn’s combination of well written characters and a fascinating if terrible period of world history guarantee a terrific read. No matter how much you’ve read about the war you’ll always learn something new. Benn’s ability to take such huge subjects and let you see them through the eyes of Billy Boyle is a gift.

[Shirley Wetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captain Billy Boyle and his partner and friend Lieutenant Kazimierz are tasked with tracking down a traitor among the French Resistance as the Nazis and Allies march toward a major battle to free France. As always, the historical details are meticulous and seamlessly woven into the plot. The cameos of real people that always enrich the stories include General George Patton, young reporter Andy Rooney, and the boisterous and colorful writer Ernest Hemingway. I say this after each book:
"this is the best one yet." This time I say it again. It will be hard to top When Hell Struck Twelve, but I predict Mr. Benn will manage.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting & heartbreaking. In spite of the heavy subject matter of war, there are so many things about this series I enjoy—especially the period dialog among the Europeans as Billy teaches them American slang. This ad venture ends somewhat in a cliff-hanger. I’m glad I have the whole Benn backlist to binge so I don’t have to wait a year to find out what happens :)

[Bruce Perrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Well-Crafted Wartime Backdrop for a Somewhat Clumsy Mystery

Author James Benn’s depiction of the events leading up to and during the Liberation of Paris—the backdrop for When Hell Struck Twelve—is outstanding. The Germans are retreating from Normandy after their defeat at the Battle for Hill 262. On the Battle’s 20th anniversary, President Eisenhower said that "… no other battlefield presented such a horrible sight of death, hell, and total destruction." Benn’s description in the opening chapters of the book does that statement justice. As the Germans retreat toward Paris after the defeat, a power vacuum is created, letting factions within the French resistance settle old scores. It’s not enough that the French are killing Germans and vice versa; the French are also killing each other. Our main characters, US Army detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz (Kaz) find themselves entangled in this purgatory, witnessing the horrors of war from tank and gun battles on the streets of Paris to clandestine torture and murder in backrooms and deserted buildings. The psychological costs are also felt as our heroes develop mysterious headaches and uncontrollable muscle tremors. It’s a dark, brutal, unrelenting world compellingly drawn by Benn.

This stellar setting provides a backdrop to a mystery that, unfortunately, feels contrived and convenient. The Allied army leaks plans for the liberation of Paris to a French traitor, while actually, they plan to skirt the city and trap the Germans there. But rather than letting the Germans believe the traitor has succeeded in his espionage, Billy, Kaz, and the French raise a ruckus in their pursuit of the man. As the author notes, that reaction gives the stolen plans credibility, but it also makes them worthless. The Allies would just go to Plan B for the liberation of the city now that the theft is known; that is, unless they had no time to change plans. But they have time and in fact do change their minds, deciding to take Paris rather than bypassing it. Of course, the French traitor would have only been allowed to steal fake plans, right? Not so quick. Apparently, the Allies seeded their ruse with the real (and only?) plans for liberating Paris, because now they want to use them. There is apparently no Plan B as Billy and Kaz are sent off to stop the traitor who has been on the run for at least a day. He could have made copies. He could have talked to any number of people, both in person and on the phone. Other than providing a reason for Billy and Kaz to enter Paris (and the story to continue), why would the Allies do such a thing? There’s another change of direction in this basic storyline and several more bizarre coincidences that keep the mystery feeling fantastical, rather than real to the very end.

With a bit of work on the plot, Billy and Kaz could have ended up in the middle of the Liberation of Paris in ways that were both historically consistent and logically plausible. But as the book is written, the fiction felt like a somewhat clumsy add-on.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: The ground was a carpet of gray corpses.

Premise/plot: Billy Boyle stars in his fourteenth mystery in When Hell Struck Twelve. Big Mike, Kaz, Billy, and Diana are all in France. (Diana in Paris, still occupied by the Nazis.) Billy and friends are headed towards Paris in pursuit of a traitor and murderer who is in cahoots with the Germans. Many lives are in danger. There are murders, but Billy is not taking time to investigate and solve. He’s hunting one man and can’t let anything distract him. This one is definitely more of a war story, action-packed at that.

