Book Reviews – RH Kohno aka Robert H Kono

Eye of the Star
Book Reviews

I ENJOY READING MYSTERIES AND CRIME STORIES. EYE OF THE STAR BY R.H. KOHNO WAS BOTH OF THESE. IT HELD MY ATTENTION AND KEPT ME GUESSING. IT WAS A FAST READ WITHOUT BEING TOO FAST. THE CHARACTERS WERE WELL DEVELOPED AND THE SCENARIOS PRESENTED WERE WELL THOUGHT OUT AND CONNECTED. A GOOD READ!

Eye of the Star is a well written thriller with engaging characters and an interesting plot. The book is a thriller - a search to uncover a terrorist plot - and has an interesting 'psychic' twist, making this novel unique in the world of thriller books. The author uses dialogue well and makes you feel like you are right there with the characters as they search for the terrorists, and he also connects the reader emotionally to the characters through his writing. Overall, a good read if you like thrillers/mystery, and even though it's written about a very normal place in the USA, if you like a bit of interesting science fiction added to the storyline.

Eye of the Star by R.H. Kono is the first book in a psychic thriller series. The author introduces readers to a cop by the name of Jim Sato and a psychic by the name of Gilda Dobrowski. They’ve worked a case together before, but what they are about to find themselves immersed in is more than what they have dealt with before and will push them to their limits. Eye of the Star is an engaging psychic thriller that pits a cop and a psychic against a man intent on spreading terror and fear. Sergei is a mystery being/voice in the ether who reaches out to Gilda with the twisted promise of death and destruction to come. Gilda reaches out to Jim in the hopes that he will be able to help her. Jim is reeled into the web of danger and intrigue as he must work with Gilda in an attempt to get ahead of Sergei inorder to thwart his attempts at bringing destruction and raining down terror on the United States. While this storyline focuses on the threat that Sergei poses to the characters and the world, I like that the author brings other aspects to the story as well. Jim is an American, born and raised, but because of his appearance he’s judged and harassed. I can’t help but feel for him as he deals with prejudices from other individuals all around him. I like how realistic the characters are overall. Jim’s wife deals with her own issues of being insecure because of Gilda. But she’s not the only one. Jim has to battle with his own issues behind his wife’s ex who just so happens to be close at hand, and more than eager to swoop in should he think that Judy needs some comfort. There is a lot going on in this book and that makes it hard to put down. Sergei is playing a game of psychic cat and mouse with Jim and Gilda. Then Jim and Gilda have the police and the FBI hunting them because they don’t believe that the information that they are acquiring is truly on the up and up. Jim and Gilda are trying to head Sergei off from accomplishing his goals, and you can really see and feel the stress that they must be under the whole time as they strive to save lives. I read the second book in this series first, and so I found it rather refreshing to be able to come back and get a taste for how things begin, so to speak, with this series. The author points out that there was an initial case of where these two characters meet. I’d be interested to read that story if there is one. I think it’d be interesting to learn how they first crossed paths. I’m rating this book 5 out of 5 stars. The storyline is well done and the author creates a good sense of drama and intrigue throughout the novel.

The StarMind Alert
Book Reviews

The Starmind Alert is a psychic thriller that takes readers across the world as two psychics work together with a secret government organization to bring down a dangerous individual intent on bringing constant fear and terror to Americans no matter where they live, but especially in the United States. The author brings together Jim Sato and Gilda Dobrowski to pursue this dangerous man and end his reign of terror and stop his evil plans from coming to fruition. The Starmind Alert is the second book in this series, though that wasn't evident from the blurb. I was a bit taken aback when I kept getting references to these characters having come together prior to now, and how they defeated another individual intent on spreading terror and fear. I felt that there were pieces of the story that I was missing as the characters interact with others who seem to be familiar to them. The first couple of chapters, at least, were a bit of a struggle for me. There is a lot of references to the previous situations in the first book and I had nothing to really reference back to. The relationships have already been established and I felt like I was missing quite a bit. Then there is a lot of dialogue/word usage that honestly was a bit hard to follow and truly understand. There is quite a bit of technical word usage that the average reader really isn't going to understand without a dictionary handy, so it was hard for me to get into the story at this point. Once I got past the first few chapters the story really gains traction and engaged me. The pace picks up and begins the real drama of the two main characters working together to gain enough information to learn as much as possible about Ahmad to bring him down. The pieces come together and I like how Gilda is the one the author chooses to focus on with the psychic abilities and the connection to the main source/computer. This brings in a nice bit of science fiction element to the story. I like how the author has the characters adapting when necessary to their situations and surroundings when they notice that things aren't in the best for them. This builds the international spy element and further encourages the thriller element as well. There is a lot going in in this book and once you get past the first few chapters this book is really hard to put down. I am choosing to rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm taking off half a star for the first few chapters. It was hard to get into and some of the terminology used is a bit too high/advanced for the average reader. Without having read the previous book I was a bit lost as to the connections between the characters and what happened previously. Once I got into fresher territory without any connection to the past I was able to get into the book and the book really pulled me in. If you've read the previous book by this author then you'll have little to no problem with this story, but if you haven't but still want to read then brace yourself for the first few chapters, but then it gets easier to read and follow after that.

