Fans of courtroom fiction are well aware of the writing of Chicago
attorney Scott Turow. Since 1987, he has produced six novels set in
fictional Kindle County and its legal environs. As a writer, Turow
has been something of a perplexing figure. Clearly, he seeks to
rise to the level of an author whose writings appeal to more
discerning readers. In the pages of a Turow novel, one finds the
writer seeking more than bestseller status. Turow wants literary
acceptance in addition to a spot on the New York Times
bestseller list.

ORDINARY HEROES is Turow's effort to make a clean break from the
courtroom fiction genre and establish himself as a talented author
who can do more than turn out a legal potboiler. Fans of Turow will
find themselves pleasantly surprised by this historical novel that
is both poignant and engrossing, and --- perhaps more important to
the author --- a top quality work of literature.

"All parents keep secrets from their children. My father, it
seemed, kept more than most." Stewart Dubinsky, retired Kindle
County journalist, opens ORDINARY HEROES with this observation as
he mourns the passing of his father, David Dubin, at the age of 88.
We first meet Lieutenant Dubin as he writes his fiancée
enroute to his billet in the European theater during the Second
World War. Nearly 60 years later it falls to Dubin's son, who has
taken back the original family name of Dubinsky to sort through his
father's papers and accompanying memories.

As often happens when adult-age children explore long-ago events in
their parents' lives, great surprises are unearthed. The father who
spent his days after the war as a corporate lawyer for an insurance
company had a secret life as a military lawyer and combat soldier.
Most surprising of all to Dubinsky is the revelation that his
father was court-martialed and convicted of allowing an OSS officer
to escape from custody in the final days of the war. Dubin,
sentenced to five years hard labor, is saved from prison thanks to
a last-minute decision by the Army to dismiss all charges against
him. He died never having shared any details of his military career
with his children.

The secret of his father's life having been revealed to Dubinsky
means, of course, that it cannot be ignored. Thus begins a journey
for Dubinsky that first takes him to his father's attorney,
Barrington Leach, still alive but burdened with the failing memory
of advanced age. Fortunately, like his journalist son, Dubin was a
writer. During his wartime travails he kept a journal of events
that his former attorney delivers to Dubinsky. It is this journal
that serves as the foundation for the narrative that is ORDINARY
HEROES.

Lieutenant Dubin's wartime difficulties center on his relationship
with Major Robert Martin, an officer assigned to the OSS, the World
War II precursor to the CIA. Martin is a James Bond-like character
fighting behind Nazi lines. Martin's loyalties are often in
question and Dubin has great difficulty in ascertaining who, if
anyone, is Martin's commanding officer. Dubin's dealings with Major
Martin are further complicated by his companion Gita Lodz, a Mata
Hari-like figure who is very willing to use her feminine guile to
aid Martin in any manner she can. Lodz's relationship with both
Martin and Dubin allow ORDINARY HEROES to take several unexpected
turns.

Like many of his generation who went off to fight during World War
II, Dubin ended the war a far different person than when the
conflict began. Indeed, Dubin ended the war as three different men.
He traveled to Europe as a desk-sitting attorney who initially
spent his days processing court-martials only to end the war as a
battle-scarred veteran. He is the young soldier who leaves America
engaged to be married to the daughter of a prominent Kindle County
family but instead returns home with a war bride, a survivor of the
Nazi concentration camps. Finally, he is the young Lieutenant who
sails the Atlantic unaware of his Jewish identity only to discover
that he cannot ignore that part of his life because others will not
allow it to be so.

There is always a refreshing experience when an artist attempts to
perform contrary to past practice. Whether it is the opera singer
who releases an album of contemporary music, a comedic actor who
tries a dramatic role, or in this case, a writer who publishes a
novel far different from his past writings, the changing style and
behavior of such a considerable effort are interesting to observe.
Clearly, ORDINARY HEROES establishes Scott Turow as more than a
writer of courtroom fiction. This skillful writer has produced an
absorbing novel by venturing outside the walls of a courtroom.
Readers can only hope that Turow is willing to make that journey
again in the future.