The Reunion by Dan Walsh - a review

What if someone saved your life during a war that was very unpopular? What if that person won the Congregational Medal of Honor for saving you but you never really had the opportunity to say 'thank you'? That is the basis of The Reunion, the new novel by award-winning author, Dan Walsh.

Aaron Miller is a Vietnam veteran that has lost everything that was ever important to him.  He came back from Nam a broken man. One who turned to drink in order to forget the images of war and drugs to kill the pain from his wounds. Unfortunately, he lost his wife and family during that time.  By the grace of God he became a Christian and cleaned up his life but by that time his ex-wife had remarried and their children call her new husband Dad.  She tells Aaron there's no room in their life for him.

Unbeknownst to Aaron, the three men who's lives he saved in Nam are searching for him.  At the same time, Dave Russo, a reporter is doing research in order to write a book about heroes of the Vietnam war.  When he meets up to interview one of the three men Aaron saved, he is given an offer he couldn't refuse.  He is funded to search and find Aaron Miller so that the three men can finally give him the 'thank you' he so deserves.  In the course of his search he also finds Aaron's grown children and he finds he is attracted to Karen, Aaron's daughter.

Every time I pick up a Dan Walsh novel I know I am going to be drawn into the story and become one with the story.  I always fall in love with his characters and I have learned to always have a box of tissues handy.  Did I shed tears in The Reunion?  You bet I did!  But they were happy tears!

Dan Walsh has an uncanny talent of creating believable characters that stay with you long after you have turned the last page and closed the book.  They are real.  They are believable.  They are unforgettable.  His books are "keepers".

If you love great fiction.  If you love a story that makes you feel good.  Then I highly recommend The Reunion.

On a 5-Star scale - 5 STARS!!!!!

*** I would like to thank Donna Hausler and Revell Publishing for my copy of The Reunion.  I received my copy for free in order to read it and give my honest review, which I have done. ***

* Available September 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. *

Press Release for The Reunion

Expert storyteller Dan Walsh pens a new tale filled with the things his fans have come to love – forgiveness, redemption, love and that certain bittersweet quality that few authors ever truly master. Fans old and new will find themselves drawn into this latest story about restoration for the broken and ignored.

Walsh brilliantly weaves together two stories of men embroiled in turmoil – Aaron Miller a Vietnam vet who returned from war only to lose everything and of Dave Russo, a writer unable to love again. The Reunion opens with Aaron, 40 years after the war, slowly putting his life back together. Dave uncovers his heroic actions during the war, leading both men to find a second chance in life and love – if they’re willing to take a risk.

Walsh captures genuine emotion in his writing, and according to RT Book Reviews, he “demonstrates that, like Nicholas Sparks, men are capable of writing romantic fiction.”

 

Walsh has mastered telling stories set in separate time periods. The Reunion is a contemporary story with flashbacks to Vietnam. When Walsh was young, he hated history until he discovered a few non-fiction history books that read like page-turning novels. “They made history come alive,” says Walsh. “Reading became a joy. That’s my goal now, to create that same experience for my readers. I hope they get inspired and thoroughly enjoy themselves.”

Smiles & Blessings,