TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH

by W. R. Shepherd

A classic and favorite of aviation enthusiasts for many decades. And a well liked television series during the 1960's.

However, very few of those people have ever actually read the story, and because of that they never know about things in the story that they miss.

For In ther movie the character of Jesse Bishop is killed when his aircraft is blowen up on a mission. However, in the story, Jesse Bishop ends up in a P.o.W. camp.

Another In ther movie the character Sergeant McIllhenny lives on, but in the story McIllhenny is killed while protecting General Savage and his aircrew from an attacking German figher.

So, you'll never know what else yoyu've missed until you read the whole story of...
TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2023

Reviews

[Ronald Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book. I have seen the movie several times and it is one of my all time favorite movies. A strong story of leadership and the stresses and ultimate toll it can take on a person in the context of the air battle in Europe during World War II. If you’ve seen the movie you know exactly what I am talking about. The book left me a little flat. The author does give you more background of the situation and the characters which is a good thing, but he also mixes into the story a superfluous, (in my opinion) romantic plot line between the main character and a female British W.A.A.F. officer which I did not feel added to the story line. There were also several characters in the book which were cut from the movie. The writing in my opinion was uneven. Sometimes I could not tell who was saying what to whom or where one conversation ended and another began. The ending particularly did not appeal to me.
I am not saying that this is not a good book, it just did not appeal to me. I think this is why I prefer non-fiction to fiction. In fiction people sometimes try too hard to tell a story, whereas I feel that the real history is the most compelling version of the story. The exception to this for me was “The Grapes of Wrath” which I read a while ago and found very riveting.
If you enjoy fiction, especially set in the background of real history, I think you will enjoy this book.

[Elaine Booth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a badly written screenplay

This is probably not a fair review of this novel. I have read several nonfiction accounts on the Eighth air force that I thought were accurate depictions of the men who served in it. It was a stark contrast to the contrived plot lines, cliched dialogs, and the somehow unlikely actions of the characters in the novel. I think some authors who write fictitious accounts of real life events portray them as they think how things should be rather than plain old reality. There's a reason why I read nonfiction almost exclusively. Reality is so much more interesting and informative. It's easy to pick up on what makes sense and what is phony or just untrue. By the way, I've read a good amount of historical fiction and some of it is pretty good, some of it stinks. Sothere.

[Isabella W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why they still show the film as an example for leadership styles in the Air Force. It's a gripping read, even though some of the military context can be a little confusing. The Kindle version sadly was not great, it was missing paragraphs and breaks, which made it hard to read and understand at first, especially when two characters were talking.

However, it's a great story about what humans can endure, and for that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jeff Or · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile novel

This is a good starting place for those wishing to understand the eighth air force in the ETO. Four stars instead of five because the quality of the text in this ebook is atrocious, from the first page to the last. Whoever had the job of turning this classic novel into electronic text did not respect the reader enough to do a good job - or even a bad job. The text does not even meet the standard of a bad job as it is worse than bad.

[Charlie Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

I highly recommend this book to any and all! This is a classic! Whether you are active duty or retired, this is a , treatise on personal guts and honor! General Savage, fictionally, epitomized what made today’s USAF carry the ball through Korea, Vietnam and other conflicts since WW II
Bless ‘em all!

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

classic WWII book

Read this book for first time in the early 70’s. Haven’t seen in print for ages. Still love the story but kindle transcription lousy. Stop has multiple hyphens from line breaks in hard copy. Also conversational paragraphs not maintained making it hard to follow dialogs in story. All that said, still very much still enjoy reading and glad to have it available.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is OK, not great.

But what I have a problem with is with this edition. It is riddled with misspellings, punctuation errors. weird word hyphenations and strange intra-chapter breaks (including a spoiler found on the back cover - though to be fair it wasn't hard to see it coming); all-around there is curious formatting, resulting in confusion sometimes with who is talking.

[Pierre Debbaudt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best bomber novel

As true to life as the author could make it. One could feel one self actually in the cockpit of the bombers and experiencing the hell our brave bomber crews went through.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, but needs editing

The original novel , is probably one of the best early tales of World War 2. While still a great read , the lack of editing makes it just a little bit harder To get through.

[John Stults · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding

If you have seen the movie this is the short novel it comes from. It goes into more detail and covers a lot of the psychological details only hinted at in the movies. I highly recommend this book

[Margaret Denbow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not near as good as the movie! Multiple hyphenations in the middle of sentences that made reading difficult, as well as sudden appearances of characters that had no business being at the place indicated. The movie is an all-time favorite, but the story leaves much to be desired.

[Stephen L · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kindle edition which I just purchased is an absolute disaster - three to four hyphenation typos per page. Totally ruined the book for me. I will now seek an interlibrary loan on Worldcat. Frankly, I want my money back as a credit from Amazon.

[Thomas J. Hakala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent WWII Yarn; a Tribute to Those Who Served

A wonderful story of the WWII air war marred by a mangled electronic print that would bring a proofreader to tears. Wait until they clean up the manuscript before paying for it.

[william clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

The tech issues with the un- needed hyphens cannot detract from the enjoyment of this incredible tale. A must read

[Joe Rodeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

All dialog, like a screenplay.

** DNF

[Robert G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it.

Better then the movie even if you knew what is going to happen next. If you like WW2 flying stories it's a must read.