The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War

by Jeff Shaara

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The master of military historical fiction turns his discerning eye to the Korean War in this riveting novel, which tells the dramatic story of the Americans and the Chinese who squared off in one of the deadliest campaigns in the annals of combat: the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as Frozen Chosin.

June 1950. The North Korean army invades South Korea, intent on uniting the country under Communist rule. In response, the United States mobilizes a force to defend the overmatched South Korean troops, and together they drive the North Koreans back to their border with China.

But several hundred thousand Chinese troops have entered Korea, laying massive traps for the Allies. In November 1950, the Chinese spring those traps. Allied forces, already battling stunningly cold weather, find themselves caught completely off guard as the Chinese advance around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. A force that once stood on the precipice of victory now finds itself on the brink of annihilation. Assured by General Douglas MacArthur that they would be home by Christmas, the soldiers and Marines fight for their lives against the most brutal weather conditions imaginable—and an enemy that outnumbers them more than six to one.

The Frozen Hours tells the story of Frozen Chosin from multiple points of view: Oliver P. Smith, the commanding general of the American 1st Marine Division, who famously redefined retreat as “advancing in a different direction”; Marine Private Pete Riley, a World War II veteran who now faces the greatest fight of his life; and the Chinese commander Sung Shi-Lun, charged with destroying the Americans he has so completely surrounded, ever aware that above him, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung watches his every move. 

Written with the propulsive force Jeff Shaara brings to all his novels of combat and courage, The Frozen Hours transports us to the critical moment in the history of America’s “Forgotten War,” when the fate of the Korean peninsula lay in the hands of a brave band of brothers battling both the elements and a determined, implacable foe.

“A military story as dramatic and heroic as any that exists.”— The American Interest

“ The Frozen Hours . . . illustrates again Shaara’s mastery. . . . This is fiction and history at their blended best.”— Marine Corps Gazette

“Marvelously effective storytelling . . . that shows us what warfare feels like both to those who plan campaigns and those who execute them . . . gripping, precisely detailed historical fiction.”— Booklist (starred review)

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, War, Military Fiction, Historical, American History, Audiobook

560 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2017

About the author

JEFF SHAARA is the award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of seventeen novels, including Rise to Rebellion and The Rising Tide, as well as Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure—two novels that complete his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, The Killer Angels. Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaara returns with another blockbuster piece of war fiction that is sure to impress many. Turning away from many of the well-documented wars and battles that fill school textbooks, Shaara creates a well-balanced story about the Korean War, nicknamed the ‘Forgotten War’. It becomes apparent early on why this was a war that many forgot about or do not adequately understand. Originally a United Nations effort to return North Korea to their geographic borders, events soon became quite America-centred, with UN (read: mostly US) forces being controlled by General Douglas MacArthur. Admittedly, MacArthur spent most of his time in the theatre’s home base, over in Tokyo. Shaara offers up three strong character perspectives in the novel, allowing the reader to learn more about the two sides involved and the advances made (as well as the retreats that became necessary) throughout the 1950 segment of fighting, which proves interesting as a snapshot for the overall conflict. What began as an attempt to help the South Koreans soon became the first test of Cold War politics. North Korea was happy to turn to its ideological and political ally, China, to assist with defending their outposts and keeping the Americans at bay. In an era when China was still a new force (the attentive reader will remember that Mao only surged the victory the year before, creating Red China), there was certainly a Soviet presence in the area, if only as observers and major weapons suppliers. The Korean Conflict could easily have turned into World War III, had cooler heads not prevailed, turning the Peninsula into an ideological battleground with both sides thirsty to repel others and in full possession of the Bomb. Shaara illustrates the battles and bloodshed, but is intentionally slow to introduce the enemy of both sides; the weather. Deemed the coldest winter in four decades, the battles fought had the added struggle of bitterly cold weather, which is the most unpredictable and vicious of foes. Guns that would not fire, oil that turned to sludge, and limbs that succumbed to various forms of frostbite pepper the narrative, as they surely did the landscape. While both sides were used to battles in more temperate climates, not being able to cover limbs effectively only added to the horrors. Limbs were frozen to gun barrels, toes came off when socks could be removed, leaving soldiers destroyed and armies decimated. The only small blessing came from wounds that froze before they could kill a soldier. Encapsulating that first year of the war, Shaara does not seek to clearly delineate the war in its totality, but the powerful narrative gives reader a strong sense of what transpired, perhaps in hopes of making this war a little less forgotten. Brilliantly crafted, with a mix of historical accuracies and personalized fiction, Shaara shows the reader why he is the master of the genre. Perfect for the curious reader that finds pleasure in historical fiction, particularly of the war variety.

