Publishers Weekly
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In his latest WWII novel, Robbins powerfully integrates the theme of racial bigotry from Scorched Earth with the successful formula of his previous three combat novels (The End of War, etc.). The 688th Truck Battalion is part of the famed Red Ball Express, which struggles to supply the fast-moving combat following D-Day as American forces fight through the French hedgerows and villages toward Paris. In recounting the battalion's heroic saga, Robbins's tale unfolds from several perspectives-that of Ben Kahn, an aging Jewish army chaplain from Pittsburgh, who fought as a doughboy in the trenches in WWI; Joe Amos, a young, black, college-educated truck driver; and "White Dog," a shadowy, corrupt downed B-17 pilot profiteering on the black market in German-occupied Paris. Bolstered by desperate hope he might find his son-a B-17 pilot shot down over France-Kahn lands on Omaha Beach five days after D-Day and hitches a ride to the front on a GI two-and-a-half ton Jimmy (GMC truck) with Amos. Both men are quickly seasoned by the horrors of war as Kahn heads for a showdown in Paris and Amos makes sergeant and finds romance with a Frenchwoman after shooting down a German plane. Although this isn't quite up to the standard of Robbins's best work-it's occasionally slowed by overwriting and repetition-it's a fine effort from an ambitious storyteller. Agent, Tracy Fisher at William Morris. (Jan. 4) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal
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In the months following the Normandy invasion of 1944, 6000 trucks and 23,000 men (the Red Ball Express) shuttled hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies between the beachheads and the front lines. Without these supplies, the Allied advance would have stopped short; the war, brutal enough as it was, would have been longer and even more costly. The heroes of Robbins's (The End of War) novel are neither the generals nor the front-line soldiers. Instead, they include a driver on the Red Ball Express who wants fiercely to fight on the front lines but is denied the opportunity because he's black and a burnout army rabbi who cannot perceive a caring God in the horror that surrounds him. Except for the last 50 pages, this plot device works, especially when Robbins describes the everyday grind of his protagonists' lives. Overall, a commendable though not essential addition to the literature of World War II; recommended for general collections.-David Keymer, Modesto, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Best-selling author Robbins (War of the Rats) once again provides a gripping tale of one of the "greatest generation's" shining moments-World War II-and proves himself to be a master of historical fiction. He focuses on the often overlooked and much under-appreciated area of logistics (supply), e.g., ammunition, gas, clothing, weapons, without which the war machine would come to a halt. By focusing on an average African American who drives a truck because he isn't allowed to be a foot soldier and on a Jewish rabbi who happens to be an Army chaplain attached to a hard-luck infantry division, Robbins shows the listener a different side of the struggle. His characters are multi-dimensional and well developed, and the performance of award winner George Guidall is outstanding. Highly recommended.-Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In the seven months after Omaha Beach, a lot of WWII was in the hands of the wild and crazy guys who drove the Red Ball Express. Supplies. The hard-charging American armies chasing the Germans east needed everything: bullets, gas, medicine, rations, shoelaces—and it was up to Joe Amos and his truck-jockey buddies to "red ball" the stuff to the front lines wherever the front lines happened to be. It's through the precociously perceptive eyes of Joe Amos Biggs, barely 20, from rural Danville, Virginia, African-American (as were most of those buddies) that we watch much of the story unfold. But certainly not all. Sharing the burden—and differing as sharply from Joe Amos's as they do from one another's—are two additional points of view. Captain Ben Kahn, army chaplain, a rabbi, is a veteran of WWI. No rabbi back then but a murderously proficient infantryman, he'd played a savage part in the bloody battles, a self-acknowledged killing machine. It's the gore on his hands that turned him toward God and the desperate hope of redemption. Now, tirelessly, bitterly, "the old soldier in him " contends with the rabbi—the victories short-lived and alternating. And then there's the enigma they call Chien Blanc, the heroic bomber pilot who is also an unregenerate black-marketeer. Shot down, he'd chosen to sneak into German-occupied Paris, where he'd made a good thing out of chronic deprivation and pervasive misery. Is he the one Rabbi Kahn—for reasons as complex as they are compelling—has been searching for? The war goes on, and, despite its gargantuan proportions, the three manage to connect, peripherally and yet with such shattering impact. Once again, Robbins (Last Citadel, 2003, etc.)—emerging as the Homer of WWII—re-creates the mighty drama in all its deadly beauty. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.