My thoughts: This book should have a warning. This book has NO ENDING. It just ends in a complete mess of a cliffhanger. I hate, hate, hate cliffhangers in mystery series. Mystery novels should have endings and resolutions. War stories and action series (think thrillers) maybe cliffhangers work...but I imagine most readers will want to yell at this ending.

My advice is to read this one while you have number 15 on hold or preorder.

[Kaitlyn Dunnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinarily, I don't choose to read mysteries set during wartime, but there are a couple of authors who are such good writers that they prompt me to make an exception. One is Charles Todd, with the Bess Crawford series set during World War I. The other is James R. Benn, who writes the World War II Billy Boyle mysteries. I'm not happy about the semi-cliffhanger ending of this one, which leaves the fate of a secondary continuing character up in the air, but otherwise, as usual, the storytelling kept me turning pages to see what would happen next. I especially like the way Benn mixes what really happened with what could have been going on behind the scenes. I just wish I didn't have to wait a whole year for the next one.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always eager to read the newest Billy Boyle story. As is sometimes true of Benn's works, this is more war story than mystery. The guilty party becomes evident about halfway through the book, and then the focus changes to tracking down the culprit in the chaos of pre-liberation Paris.

Benn writes well with great historical details, and by this point in the series, I'm attached to the characters. Be forewarned: the book ends with a cliff-hanger. Review based on an ARC received through NetGalley.

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! Billy, Kaz and author James Benn have done it again. This is a fast-paced and engaging mystery built around the liberation of Paris. The only drawback, and it is a minor one, is Benn's habit of inserting real life figures into the narrative. It is too cute by far and sometimes makes the story seem more like the movie Zelig than really adding to the piece. I wish he would dial this plot trick (and it is simply a trick) back and instead continue to build the narrative around the characters he has created. I got this copy as an ARC at ALA - the last free copy remaining at the Soho Crime booth - and read it in three days!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense, fast=paced World War II novel. I've mentioned before that I don't know a lot of the details of WWII, only the broad strokes. This series has led me to look into specific battles/theaters of the war. The characters are engaging, and, over the course of the series, I've become invested in their individual stories. Benn left us with a cliff-hanger this time! I look forward to the next novel in the series.

[Donna L Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

As usual, Benn puts you there where the action is. His characters are believable and the story moving. Highly recommend this and each of the Billy Boyle books.

[Dolf Patijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billy Boyle is getting tired and weary and maybe James R. Benn is too. In my opinion, this is not one of the better Billy Boyle stories. It's a bit all over the place. Like the previous book, the story is set in France and the French resistance plays an even bigger role. The book ends with a cliffhanger and even though I didn't like it as much as the previous books, it is still a good read. I'm looking forward to the next Billy Boyle.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

B: Another excellent entry in the series which blends history with mystery. This is the liberation of Paris. Billy’s team is thinning and showing the strain of years at war.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant story as always. I need to know what happens next to Diana, Kaz and Billy. I loved this one and am excited for the next to come

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adventure story, staged during the Allied invasion of France in 1944, features US Army Detective Billy Boyle (a distant relative of Dwight Eisenhower) and his Polish friend, Kaz, as they investigate the daring murders of a French resistance fighter and an American GI. The murderer escapes with the secret plans to recapture Paris from the Germans. As a result, there are American and German soldiers and French partisans of varying political stripes floating in and around Paris. Also, there is plenty of military action that Billy and friends manage to avoid and, sometimes, participate in. Benn has done his research, and there are tons of historical figures that are woven into the story, including Patton, Eisenhower, Hemingway, Andy Rooney and others. The "mystery" part of this book sometimes takes second place to the rest of the chaos that is a natural part of any military engagement. The killer is identified relative early but the real heart of the book is the battle between the partisans and the Germans, leading to the end of the occupation in Paris. The main characters are well drawn, Hemingway comes across as a jerk (a common assessment by those who knew him in Europe), and the dialogue feels authentic. Worth a read!