Any reader who has a long relationship with Jeff Shaara and his war-fiction will be enthralled with this piece. Those who might be expecting some light-humoured M*A*S*H* episode best look elsewhere, for these novels seek to get to the core of the battles. Steering away from the electoral and military politics of the War, Shaara seeks to focus on those who played a daily and key role in the war efforts. Shaara keeps mention of General MacArthur and President Truman to a minimum, but presents the soldiers as the most important players in Korea. General Oliver P. Smith allows the reader to see some of the military insights of a commander in the field. Smith was not sure what to expect, though likely no American forces really knew what to expect on the Korean Peninsula. As Smith sought to advance the troops, he discovered that there were many enemies that lay before him, the terrain being but one. Private Pete Riley represents that military character that Shaara likes to pepper into each of his novels; the ‘wet behind the ears’ newbie who does not know what to expect. It is during the novel that Riley is able to shed his peach fuzz and become a man, both on the battlefield and in life. Shaara shows Riley’s development and the sobering experiences he faces as he learns the horrors of war, pairing the loss of friends with that unknown enemy, the weather. To offer a well-rounded narrative, Chinese General Sung Shi-lun plays a central role and his narrative voice emerges throughout. Shaara effectively utilizes Sung and the entire Chinese Army effectively in the novel, exemplifying a completely different mindset to war. As mentioned before, Mao’s Red China was still fresh in the minds of many who arrived in Korea and the feel of the gun barrel remained a calloused sense to many of these soldiers. Where the two sides differed greatly, besides being somewhat ready for the frigid temperatures (though Shaara does show that the Chinese struggled greatly as well), is the inner momentum to win. While the Americans are fighting for glory and dominance, the Chinese appear to have a sense of seeking to please Mao and upholding the communist ideal. Shaara weaves this throughout the fight and shows how military hierarchy pushed the “Mao factor” onto the soldiers, who soon fell into line. This brilliant contrast allows Shaara to show yet another layer of the war, one that is likely not clearly delineated in textbooks or superficial narratives. Pulling all of this together, Shaara masters his arguments and leaves the reader wishing there were more. History has much more to offer on this war, though Shaara opens the novel commenting that he is not clearly tying himself down to a trilogy at this time, though there is surely room for it, should time and interest permit. And with Shaara, there is no doubt that if he chooses to return, it will be yet another stellar novel.

Kudos, Mr. Shaara for entertaining and educating in equal measure. I cannot tell you how excited I am whenever I see you have published something else. This was another piece of pure gold and I hope many find time to pick it up for themselves.

Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big thank you to Jeff Shaara, Ballantine Books, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is the fictional account of the 1950 battle of the Chosin Reservoir against the Chinese during the Korean War.

I don't typically quote from an author's copy, but I found this summation of General Smith's: " I am being told to spread my division over dozens of miles, in places we are not familiar with, supplied by a single road. There are a number of towns along the route, and to my knowledge, none of them are secured. I'm not sure just how dangerous the enemy needs to be. There is danger enough in our own arrogance." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is MacArthur's battle strategy. Just add the word SPEEDY. He's a dimwit. He acted the idiot in WWI; he was a complete flake during WWII; he created the catastrophe that was the "government police effort" of Korea that most wish to forget. I truly believe that if his upbringing had been different he could have been a most charismatic cult leader. He had the media eating out of the palm of his hand and the Joint Chiefs living in fear.
MacArthur spreads the word to his puppets that this invasion would end within a matter of WEEKS, trusting the word of his faulty intelligence network and empowered by his own grandiose ideas of himself. He assigns the command of the Marine unit to an incompetent Army General, one Almond by name, who was the prior paper-pusher and all-around office side of MacArthur with little field experience. As strategy breaks down and the Chinese become involved, authority in the field is eventually placed on the shoulders of Oliver Smith, a no-nonsense yet compassionate General who works with the US Army and the British military to put things to rights.
The soldiers are represented by Riley and Welch along with Killian and Morelli. They are stalwart and brave, but long to be home, writing letters to loved ones in their heads while crouched in fox holes awaiting the next battle. They aren't there to win recognition or a medal, although Almond certainly attempts to hand them out like candy; they really aren't even there to kill the Chinese. They simply want the country copacetic.
Sadly there is no concrete ending to this war. The Chinese army under Mao's generalship reported fleeing Americans; the Americans reported "a splendid moral victory" and a "fighting march to the sea" that culminated in a truce in 1953. By then most of the works has written this region and its strife off.
Shaara brings a heartbreaking chapter of military history to life using first-person accounts and historical references. This book is completely unbiased and factual. These people bring on these pages. I'm disappointed that this may be a stand-alone novel. The Korean War deserves to be remembered. I think Shaara is the man for the job.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

My father said very little about his service time during the Korean War. He did mention that it was cold. He left out the part about equipment, and gear freezing: boots, weapons wouldn't fire, engines to move artillery.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Frozen Hours states that it is a novel about the Korean War. It is. But it follows the war from Sept of 1950 through December of 1950. In terms of historical context that is when MacArthur's Inchon invasion commenced through the Chinese involvement that pushed the UN forces back.

I did find it rather strange that Shaara chose to focus on this brief look into the Korean War, but it also makes some sense- the "great acts" of the Korean War that are most remembered by non-historians take place during that time frame ( a notable exception being the Battle of Pork Chop Hill in spring of 1953, which seems to be relatively well known). Still from the Inchon landings to the heroic fighting in the Chosin Reservoir-all of that takes place within the time frame of this novel.