Westward Lies the Sun Book Reviews

Westward Lies the Sun by Robert H. Kono is a historical fiction novel interlaced with a Christian angle. This is the first book that I have read by this author and overall I can easily say that I enjoyed reading this story. The author writes an engaging story that slips back and forth between the times after the World Wars and the other battles that followed, to a time period several years later. The author tells the story of Greg Sonoda, a Sansei Japanese American, as he strives to rediscover and reclaim a family heirloom that was stolen during the tragic times of World War II when Japanese Americans and their Japanese families were hauled off to the camps set up by the government. This story also touches on a Christian aspect as Greg and his friends hold conversations concerning faith and whether God exists. This story follows Greg and his family as the author tells their story. Westward Lies the Sun, for me, was most engaging with the historical aspect and the glances/reflections back in time as Greg was questing to discover more about his family and their heritage. I can tell that the author truly did a substantial amount of research to bring this book to life. I can honestly picture the scenes the author describes the places that Greg visits or the times that he recalls the things that he experienced. I was truly gripped at those times. My heart was heavy as I read about the things that they went through at the hands of their fellow Americans simply because it was ordered that Japanese Americans and their families essentially be rounded up and put into camps simply because of suspicion and fear. I appreciate the amount of detail that the author writes in this story. There are Japanese words throughout this book and I am highly appreciative that the author makes sure to include the translations or descriptions so that I as a reader can know what it is that he is describing/talking about. There isn’t much that I don’t like about this book. I would have liked it if the author had pointed out the shifts in time in this book. The author slips back and forth between the past and “present-day” for the characters in this book. One minute Greg is in Japan with his relatives visiting them and doing his part as a member of the U.S. Military, and then he’s older, married, and at home dealing with his job and family. I’d have liked it if the author had simply pointed out the shifts by saying the date and year so that I’d realize that this is no longer the same moment happening in the story. While this story is also categorized as “Christian” fiction, I feel that the Christian aspect isn’t as focused on. I feel that the story focuses mostly on Greg, his past, present, and that it gives moments to the Christian aspect and the questions that surround the true existence of God and the things that He allows to happen in the world. Part of me would have liked for the story to focus more on the search for the family sword, but I found myself enjoying this story quite nicely as it is overall. All in all, I am rating this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. The part that I enjoyed the most was the historical aspect of the story. I like the author taking me back in time to just after the wars, I liked the reflections on what they suffered because I feel that it reminds us to never forget what happened to those who were true Americans based on anger, fear, and prejudice. Since the Christian aspect isn’t heavy-handed like I had feared it would be, I feel that I was more able to enjoy this book than I had originally thought. For those who enjoy historical fiction novels, I think that they will enjoy this book as it is well-written, tugs at the reader’s heart in appropriate moments, and keeps you wanting to read more of this book. I honestly look forward to what this author writes next as they have a true gift at story-telling.

This was a deeply emotional and thoughtful novel. It was incredibly well written. It was a wonderful story of a man struggling to find both God and himself. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book in exchange for a free copy.

Westward Lies the Sun

Hardcover : 322 pages
ISBN-10 : 1642588172
ISBN-13 : 978-1642588170

The Last Fox A Novel of the 100th442nd RCT
Book Reviews

Robert Kono's book about the famous unit of Japanese Americans who fought against the Nazis in Europe during WWII is an amazing account of the battles this unit fought, both against racism and against German bullets and bombs. This work has some of the most vivid, incredible battle scenes I've read. The way soldiers could 'name' bombs and bullets by the types of sounds and explosions they create (along with vivid details of the havoc these weapons created on the battlefield) make this book a must-read for anyone interested in WWII battles. The scenes where these men go in to rescue the Lost Battalian (an American unit trapped behind German lines) is a record of courage and valor above and beyond the call of duty. A few more regiments of Japanese American soldiers in Europe and the US Army might have reached Berlin ahead of the Russians. These were tough, tough soldiers.