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benn continues to produce a remarkable series, but this novel had an emotional depth rarely seen before. Billy and Kaz, after two years of witnessing the worst war has to offer are pushed beyond their limits physically and emotionally, in the days leading up to and including the liberation of Paris. The depth of their friendship is poignant. Traitors from within and an unexpected help from an enemy along with devastating loss made the novel impossible to put down. Billy breaks surrounded by the exultant crowds welcoming the Allies into Paris. I can’t remember any of Benn’s Billy Boyle novels leaving us with a cliffhanger but this one does, which shocked me knowing what comes next is twelve months away. Read it anyway.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE, the 14th novel in author James R. Benn's Billy Boyle World War II mystery series, finds Boyle and Kaz in the midst of a firefight when the book opens.

It's a fast-paced opening which is a theme that runs throughout the story. Billy and Kaz barely get time to draw a breath at a rest throughout the book.

Once the firefight is over, they find themselves called back to their current HQ where they are clued into a plan to draw the German army into a defensive posture. But the plan is a feint with the real aim to draw out a traitor to the Allied Forces. Before the trap can be sprung however, things immediately go wrong when two people end up dead.

The traitorous party is quickly unveiled and soon Billy finds himself with chasing down the traitor to retrieve stolen plans the Allies plan to use against the Germans...or is he?

If that's not enough, the investigative duo soon find themselves with infiltrating Nazi-occupied and controlled France. It's the heart of their current European headquarters and the Germans (plus their multitude of collaborators amongst the French citizenry) will want their heads on a platter if they catch Billy and Kaz.

As the stakes rise in their mission to retrieve the stolen plans or at least catch the traitor but as new allies are made and/or discovered, the plans change and Billy and Kaz find themselves facing professional and personal crises that threaten not only their survival but the very success of the war plans.

While I did quite enjoy the book, there were an awful lot of groups to keep straight amongst the French resistance fighters and the opposing French collaborators. At times I wasn't sure I was certain of the who's who of them all.

That said, the way the author Benn works in some excellent real-life historical figures into bits of the narrative continue to entertain. Of course, those are just small bits. The bigger story with Billy and Kaz was incredibly rich with detail and fraught with danger. In fact, it is the first time (outside of being caught in actual battles) where I could at least momentarily suspend disbelief and see that one or both of the characters might not make it out.

The way James R. Benn weaves in characters readers have come to know and love and then drops them into overwhelming danger makes you want to scream "How could you?!" until you remember, this is what WWII was like and you feel a little silly for wanting an easy path for the characters.

What's more, the way things wrap up in this story leaves you with a desire to immediately rush out and grab the next book in the series because there are so many questions that beg answers...even though the main plot is wrapped up rather nicely in the end.

WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE is a really good read that not only provides plenty of military action and detective investigatory work but sets things up in such a way that the characters are sure to be that much more forever changed by their experiences.

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been about two years since I read my last Billy Boyle book. I started in the middle of the series, liked it and then read as many as I could find. The premise is a Boston detective solving mysteries in WW2. But the actuality is the Boston detective involved in a lot more than just your average murder, he usually partakes in some of the historical events as well.

The writing is easy to read and follow. I got into this book and the setting right away despite being away from the characters for a long time. The book is character based and revolves mainly around Captain Boyle and his sidekick, a Polish baron, Kaz. They are loosely attached to the supreme allied HQ SHAEF.

Spoilers and summary ahead:

It's late stage war and the Allies are getting close to Paris. They don't actually want to liberate Paris, they just want to pretend to, to try to get the German army to position as many troops as possible to defend Paris so they can surround them. So they hold a meeting to present this fake news to the many French resistance groups knowing that there is a traitor there. They want the traitor to pass on this fake news to the Germans.