Told from the viewpoints of the Chinese PLA(People's Liberation Army) and the U.S. Marines this was a interesting read about a war many are rather ignorant of. June 25th, 1950 the North Koreans open a massive artillery barrage across the 38th parallel, followed by an advance of 10 divisions of ground forces (Infantry and Armor). In response to this crisis the United Nations actually does something, for once, about it. Of course, this frenetic burst of competence was viable ONLY because the Soviet's had not attended on the day of the vote.

The situation is indeed dire- 90,000 NK troops have moved past South Korean defensive lines and captured Seoul. In the Southeast corner of South Korea the American and UN forces start to set up defensive lines. The North Koreans, however, have managed to stretch their lines of communication (a military term that refers to the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication. Therefore, a secure and open line of communication is vital for any military force to continue to operate effectively. )
This is when Gen. Douglas MacArthur's launches his brilliant flanking maneuver and lands the 1st Marine Division on the Western Coast of Korea. The Marines, doing what Marines do best, utterly destroy all forces in front of them-thus severing the lines of communication for the NK troops. Now the NK's are caught between the Marines and the US Army and UN forces.

The rest of the book then covers how this success caused MacArthur and his Commanding General in Theater, Gen Almond, to start ignoring the reports from his front lines forces (in this case the US Marines) about what they are seeing in terms of forces. Not believing that the Chinese will intervene, as the NK's are pushed gradually up north towards the Yalu River on the border with China. This leads to the disastrous, and somewhat surprising to Army Intelligence in Tokyo, intervention by the Chinese. It is as poor strategic decisions by the Army forced the Marines to split up their division into operational Regiments and pushed them north towards the Yalu river. The split occurred due to the Marines having to operate in the Chosin Reservoir which necessitated them splitting into maneuver elements such as a Regiment. But that also dilutes the power of the finest combat unit in the theater. Thus when the Chinese flow over the border-it is left to the 7th Marine Regiment, commanding by the legendary Col "Chesty" Puller to try to stop their advance whilst the elements of the US Army fall back to their defensive lines in the Pusan Perimeter. This is a legendary battle of 9 divisions of Chinese PLA (roughly 180,000 troops) trying to overwhelm a single Marine Regiment (roughly 7,500 troops). The Marines not only held off the PLA, at severe cost (certain battalions within the Regiment had 385 Marines out of 2800 survive), but destroyed 6 of the PLA divisions and destroyed the battle readiness of the remaining. Yes you read that correctly. 7,500 Marines not only stopped the Chinese advance but wiped out more than 100,000 of the enemy. This is where the famous Col Puller line, uttered under heavy fire as he strode along the defensive lines with a bullhorn, screaming "You are US Marines and all the Communists in Hell will not overrun you!". Amen.

A good look at the first year,and some would argue the most "exciting" part of the Korean War, lasting from Sept, 1950- December, 1950. A wonderfully written story about a war many seem to know very little about. I would rather have seen more though, one volume just does not seem to do this conflict justice.

[happy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Shaara has once again delivered an outstanding look at Americans at war. In this novel he turns his eyes and pen to Korea. Specifically the first 6 months of the war. In telling his story he follows the 1st Marine Division (1 MarDiv) from MacArthur’s masterpiece at Inchon in September 1950 through to the debacle at the Chosin Reservoir in November/December of the same year.

For anyone who had read Shaara, his template is instantly recognizable. He tells his story through the eyes of both high and low level participants of the campaigns. In this novel the high level view is told through the eyes of the 1 MarDiv commander, MG Oliver P. Smith. The low level, grunts eye view, is told through the eyes of members of squad in F/2/7 Marines. While many of these men are veterans of WW II, there a members of the squad who are so new to the Corps, they haven’t even been to boot camp!

In the first section of the novel, Shaara tells the story of the invasion of Inchon and the liberation of the South Korean capital of Seoul. In telling this story MacArthur’s unreasonable timetable for the liberation of the capital and the demands MG Edward Almond, Smith's boss and Commander of X Corps, made on the Marines to meet the timetable in the face of determined resistance from the North Koreans is explored. The education of the young Marines, both enlisted and the young Plt ldr is well done.

After Seoul is liberated the 1 MarDiv is withdrawn from the line and moved to the other side of the Korean Peninsula to Wonson and the race for the Yalu begins. In this section of the novel, the concerns of Gen Smith about increasing Chinese presence and the scattering of his regiments is well drawn. In tandem with his concerns is the pressure of Gen Almond to speed up his advance so he can beat the 8th Army to the Yalu is hi-lited. Gen Smith’s concerns and frankly his slow rolling of Almond’s orders are vindicated in late November when the Chinese finally attack the scattered units around Chosin. Smith advanced as slowly as possible, establishing supply depots all the way up from the port of Hungnam to Hagaru-ri. These supplies became absolutely vital during the battle.

