A gripping adventure with a
deeply felt personal bent
By Frank Pizzoli
In RESCUE RUN: Capt. Jake Rogers’ Daring Return to Occupied Europe, award-winning investigative reporter and foreign correspondent John Winn Miller expertly utilizes his first-hand experience to construct a truly chilling tale.
As this sequel tagged as The Peggy C Saga, Volume 2, readers do not have to read the first book to enjoy the second one, although the main action takes place between characters established in the first book. A summary of the prequel is included for those who haven’t read it and for those who would like a refresher. I was lucky enough to read both.
We enter the story with the usually aloof Capt. Jake Rogers orchestrating an elaborate war-time rescue involving Nazis and occupied European territories. He finds himself back in the North Atlantic commanding a newly-built US Liberty ship.
With a sea-bound disaster shipwrecking Rogers and his crew in Ireland, the story takes a frighteningly personal turn. His father-in-law has been snatched up by the Nazis and is being readied for deportation to a concentration camp.
Rogers’ devious plan provokes questions of trust during wartime that involves shadow schemes and deceptions created in order to achieve the greater good. And it makes for a daring rescue. The book’s opening scene is a torpedo sounding out its hissing sound in search of its target.
A singular quality of Miller’s writing is that he deliciously develops original characters and provides context to the story by including numerous historical characters and references such as the monstrous Nazi Klaus Barbie and the heroic Charles De Gaulle who led the Free French Forces against Germany and helped restore democracy in France.
His descriptions of characters reflect what iconic author Gore Vidal said of his actual historical characters in his historical books: he stuck to what they actually said about events at the time. But with his own flair.
RESCUE RUN is a successful effort to personalize, dramatize, and illustrate the challenges involved when life’s events present us with decisions that must be made in the face of reality versus our stated moral standards. It’s true: sometimes we just have to do what we have to do no matter what we’re faced with. Historical adventure readers have much to admire in this exciting second installment.