At the meeting, one of the French resistance leaders and a US translator are killed by the traitor who absconds with the fake map. Boyle and Kaz have to pretend to catch him while letting him get away.

However de Gaulle insists on liberating Paris for French honor so Boyle now has to catch the traitor for real. This leads him and Kaz into Paris where the reader is given front row seats to the chaos that is the last days of the German occupation (this is the history part). And it was quite informative for me as I had never read any book on this. There is a small subplot where Boyle has to take many meth pills in order to stay awake while chasing the traitor.

Overall quite a decent historical fiction book due to the background. The characters are well fleshed out and draws me into the book much more than solving the murders. I am now reading the next book to tie up the loose ends of this one.
troops as possible to shorten the war. So the plan is to make a big fuss about

[Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical fiction is good when the author draws out small pieces of history that most people likely wouldn’t remember unless they were part of it. Good historical fiction gives me insight into some of those events and, ideally, shows how people lived in that time and place. Really good historical fiction blends reality with the story. I always have to remind myself that Pug Henry did not, in fact, ride with the RAF on a bombing run over Berlin to inform FDR of the British spirit as depicted in “Winds of War”.

Been does a good job using small events during World War to weave his mystery. This is book #25 in the series and the Allies are moving towards Paris. The Polish Armies stand on Hill 262, liberation of Paris, and operations by the French Forces of the Interior resistance group are the anchoring events of this story. I'm not sure how many books highlight the Poles contribution to the Allied war effort so I enjoyed the insight provided.

Captain Boyle has to help implant a deception of Allied plans that the Nazis accept and, as the story unfolds, solve an unexpected murder.

This story reunites a few characters from previous books in the series and begins the process of wrapping things up as the conclusion of the war approaches. Of course, the book concluded with the makings of book #26.

Good, but not great is how I’d describe the story. It follows the same recipe as others in the series with similar dialogue. There are sections that give the reader a clearly picture of what war was like but I’m starting to tire of the chatter between Boyle, Kaz, and Big Mike. Perhaps the dialogue has evolved as it does between close friends but I want something richer in my stories.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When Hell Struck Twelve" is author James Benn's 14th in his "Billy Boyle" mystery series. Thirteen of the novels are set in the European Theater (one is set in the Pacific Theater and inexplicably features a young naval LT-JG named John Kennedy) and the reader can gain a lot of info about WW2. The "hook" on the characters and setting is that Billy Boyle, a former Boston cop, is not a regular soldier, but is an investigator to distant cousin to a general named Eisenhower. He has a team, including a wealthy Polish prince/soldier and a fellow cop from the US, and together they are sent into the field to solve crimes.

"When Hell Struck Twelve" is set in northern France two months after D-Day. Crawling in the area seem to be about almost every group involved in the war. There are French partisans, German SS troops, Allied soldiers, all seemingly around the corner and forever skirmishing with each other. Down the Seine lies unliberated Paris and everybody's waiting for the Allies to reach the city. However, senior command is thinking about not heading south to Paris but rather full east into Germany. There may - or may not - be maps and documents which have gone missing and Ike sends Boyle and his crew to try to find it. It's a bit confusing but no worse than his previous books.

James Benn writes a good mystery set in war time. He's very detailed in his description of the politics and battles; and to read his series is to learn about WW2. This 14th new book is another good addition to the series.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this the 14th book of the series, Billy and Kaz are once again sent into a job that is more like a suicide mission then a mystery. General Eisenhower (Uncle Ike to Billy) needs him to find a traitor and stop him. Harding and Big Mike aren't happy about what Billy has to do, but orders are orders.

The geniuses at Counter-Espionage have created a situation that will make the Germans think that General LeClerc and the Free French are heading to Paris to free the Capital. In reality they really plan on going around Paris and will catch the Germans by surrounding the city. They bring together group of maquis and resistants and tell them all about the route to Paris and how they can help DeGaulle. They even create a phony map. They know there is a double agent among the Underground, and they want him to give the information to the Germans. The agent steals the map and Kaz and Billy are to chase him (but not catch him) to make it look authentic.