The US forces side of the fight at Chosin is once again told through the eyes of the men of Fox Company. They are put on a hill overlooking a pass on the road between the major base at Hagaru-ri at the base of the reservoir and the rest of the 7th and 5th Marines further north on west side of the reservoir at Yudam-ni. Mr. Shaara is superb in describing the desperate fighting that occurred on that extremely cold November and December of 1950. The reader can almost feel the cold as the men try to both survive the elements and the enemy. The author brings out fascinating details fighting in that extreme cold. These include the difficulty of getting weapons to fire, getting something to eat or drink – water and C Rats froze solid - Tootsie Roll candy was about the only “food” that was readily consumable – when put in your mouth, it would soften enough to eat, the shortcomings of the Cold Weather gear the Marines were issued are all described vividly. One surprising benefit of the cold that Mr. Shaara brings out is that the cold suppressed bleeding from wounds, allowing some casualties to survive who probably wouldn’t.

The actions of the 41st Royal Marine Commando are also written into the narrative. What humor that is in novel come from the clash of cultures between the US Marines and their British counterparts.

While the disaster that befell the Army's TF Faith occurs off stage, the attempts to relieve them are well told. Mr. Shaara does a good job of describing just what they were going thru. Gen Almond’s visit just before their break out attempt and LTC Faith’s reaction to it is vividly told.

The Chinese side of the battle is told from the view point of the Chinese commander, Sung Shi-Lin. He shown to be a very competent commander and excellent leader. Much of his viewpoint is shown through conversations with his Soviet advisor, who he mildly distrusts. At one point he tells the advisor the mass night attacks is the only tactic available to due to his lack of heavy weapons and air cover. The suffering of his men is also well described. They were affected by the cold every bit as much as the UN forces. One scene I really liked occurs when he attempts to talk to some prisoners as the battle winds down. When he tells them they won’t have to fight any more for the capitalist, one of them tells him to “go to hell.” He breaks off the conversation, but later comes back and again attempt to talk to prisoners and assure them they will be well treated. The one who had told him to “go to hell” earlier repeats the statement. Sung can’t understand their devotion to their cause.

One word of warning, the American Marines refer to their enemy, whether Korean or Chinese, in racially derogatory terms.

Once again I found this an excellent read. If GR allowed I would give 4.5+ stars so I’ve rounded up. It is really up to Mr. Shaara’s high standard. I highly recommend this one.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Shaara is an author I follow and collect. I have not as yet read a bad or even mediocre book by him and I expect I never will. For those not familiar with Jeff's work it is "technically" historical fiction. I say technically because he does use a fictional element, dialogue, but beyond that his history is completely accurate. In his books he uses real people that lived through the events his books depict and invents realistic dialogue for these real people while attempting to keep true to their real in life personalities and character. He relies heavily on diaries, letters, interviews and other such sources in both selecting his characters and in inventing their conversations. This format makes for much more than reading a mere history. My first experience with this author followed reading his father's highly regarded book on Gettysburg, "Killer Angels" which established the format. By bringing the event to the reader through the eyes and words of a real person experiencing the action the impact is much more vivid and memorable. As a result of reading father and son's Civil War trilogy and Jeff's separate Civil War trilogy of the Western campaign the events of our Civil War are much more clearly imbedded in my brain. I learned something, a lot of something and isn't that an accomplishment for an author?

In this book Jeff starts what I hope will be a new series of books devoted to the Korean War. His message "To The Reader" seems to indicate otherwise but I hope I am wrong. I attended an event in which Jeff appeared and asked him if he has other projects in mind since he seems to be running out of U.S. wars. He did mention that this book was coming but beyond that he only mentioned that he would like to do a book on the Cuban Missile Crisis. I didn't think much of that idea in light of the format that Jeff uses since that Crisis was fully documented and a TV movie made of the incident. It would appear there wouldn't be much room for fictional dialogue of the type Jeff uses. This book, however, only deals with the opening months of Korean War involving the North Korean invasion, the U.S. Inchon Invasion and then most of the book dealing with the disaster at the Chosin Reservoir. I think there is certainly room for another book or two and I hope Jeff's readers let him know that.

