Angry Hills, The.

Michael Morrison is a midlist novelist, at a time when such writers can actually make a living. He and his wife, Ellie, always planned on a trip to Greece, someday when they could afford it, to collect a small inheritance that was due her. Just when that trip finally seemed possible, Ellie died; and Mike has been recuperating ever since. The only reason he's made the journey to Greece at last, as German troops threaten to invade that ancient country, is that otherwise war may prevent him from ever claiming Ellie's inheritance. With his children safe in the care of his own parents, here he is in Athens. Although the United States remains neutral, World War II has already begun; and the British - to Mike's horror - withdraw their forces on the very day he expects his local attorney to finish processing the paperwork the bank requires. Instead of leaving on his scheduled flight with Ellie's money in hand, Mike finds himself saddled with a list of people whose names British intelligence desperately wants to know. He's forced to masquerade as a New Zealand enlistee in the British army, captured by the Germans, and pursued by agents from both sides. Those agents know who he really is, what he's carrying, and what it's worth. Will Mike Morrison ever see San Francisco and his children again? This short (for Uris) novel was his second published book. The ordinary man thrown into a situation for which he has no preparation, forced to choose sides in a war not yet his, is a theme so familiar it could seem hackneyed. Uris handles it, though, with the genuine understanding of one who fought that war in real life. The characters are stock ones, mostly, but the book's length really doesn't allow them time to develop more depth. All in all, a quick, entertaining read that's nowhere near as dated as I thought it might be.

I have just finished The Angry Hills and I thought it was a fine (247 PGS.) little book. This is a departure from the standard Uris, whose use of heavy handed subject matter along with 600 plus pages makes his novels very though provoking and dramatic. This novel is a quick lite read that is a nice adventure novel during the second World War. In this novel an American Widower is in Greece to settle his late wife's estate, on the eve of the Italian invasion. Just after the invasion he is entrusted to get a list of names out of the country for the British army, but immediately he is soon pursued by Nazis agents and Greek ex-patriots. This is was nice and lite for my tastes and I think if you go into it with this attitude you will not be disappointed.