Once We Were Brothers

October 15, 2013

The phenomenal triumph of lawyer-author John Grisham's legal thrillers has spawned surprisingly few successful emulators; however, Chicago attorney Balson's first novel, while featuring a young lawyer heroine, Catherine Lockhart, who sees her bar admission as a license to further justice, is no simple imitation of Grisham's entertaining potboilers. Cut from a better grade of cloth, it tells the haunting backstory tale of two boys, one Jewish and one a budding Nazi, caught in what became the death-scarred bloodlands of Eastern Europe divided between Stalin and Hitler. What happens when the boys meet again, 60 years later, launches a story that will not let readers go until the last page, long after they discover what occurred in Poland all those years ago. VERDICT A self-publishing best seller, this novel is uplifting and moving, intelligently written and featuring historically accurate context and an unusual insight into human character and motivations. Highly recommended for all readers. [With a 100,000-copy first printing.]--Vicki Gregory, Sch. of Information, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
This self-published debut novel, with more than 100,000 copies sold, has now been picked up by a major publisher, and it's not hard to see why. The story follows two boys, Jewish Ben Solomon and German Otto Piatek, who were raised together in the small Polish town of Zamosc during the 1930s. Once the Nazis invade, however, Otto takes a position in the German army, where, the Solomon family hopes, he will prove to be an asset to his Jewish friends and neighbors. But Piatek betrays them in the most heinous fashion. Some 60 years later, 83-year-old Ben Solomon attempts to kill a well-known Chicago philanthropist, claiming that he is, in fact, Otto. He pours his story out to lawyer Catherine Lockhart, convincing her to sue in civil court for reparations. Balson does a number of things superbly: he crafts a highly readable plotline and makes great use of the Chicago backdrop. But he also stumbles: Catherine seems overly naive about the Holocaust, and Ben's quest for revenge has fantastical overtones. Still, many will enjoy this gripping novel for its narrative drive and its emotional storytelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)