As for this book to say I found it informative would be an understatement. While I am a history buff I must admit to knowing almost nothing about the Korean War. I have heard of the Inchon Invasion and the Chosin Reservoir and MacArthur's firing by Truman and that is about all I know. This book has really opened my eyes to an area of our history that I have lived through but am ignorant of and shall now take measures to correct. I was surprised to read of the North Korean Invasion of the South and the lack of preparedness by both the South Koreans and the U.S. I was even more surprised at the subsequent easy push back of the North into their own borders. What astounded me was what happened next and how it wasn't anticipated that the Communist Chinese wouldn't be antagonized by the U.N. actions and respond as they did. This seems like a war that didn't have to occur and that arrogance and stupidity once again were the dominant and shaping forces of history. This book is a seriously authentic portrayal of what real combat under the harshest of conditions must be like. The only thing I have read to compare was a book of conversations with Marine vets that fought in the South Pacific during WWII. Sadly, it once again the Marines that live through the hell illustrated in this "fictional" history. That this war is deemed to have been "forgotten" is truly sad because the veterans of this war deserve better. I am happy to report, however, that my wife and I visited Washington D.C. a few years ago. I have a cousin whose name is etched on the Viet Nam Memorial and I wanted to see that. While there we discovered the Korean War Memorial and were haunted by it. The Viet Nam Memorial is certainly moving but the Korean Memorial is really something else entirely and I found it incredibly moving and disturbing. If you have visited that memorial you know why and it is a very fitting testament to those that fought there. Jeff told his audience at the event I attended that this book is the result of being badgered by Korean vets. I am glad Jeff succumbed to the badgering a wrote this book and hopefully will write further about this war. If you choose to read the book I think you will feel the same.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because this book was really really, really good. I recommend this book to anyone.

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Shaara’s historical novel is viewed through the eyes of 1st Division Marines in Fox Company over a pivotal 5-day span. His character development is superb and I can see how this book ended up on the reading list of the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

[A.K. Kulshreshth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book club selection, and I am glad I read this. I hadn’t heard of Jeff Shaara before this. It is interesting that Shaara has continued his father’s work – one of the few examples that I know of (the other one is Tony Hillerman and his daughter Anne Hillerman).

The Frozen Hours struck me as a new-age military thriller with a heavy dose of historical research, a kind of Commando comic for grown-ups with literary tastes. Shaara explains in his preface that he has done a bit of research for this book, and it shows. He acknowledges that he has put words in the mouths of real-life characters, and that shows as well. It seemed to be a brave thing to do, but it makes the book come alive. It does show Generals MacArthur, Almond and Smith in certain ways that are flattering or not. All the quick research (a.k.a. web searching) I did seemed to confirm these views. For a book that has been so widely praised for accuracy, needless to say, the “action” sequences are detailed and minute. What is outstanding is that there is a good amount of “telling”, starting from the origins of the Korean War, and sketches of the cast of characters, which frames the “showing”.

Going beyond the story itself, I was impressed by a couple of things. Firstly, the device of telling it from the multiple points of view of an American General, an enlisted man, and a Chinese General made it nuanced. The inclusion of “the enemy point of view” is not that common. It is more common to either make caricatures of the enemy or to show them as inhuman but strong (and therefore “our” victory as an even bigger achievement). Shaara has eschewed the common path, and instead shown the Chinese General from a very human angle – he is clinical in his approach which cost thousands of lives, but he does not have a choice. An interesting cameo character is Orloff, a Russian observer.

Secondly, while the book clearly makes a choice of focusing on the military side of things, as in actions taken by the Marines on the battlefield, it kind of acknowledges the existence of the horrors of war that exist outside of those actions. There is a clear hint at atrocities (US atrocities, see this article for example), and Shaara makes it clear in his preface, he tells one story and not all the stories about the war.

There are a couple of things that are missing in this very factual novel – especially the kinds of things that the anti-war writers like James Jones and Joseph Heller, have covered. As this article points out, there was an official policy statement, "Hiring prostitutes is incompatible with our military core values", and there was reality. Shaara kind of draws a curtain around some things, which is a choice that he has made. This reflects in the choice of language that he uses as well. One of the themes that runs across all poverty-stricken places (Vietnam, Korea, Bengal during the famine of ~1942) is the use of human waste as farm fertilizer. Only it’s very highly unlikely that soldiers talking about human waste would call human waste anything other other than shit. I could be wrong, of course.

All this is not to say that there’s anything wrong with the novel. This is not Reader’s Digest material. It’s just that the author made choices about what story to tell and how to phrase it. The result is a layered and sympathetic action story, and it is quite objective, making clear when the Americans were aggressors. On both sides, the politicking between high-level army officials is a part of the story.

The way the Chinese General Sung is presented is less sympathetic than the main characters. He could have had a family, and been completely humanized as much as the American characters. The movie double-bill Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima was better at this balanced point of view kind of thing.

Overall, a great read that greatly expanded what I know of Asian history. It's worth mentioning that I finsihed this ~20 hour audiobook in a bit more than a week, listening at high speed (to match the pace of the story). Also that a paper book would have been the right version for this, to keep better track of the geography, which is important in the story.

[Donna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“’All right. They’re on our left. They’re on our right. They’re in front of us, they’re behind us. They can’t get away this time’.”

Fans of Jeff Shaara’s military historical fiction won’t have to wait much longer; with the ambitious rendering of the Chosin Reservoir battle during the Korean War, he’s taken a great leap forward. I received a DRC from Net Galley and Random House Ballantine in exchange for this honest review. The book will be available to the public tomorrow, May 23, 2017.