Reviewer: William Ratliff from Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA The first and most obvious achievement of this outstanding book is its novelistic dramatization of battles fought by the all-Nisei 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Many young Japanese-Americans volunteered for the U.S. military after they and their family members (75% American citizens, mostly second-generation Nisei) were suddenly dragged off to concentration camps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. These young men became the most awesome, feared (by Germans), sought-after (by American military commanders) and decorated group of American soldiers fighting in Europe. Kono gives grueling, gripping, hill-by-hill, bunker-by-bunker descriptions of Nisei military campaigns against the Germans in Italy and France. In the process, he graphically shows how wars are "ceaseless waves of madness that [fill] the earth with graves." But Kono's chief character, Sgt. Fred Murano, the leader and last of four "foxes" that wreacked havoc on the "Jerries," and all of his other comrades, are much more than players in this intense war drama. They also carry and convey the anger, anguish, outrage, frustration, courage and patriotism of these young Nisei Americans of the mid-twentieth century and the complex, often tragic, traumas they faced in Europe and their families confronted in the United States. Reminiscing with a few surviving comrades at the end of the book, more than fifty years after the end of the war, Fred says, "We made the supreme sacrifice, laid our lives on the line. Not to go on the record that we are loyal Americans, which we always were...we know that ...but to win our own freedom as any other freedom-loving American." Like King Arthur, who asked that younger generations be taught and pass on the glorious story of Camelot, Fred believes the Nisei role in the war should be passed on down the generations and fully recognized by the world at large. With this book, Kono has made a major contribution to fulfilling Murano's dream of telling that story, a critical but still little-known chapter in modern U.S. and world history. Even more than this, in recounting the Nisei experience, the author has thrown sympathetic light on the ongoing problems, not always as traumatic as those of the Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, that any minority encounters trying to "fit in" without being absorbed, in the United States and in other countries around the world. Though this book's most obvious subject is war, it is also a testimony to freedom from war in the world, social equality and justice in America and other societies, and peace, if not always tranquility, in the individual soul.

This is the book we have been waiting for. We have read about the exploits of the Nisei soldiers and have heard the campaign stories. I don't read war novels but this one promised to give me the inner drama of the soldier. This novel does that and much more. The hero faces the enemy in combat, internment of his family in his own country, racism after victory, and after living a life overcoming adversity, a terminal illness. His values sustain him and they are the book's gift to its readers.

The Last Fox by Robert Kono is a most interesting and illuminating novel. The story line follows the men of the 442nd and the 100th Regimental Combat Teams through their campaigns in Italy and France in World War II. These men fought with Medal of Honor courage while their loved ones and relatives were in United States interment camps. Kono captures the real feelings of combat and the personal valor of these fine soldiers,with great style and vivid metaphors. I highly recommend this book.

The Last Fox

Paperback : 322 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0971305007
ISBN-10 : 0971305005

Bob Kono's military/fiction "The Last Fox" was very good. It covered the action of the 100th/442nd RCT very well. I found the description of the battlefield very realistic and heart rending. When people ask about the travails of the 442nd RCT, they can now refer to "The Last Fox." For every ten men in uniform only one faces the enemy and is in a position of being shot face to face or actually killing someone. The other nine men are important rear echelon, engineers, artillery, service supply, and training echelons but they rarely directly face the enemy. It is the rifleman in the rifle company who dig the enemy out of their machine gun nests on a person to person basis. The military campaign is well described from Anzio, Cassino, Rome to Pisa (Hill 140), France (Bruyeres, Biffontaine) and the breach of the Gothic line on the Apennines (Mt. Folgorito). Rarely does a rifleman or a medic like myself attached to a rifle platoon get the overall picture. The author has given it in all its glory and goriness. His comments and thoughts evinced from mail from internment camps and the main character, Fred's philosophy and counterpoint arguments with Sam, were well done. The bar room brawl was edgy but that is the way it was and the reconciliation in the hospital was very good. I liked the way the author covered Hill 140, our first 442nd RCT major battle in the early stages of the march above Rome to Pisa and to the RR embankment in Biffontaine, France. I can still remember that night in Biffontaine. It was very dark and I thought I felt a German soldier poke me and say "Hans" and then he melted back into the blacknes of the night before the attack. It must be noted that for a rifle platoon soldier particularly in a 442nd RCT rifle company that after a year in combat, you were either dead or wounded.

Got some good insight into what my father went through during the war. He, like so many vets, would not talk about what happened over there.

Eye of the Star Book Reviews

The StarMind Alert Book Reviews

Westward Lies the Sun Book Reviews

The Last Fox A Novel of the 100th442nd RCT Book Reviews

Eye of the Star
Book Reviews

The StarMind Alert
Book Reviews

The Last Fox A Novel of the 100th442nd RCT
Book Reviews