Once More unto the Breach

In August 1944, Welsh sheep farmer and WWI vet Rhys Gravenor, the narrator of this lackluster thriller from Holloway (A Thin Dark Line and one other romance suspense novel as Emma Elliot), arrives in Paris on the trail of his missing son, Owain. Owain left home in the early days of WWII after Rhys called him a coward for refusing to enlist in the military. In Paris, Rhys meets American Charlotte “Charlie” Dubois, who was studying at the Sorbonne when the war caught up with her and she volunteered for the Ambulance Field Service. Charlie joins Rhys on his travels across France and into the Alps. Despite Charlie’s denials that she possesses some knowledge of Owain, which Rhys is sure she has, the two develop a bond. Eventually, Rhys discovers that Owain was a war hero and hopes to be reunited with him to express a father’s pride. A little tension is introduced once it becomes clear that someone else is looking for Owain and is prepared to pry information from him by any means necessary. The ending is disappointing in its predictability. Fans of historical fiction with a light mystery element will best appreciate this effort. (May)