Shaara makes military history accessible by breaking it down into small bites, and by choosing a reasonably representative group of historical figures to feature. One thing that has made him controversial, but which I admire and appreciate, is his decision to add at least one completely fictional character to each book in order to have the humble foot soldier, the ordinary joe that never gained fame or glory, represented. If Shaara chose to use the more traditional method, including only those actual servicemen that left a trail of records behind them, he would be telling us about the war solely from the point of view of officers. I am glad he has stuck to his guns—so to speak—because the rank and file make an enormous impact on the outcome of every battle in every war.

Approaching this story, it is key not to skip the preface or the afterword. This reviewer taught American history and government, and yet I learn something new every time I read one of Shaara’s books. One of the things I appreciate most is that it’s reasonably clear what is fact and what is fiction.

The war is basically a struggle over who will rule the Korean peninsula. Over the centuries, Japan, China, and various Western powers have had their eye on it; it is located in a way that gives its would-be colonizer wonderful access to a great many other places. Who wouldn’t want a military base there? And so as we commence, the Chinese, accompanied, at the outset, by the Soviet Union (now Russia), are determined to repel American incursion into the region. Shaara shows Koreans themselves as merely wishing everyone else would just leave, and although others would differ, this point of view serves well enough for the purpose of telling about this battle.

The US military troops here are commanded from afar; General MacArthur provides unreachable deadlines for the capture of hotly contested areas. At the outset of our story, he orders Marines and US Army shipped to North Korea and selects a inland line of march that he tells the press is a “pincer movement” but which in fact leaves vast amounts of unguarded areas between isolated groups of soldiers. They are high in treacherously cold mountains, where many men on both sides of the conflict will freeze to death or lose body parts to frostbite. They are surrounded and forced to fight their way out, then fight again to rescue their comrades.

There are two things I would change here if I could. The first is the maps. I blew them up on my tablet and still wasn’t able to read most of the print. They were better than nothing, but just barely. There isn’t even a compass provided to show where north is located.

The second is actually a pretty sore spot, and that is the constant use of nasty racist terms for every Asian mentioned ever. The Japanese, the Koreans, the Chinese all get called more ugly names than I ever want to see again in my life! I understand that part of his point in doing so is to show how badly the American command underrated Mao’s forces. I also understand that Caucasian US troops did use racist language casually, and that dehumanizing the enemy is one more way to unify one’s own force and go out and kill people.

However, an author gets to choose his points of emphasis. In his many excellent Civil War novels, Shaara goes lightly around the N word, because he understands that it is painful and divisive, and that for many people, it will destroy the joy they might otherwise experience reading his work. It’s a tender place in our national consciousness. Yet the perception doesn't hold when the people of color are Asian. It's hard to take. Why add more nastiness than one must? Occasionally there is a lull where Chinese are called Chinese and Koreans are called Koreans, and I sink into the narrative as one does with strong fiction, only to have another epithet tossed in my face like cold water.

Perhaps it is because Asians are quieter, most times, about racism and stereotyping, that writers—Shaara is by no means alone in this, which is why only one star comes off—seem to think nothing of repeatedly slamming these horrifying terms at us again and again from within their pages. The references to the Japanese are obviously only there as—what do I call this, ambience? The Japanese are now allies of the US, but the J word gets sprinkled in anyway, and it’s a rotten thing to do.

There are nearly 7 million Asians of either Japanese, Korean, or Chinese ancestry living in the USA, and I have news: they read. And whereas I am undoubtedly more sensitive than some readers, given that we’re talking about my husband and my youngest child, I am not actually Asian myself. And there were moments here when I really felt that if I hadn’t committed to reading for the purpose of a review, I would prefer to leave the book unfinished, to slide it in the back somewhere and not really look at it anymore.

Shaara is an excellent writer, and his characters are almost tangible at times. With a little more sensitivity toward people of color, his work could be even better. This book is recommended to those that love historical military fiction, with the caveat just mentioned.

[Furnison · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. The Korean War is one you don't read much about.

[Randal White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, as always!

Shaara has created another masterpiece. This time it's a stand-alone novel of the Korean War. Well written and superbly researched. As in all of his novels, Shaara explores the conflict through the eyes of a variety of people. In this book, he shows the war through three main characters, an American General, a Chinese General, and an American PFC soldier. In the beginning, I was hoping for more main characters, perhaps a Chinese soldier or someone closer to MacArthur. But, as the novel progresses, I came to realize the reasoning. First, the "average" Chinese soldier was really a non-factor, as they, sadly, were thought of by their "superiors" as just a piece of meat to be thrown into the maelstrom. They did not last long enough to flesh out an individual character. And as far as MacArthur goes, Shaara shows that the sycophants surrounding him were basically as mindless as the Chinese soldiers, blindly throwing themselves into whatever the "superior" wanted, to curry favor for their own careers. In this novel, there is none of the "glory" found in his earlier novels. No feelings of a job well done, or of giddy patriotism. Shaara expresses the drabness, the drudgery, the feeling of "why are we here" and "what is the endgame" of the Korean conflict. His descriptions of the weather, the cold, the misery, make you want to sit in front of a fire and warm up yourself. You're left with a bleak feeling of "why". Why were we there? What were we trying to achieve? Why was there no oversight over MacArthur? And talk about timely! I couldn't help but wonder if history might be repeating itself. Today we again find ourselves with a crisis in Korea. We find ourselves again with a leader who seems to bend the facts to what he wants to see, all in the interest of satisfying his outlandish ego. My hope is that this time, someone steps in and prevents another disaster. That we don't back down to the ego, that we think things through. Because this time, if China intervenes again, the stakes are much much higher than they were in the last Korean War!Bravo, Mr. Shaara!
 
