The Special Prisoner
   Jim Lehrer
  2000 Random House, NY USA
   ISBN: 0375503714


Retired Bishop Jim Quincy Watson had been a skilled pilot flying B-29s over Japan when he was shot down in 1945 & became a Prisoner of War. 50 years later he catches sight, in a Texas airport, of the commander of that POW Camp, apparently quite alive & well.

What happens then is an aftermath that is both redeeming & tragic. What would you do if you were to come face to face with your tormenter? With the man who had not only beaten your leg beyond repair, he had also kicked away your virility before you'd ever had a chance to experience it? What would you do if you carried with you a foul & furious rage that in no way was ameliorated by time? What would you do if your quarry denied & denied & denied & then, in an unguarded moment, revealed his true nature?

Jim Lehrer has written a humdinger of a read in The Special Prisoner! I could not put it down until the very last page was read. It bothered me, it scared me & it put my face right into the murky depths of the unspeakable cruelties men visit upon each other. Unlike wars in Europe, the Pacific war antagonist - Japan, did not abide by the same set of rules codified in the Geneva Convention. Part of the deep cultural schism between Oriental & Occidental morality is due to the way each culture comports itself with its prisoners.

It astonishes me that German & Italian POWs here in the States were treated better than Japanese- & African-American GIs. That the Japanese ideas about honor & worth dictated that death was more honorable than surrender - all & any POWs in their care were treated atrociously & red-haired, pale skinned Americans & Britons were treated the worse. Why? You'll have to read The Special Prisoner to find out.

This book is more than a survivor's story whose memories rage on close to the surface; it is more than a WWII story; it is more than a Good Guys vs Bad Guys: it is one hard, driving, inspired look into the maw of revenge, honor & danger. It is a daring story that has no happy ending; a sweaty, smelly & furiously paced story about a couple of placid men with terrible pasts; about tainted honor & vicious righteousness.

In the end, The Special Prisoner, recreates a terrible time in a terrible place & how the memories, always so close to the surface, come back to haunt us & one person's simple & dreadful efforts to right the wrong.

Profound, provocative & eminently readable, very well done indeed!

More from Jim Lehrer: Viva Max!; We Were Dreamers; Kick the Can; Crown Oklahoma; The Sooner Spy; Lost and Found; Short List; A Bus of My Own; Blue Hearts; Fine Lines; The Last Debate; White Widow & also reviewed Purple Dots.
(09/03/00)

Rebecca