Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Sinner’s Cross: A Novel of the Second World War by Miles Watson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for SINNER’S CROSS: A Novel of the Second World War by Miles Watson.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links.

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Book Description

In 1944, Sinner’s Cross was just a point on a map: a muddy track through shell-torn German woods. Worthless…except to the brass on both sides of the war, who are willing to sacrifice their best men to have it. Men like Halleck, a tough-as-nails Texan who traded driving cattle for driving soldiers; Breese, a phenomenal actor who can play any part but hero; and Zenger, the Nazi paratrooper who discovers Hitler’s Germany is a lousy place to grow a conscience. Their lives and deaths will intersect at the place called Sinner’s Cross.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48591252-sinner-s-cross

Sinner’s Cross: A Novel of the Second World War

Author: Miles Watson

Genre: War Fiction
Print length: 284 pages
Suitable for young adults? No
Trigger warnings: Realistically reflects war conditions: graphic violence; death; physical and emotional suffering

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SINNER’S CROSS by Miles Watson is a historical fiction book set in 1944 during the Hurtgen Forest campaign in WWII. There was no tactical advantage to this campaign and yet it was the longest campaign fought and the least successful. This is an amazing, dark, gritty, realistic look at war through the eyes of the three main characters.

This book is a depiction of the horrors of battle in graphic detail following three main characters; the battle-hardened Sgt. Halleck, a Texas cowboy and Lt. Breese, fresh from college, who wanted an acting career, but ended up in a meat-grinder field of combat and then there is the Nazi Major Zengy, Parachute Battalion. Their lives and deaths all end up intersecting at Sinner’s Cross.

This story’s main characters are diverse and yet the war brings them all down to basic survival and a kill or be killed mentality at Sinner’s Cross. But the author has also written into his characters thoughts of duty versus doubt and the overall conflict over the senseless loss of life over useless ground.

I feel as though the author has given me a glimpse into a small part of the past lives of my uncles and father that they never talked about except to other veterans. I have watched the movies “The Battle of the Bulge” and “Saving Private Ryan”, but somehow reading this book was even more intimate and chilling. I did have to put this book down a couple of times due to the intense feelings it provoked, but I also could not stop reading it because I had to know the outcome of each character.

I highly recommend this book for its exceptionally realistic depiction of war on the average man and the thought provoking motives of decisions made throughout.

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About the Author

Miles Watson was first published at the age of 17 and has never looked back. He is now an eleven-time award winning author of three novels, a short story collection and several novellas, and has vowed to write in every genre before he’s finished. When not at the typewriter, he has worked as everything from a law enforcement officer to a Hollywood make-up effects artist, and divides his time between the West and the East Coast.

As well as Awards for Sinner’s Cross, listed above, Miles Watson has also won multiple awards and citations for his other books:

CAGE LIFE