 


 

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty much a typical Jeff Shaara "novel" written in the manner he learned from his father. (That is -- take an important military action and research it very thoroughly. Then chose several real people who were engaged in that action and use them as vehicles to tell the story. Stick strictly to actual documented events, but make up emotions and dialog as necessary to bridge unknown elements and to dramatize what it was like for the participants.)
This book is basically about the Battle of Chosin Reservoir when about 30,000 UN troops (mostly American) were attacked and encircled by about 120,000 Chinese troops. It was one of the most dramatic battles in history and a very close run thing.
The first half of the book drags somewhat as Shaara introduces the important characters and sets the stage. But the second half really picks up as the battle (actually a series of connected battles) really gets going. The fighting was horrendous and under conditions that were staggeringly cruel for both sides. Shaara really brings it to life.
Pretty good book.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Jeff Shaara takes a fresh look at General Douglas MacArthur's 1950 campaign to wrap up remnants of a defeated North Korean enemy at the Choisin Reservoir after his brilliantly executed invasion of Inchon. Shaara focuses on how this ill fated campaign impacted three key people; First Marine Division commanding General O.P. Smith, WW 2 Marine Corps veteran and Fox company Rifleman, Private Riley and veteran of Mao's "Long March", Chinese General Sung. Interestingly, Shaara makes the argument that the race to the the Yalu River by the First Marine Division, US Army and allied units was an exercise in sheer hubris on the part of MacArthur and his sycophantic staff in Tokyo who blatantly ignored and downplayed evidence of massive Chinese troop activity in the mountains around the Choisin Reservoir. Without Marine commanding General O.P. Smith's cool response to finding his entire First Marine Division inside the jaws of a massive ambush by 14 divisions of Communist Chinese troops (approx: 140,000) there would have been no survivors. His famous comment to the press when accused of retreating was "Retreat hell, we're just attacking from another direction" is pure Marine Corps attitude and his masterfully organised retreat "in another direction" literally saved thousands of Marine and allied lives, inflicted major Chinese casualties and reversed what would have been one of the most devastating military losses in US history.

In addition to nightly Chinese infantry attacks, the allies had to survive and fight effectively in 30 below zero November/December North Korean weather. The heroism and tenacity of Marine, Army and allied troops in surviving this incredible ordeal staggers the imagination. They might as well have fought this epic campaign on the North Pole! Shaara brilliantly details the "how" and "why" of this campaign in the context of a post WW2 world where worldwide communism represented America's premier threat and neither side claimed victory - only heroic survival!

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps this book could become the forgotten book about the Forgotten War. Seriously, this book did not measure up to the author's other works. I had read all his other books besides the WW2 novels, and this book finished last. It just felt the characters were not fleshed out, like I was reading Hamlet without Hamlet in it. I totally loved this author's other works. This book just didn't work for him. I think part of this stemmed from the fact the author originally wanted to write a trilogy about Korea, not just a single volume. He does his best writing in trilogies. Bottom line: unless you're studying the Korean Conflict, pass this book by.

[Bryan Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one because my father strongly recommended it. He was drafted during the Korean War, but didn't serve on that peninsula. I've only dipped into a bit of Jeff Shaara's previous writing, on the US Civil War.

The Frozen Hours is a historical novel about the very brutal Battle of Chosin Reservoir (1950). Jeff Shaara's account tracks the events in chronological order, using two main point of view characters: the Marine commander O.P. Smith, and a soldier on the ground, Pete Riley. There are also several chapters from the point of view of Song Shilung, commander of Chinese forces attacking the Marines.

The book is effective in presenting the battle as it unfolded. It begins right after the Inchon landings, carries over to the doomed march to the Yalu, then about halfway in settles down for the Chinese surprise attack and fighting US retreat around and below Chosin. The Frozen Hours concludes with a fast sketch of characters/historical personages' subsequent careers. In short, it functions effectively as military history.

For the American war in Korea, there is the extra burden of reminding people that it happened, as that "police action" is notoriously forgotten. Americans rarely mention Korea. We have relatively few works of art about it - arguably the most famous, MASH, is clearly about Vietnam. Several Vietnam veterans have told me that regretted not knowing about Korea when they fought and when they reflected afterwards, as the prior war offered them so many precedents.

Shaara seems to have done solid work in interviewing veterans and working with primary source materials. That includes a nice presentation of how the battle's most famous quotation came to be:

Retreat, hell. We're just attacking in another direction.
-O.P. Smith (456-7)

(However, there's no sense that this, ah, edited quote is a riff on the classic American WWI line: "Retreat, hell! we just got here!" WWI is also forgotten for most Americans.)