Unfortunately, DeGaulle and LeClerc have decided that they are not going to by-pass Paris and the routes they are taking are the phony ones that the Double Agent has stolen. So guess who now has to catch the double agent and recapture the map? It's Rhetorical. We know what will happen in the end, but it ain't going to be easy.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

#14 in the former Boston cop Billy Boyle WW II mystery series opening in August,1944 with Billy still near the front lines in France is assigned to track down a French traitor a member of the French Resistance recently discovered to have been an informer. He has to be stopped as he has the plans for the Allied attack on Paris. As usual there is much more to this assignment than this. Billy also has to deal with the increasing wartime mental and physical stress he is working under which results in his mental and physical collapse at the end of of this story.

Billy is in very early 20's, Boston Irish with a cocky attitude and had just made detective when the war started. His parents used their connections to keep him out of combat by getting him a staff job on cousin's Dwight Eisenhower's staff who at the war's start was based in Washington, D.C. Ike is quickly transferred to London when Billy joins his staff. Billy's goal: stay out of any combat situation and get back to Boston. His investigative style is to poke a stick into things to see what happens. He is impertinent, has a Boston America Irish anti British huge chip on his shoulder, doesn't like superior officers, tends to disobeys orders, takes himself off on his own personal tasks without considering ramifications putting himself in serious situations, and, since he is hero, these personal tasks work out for the best.

[Gail Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, I hate when a book ends like this. There are still quite a few unanswered questions...but then maybe that's because that's how life is. Meanwhile Billy and Kaz are recuperating from their latest adventure, so that's good. :-) This time the Boston cop and his sidekick Polish Baron are in France just before the liberation of Paris. They need to find the person who stole the fake plans for the entry into Paris --which actually may be the true plans. Perhaps the most awful scene in this book is right out of history: a battle in Falaise Gap where an estimated 10,000 Germans died and an additional 50,000 were captured. As Billy's Uncle Ike says, "It was literally possible to walk for hundreds of yards at a time, stepping on nothing but dead and decaying flesh". Then there are the moments where several well-known journalists show up--Ernie Pyle and Andy Rooney and even Hemingway. I enjoy meeting these folks I have heard of in the Billy's books and I enjoy learning about World War II. But most of all I love Billy and Kaz and am glad they're still around for another adventure.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 14th book in the series. I can't pick a favorite but this may be the most complex. It h as the most moving parts! We have the setting of the war, the closing the Falaise pocket and the liberation of Paris.
Warning: Some Spoilers may be inferred or implied
The Spanish Civil War is used a back drop to set up many of the conflicts between rival French Resistance groups. This gives a depth the conflict and makes all these puzzle parts spin even faster. Kaz is taking nitro pills and always has a headache, Sam Harding has an overly complicated scheme that puts everyone on dangers (except him), Billy gets some german Pervitin and over does it. We have many murders, many towns, many characters and many motives.
At one time I wondered if this was the series end and Billy would not make it. I also seriously wonder about the fate of Diane Seaton and Kaz once or twice.
There are a few loose ends. I wonder how quickly the next book picks up.

[Jean Kolinofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billy Boyle and Kaz must intercept a traitor in occupied Paris as the allies are approaching the city. With liberation approaching, the people are striking back at the Germans and there is fighting throughout the city. With no rest and under constant pressure, this assignment is taking its’ toll on Billy and Kaz. Health issues take Kaz out of the action and Billy is given pills to keep him going but they come with warnings of addiction. To keep going and complete his mission, he ignores the warnings. A betrayal that causes the loss of someone close to Billy pushes him over the edge.

James R. Benn’s series has taken the reader through the major events of WWII, following Billy to England, North Africa, Italy and finally the D-Day invasion and the progress through France. He has covered the suffering and the toll that war takes on the military and civilians in combat areas. This is a series that appeals to those with an interest in WWII.