The Normandy Club
By Bill Walker
A Review by Abby Lane
A German blitz brings war to America. Can two imperfect heroes erase an alternate history to restore the past?
When nine old men change the name of their club, a suspicious member burglarizes the office only to learn the impossible: one man plans to reshape World War II history by traveling into the past. The resultant journey shifts time, achieving horrific results: a German blitz conquers lands beyond Europe and warfare comes to America.
Years later, a Nazi regime occupies Avalon, formerly known as the United States. There’s no hope for minorities in this alternate future, but when Jack recalls the past, a partnership with Denise Malloy ensues and they race through difficult circumstances to correct the wrong. Threatened by SS officers and a man named Krueger, they’re soon traveling through time. But can they wrestle history into its proper alignment?
The Normandy Club has a cunning and original premise. Presented through Jack and Denise and Wiley and Chessman, the alternate history delivers a thrilling race through time, reawakening past events in calculated and warlike ways. Although the novel is fictional, the narrative delivers true-to-life historical perspectives through believable characterization and authentic settings.
I connected with this suspenseful novel in a personal way as I’ve journeyed to Auschwitz and a once German-occupied Poland. I’ve visited an internment camp, and an underground shelter well-depicted in the book. While the novel doesn’t delve deeper into atrocities, preferring to name rather than describe, the author fires the imagination with enough words strokes to have effectively hooked this reader early in the story. You’ll want to know whether Jack and Denise escape the powers who pursue them.
The Normandy Club delivers on its promises. It’s perfect for history buffs and those who love political suspense novels.
Abby Lane is a Reedsy Discovery Reviewer. She received this novel in exchange for an honest review. The original review was published on June 14, 2021 and can be viewed here.
Abby Lane 