The Reckoning
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Pete Banning, a well respected man, returns from the war to Clanton, Mississippi having served in the Philippines fighting the Japanese in WW2. He has a distinguished war record and acquired many medals for heroism and good leadership but suddenly one morning picks up his Colt 75 and shoots dead the local preacher who had been a good friend to the family during the 3 years he had been away and later presumed to be dead. He is arrested by the local sheriff and charged with the murder. The first part of the book deals with his time in prison up to his execution. During that time he refused to tell anybody why he did it and would only proclaim "I have nothing to Say"; the reason appearing to die with him.
The second part of the story deals with the war years and tells of the terrible things that Pete Banning encountered, the Bataam death march, his escape from the Japanese POW camp and guerrilla fighting in the mountains. He suffered terrible times, malaria, malnutrition and witnessed many atrocities. You are left to wonder whether he had had a mental breakdown; was it to do with his wife who had been placed into an asylum some time after his return from the war (before the war they were very happily married) having suffered a breakdown herself and why were his children and sister never allowed to visit her? There were so many unanswered questions. It all seemed quite sinister.
The third part of the book returns to the present with another court case pending when the lawyer for the victim's wife makes a large claim on the Banning estate which is strongly protested against by the immediate Banning family.
The reason 'why?' the preacher was murdered is eventually answered but you don't get to know the reason until almost the last page. It was a wonderful read and although the book is a work of fiction there are obviously a lot of true and gruesome facts incorporated into this story relating to the suffering of the phillipinos and american soldiers who had the bad luck to be caught and imprisoned by the 'nips'. There is a twist at the end too which I didn't see coming!
The author's note at the back of the book states that when he served two terms in the Mississippi Legislature he heard a story of two prominent men living in a small town in Mississippi in the 1930s . One killed the other for no discernible reason, and he never offered a clue as to why. Once convicted and facing death by hanging, he turned down an offer from the governor to have his death sentence commuted if only he would divulge a motive so this story is loosely based on that fact with much character embellishment.
The second part of the story deals with the war years and tells of the terrible things that Pete Banning encountered, the Bataam death march, his escape from the Japanese POW camp and guerrilla fighting in the mountains. He suffered terrible times, malaria, malnutrition and witnessed many atrocities. You are left to wonder whether he had had a mental breakdown; was it to do with his wife who had been placed into an asylum some time after his return from the war (before the war they were very happily married) having suffered a breakdown herself and why were his children and sister never allowed to visit her? There were so many unanswered questions. It all seemed quite sinister.
The third part of the book returns to the present with another court case pending when the lawyer for the victim's wife makes a large claim on the Banning estate which is strongly protested against by the immediate Banning family.
The reason 'why?' the preacher was murdered is eventually answered but you don't get to know the reason until almost the last page. It was a wonderful read and although the book is a work of fiction there are obviously a lot of true and gruesome facts incorporated into this story relating to the suffering of the phillipinos and american soldiers who had the bad luck to be caught and imprisoned by the 'nips'. There is a twist at the end too which I didn't see coming!
The author's note at the back of the book states that when he served two terms in the Mississippi Legislature he heard a story of two prominent men living in a small town in Mississippi in the 1930s . One killed the other for no discernible reason, and he never offered a clue as to why. Once convicted and facing death by hanging, he turned down an offer from the governor to have his death sentence commuted if only he would divulge a motive so this story is loosely based on that fact with much character embellishment.
