I loved this book before I even started reading. It has a nice heft to it, as if it were printed on really nice paper. For a book lover, that is a lovely thing.
Captain Billy Boyle gets no time to rest before he and his cohort Big Mike are sent on separate B 17s to the Russian Front. An American and a Russian have been murdered. Billy and Big Mike are to get to Poltava in the Ukraine as quickly as possible to solve this crime, with the Russians heavily preferring an American be found guilty.
It's no long cross country flight dozing on the plane for Billy, though. His plane is part of a large group of Flying Fortresses on a bombing run. They've targets along the way over Germany and Billy, though inexperienced, is manning an anti-aircraft gun.
You get a front seat in the plane with these men as they try to hit their targets, avoiding flak and shooting at attacking craft. It's a super exciting opening to the story.
I, who used to watch "war movies" as a teen, loved the movie and television show 12 O'Clock High.
Reading Road of Bones brought it all back.
On the way to Poltava, even though they were over Russian ground, Billy and Big Mike's planes are attacked and Big Mike's goes down. Five parachutes were counted leaving the plane, not the entire crew. Billy is horrified and has to be certain, for his own sanity, that Big Mike was one of them.
Once at Poltava, he demands that a search be made for his compatriots. He gets little response from the Russian Officers who merely demand he begin his investigation immediately.
Poltava Airbase
Adding to his frustration is that he's assigned a Russian partner in the investigation, his old nemesis Kiril Sidirov. I have not read the previous Billy Boyle novel Sidorov is in, but I must find it. What a fascinating character he is.
He's spent time on the titular Road of Bones since Billy saw him. It's a vast expanse of road in Siberia built by hand and littered with the bones of thousands who have died working on the Road.
Billy was apparently responsible for Sidirov being sent to Siberia, so the ruination that is the man before him begins to prey on his conscience as they work together.
Billy makes progress on the investigation but there are so many blockades in the way of finding the truth, most from the Russian Officers who insist they find the killer right away.
Testing the limits of everyone's patience is what Billy does. Somehow he gains a seat on an outgoing aircraft to interview a man who may have witnessed something and then been made to disappear. He hopes to find out what happened to Big Mike and his surviving crew as it's in the general direction Billy will be flying.
Shockingly, Billy is riding in a two seater plane with one of the famous Night Witches. They're an Russian All Female Squadron who drop bombs on targets from their small planes with their engines off, gliding in towards the targets. Billy gets to be the navigator who drops the bombs.
Despite all the wondrous action, the time spent at the airbase investigating is a grim one. Paranoia, fear, despair and deprivation are the daily routine here. The grip of it holds the reader, and you might begin to wonder if Billy or anyone will leave the place alive.
Great story, exciting history, characters you won't forget.
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