Shaara is especially interested in physical suffering, taking care to show us soldiers enduring extreme privation through combat, cold (temperatures of -30 F), exhaustion, and starvation. He is also interested in relationships between soldiers, especially across ranks. The novel argues strongly for the view that O.P. Smith heroically led his men out of a deathtrap, and that both general MacArthur and local commander Edward Almond made terrible mistakes following the Inchon triumph, compounded by ignorance and an apparent lack of concern both for on the ground reality and men's suffering. These organizational and emotional themes are perhaps the novel's highlight. I was especially moved by Riley's poignant answer to a reporter's question about what he most wanted ("I want to see tomorrow", 255).

Shaara also excels at combat scenes. His prose shifts under fire, with paragraphs lengthening and sentences becoming almost modernist in their impressionism.

However, the prose is otherwise strangely thin. The text describes organizational details at great length, and zeroes in on the mental states of key characters. But it rarely describes. That is, Shaara positions items on that page without describing what they look like. There are few textures, and details are scarce. He describes a soldier as "the Hollywood image of the crusty old veteran" (429), but without a word on what that means. He writes of hills and mountains, but with few notes about shapes or colors. It is weirdly hard to see this battle. Unfairly, the book is better about org charts than about sensation.

At a different level the book suffers from too narrow a focus. It manages to miss ideology and recent history. The Chinese - and kudos for including them at all - are all about the attack on the Marines and organizational politics (which subordinate needs to be treated in which way, how to deal with a Soviet observer). There's very little until the very end about Communism and revolution - which makes no sense for events occurring just months after the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949). Shaara presents an odd scene where Song tries to convince some American prisoners to foment revolution (482-3), and it comes out of nowhere. We don't know Song's take on Marxism. We don't know what this revolutionary ideology means here. Not being ideological is a particular stance, and it doesn't have any resonance. Similarly, Americans have no political or ideological motivation, even when anticommunism was rising to a fever pitch (there is a cute bit where Smith keeps a photo of Stalin on the wall, to inspire his staff). Their World War II experience - just five years past - is barely present at all; strangely, there's no reference to Pacific theater doctrine or tactics. Shaara has overfocused, which is a mistake for a novel trying to rescue history from oblivion.

I have to commend the book for one more thing, a bugaboo of mine. It has excellent maps. This is especially important since Chosin's geography is not well known. Bravo!

[Tim Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the Korean War from my favorite author. I highly recommend this book as it will give you a special appreciation of what the veterans of the Korean War went through. This will also give you a better understanding of what took place.

[Steven Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a love/hate relationship with Jeff Shaara. "The Killer Angels" by his father Michael Shaara is one of my favorite historical novels, told with a gracious command of language and an evenhanded view of the commanders on both sides of the American Civil War. It won the Pulitzer Prize.

Jeff Shaara... is not Michael Shaara. He looks at subjects I find fascinating, does his research, and puts us in the boots of commanders and men on the ground.

So why don't I like his books better?

It really comes down to two things: narrative momentum and use of language. With historical subjects, it can be difficult to keep good storytelling momentum going, but Shaara's momentum often comes to a complete standstill. His descriptions are repetitive; he will often say the exact same thing on several subsequent pages, in case we've forgotten. For instance, in this book, I lost count of the number of times he talks about canned C-rations freezing. Yes, it's a genuinely shocking moment when the Marines get their Thanksgiving dinner and it literally freezes solid before they can eat it; but the punch of that moment has already been diluted by descriptions before that, and more come to follow.

This brings me to my biggest beef with Jeff Shaara: language. If his editor simply removed every usage of the word "seemed" it would, by itself, improve the quality of his books. "He seemed to hesitate" is a common construction, and a nonsensical one; a person either hesitates or they don't. "Seemed" always weakens a sentence, usually pointlessly. After all, we know we're looking through the eyes of a character; everything is perspective in any case.

There are other such verbal tics, repetitions, and poor use of language, which damage my enjoyment of Shaara's books. It's tragic, because I want to like them. I'll still give 3 stars, for subject matter and well-researched material, but if you want to read a book about the Korean War and the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, I recommend the (nonfiction) "The Coldest Winter" by David Halberstam.

[H.W. Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE FROZEN HOURS, though labeled a novel, should have been called creative nonfiction. All the characters were real and the book worked fine for me as a piece of nonfiction. As a novel, not so much. Early parts of the book, where the main characters' backgrounds were being fleshed out, I found slow, and skipped over certain sections. And I never found myself truly invested in any of the characters, except maybe for Marine General Oliver P. Smith.

Once the book got into the meat of the story, the UN counterattack into and ultimate retreat from North Korea (especially the Chosin Reservoir), the tale took on new life. Although I found some of the dialogue a bit stilted, at least for soldiers in combat, author Jeff Shaara did a superb job at bringing to life the "Chosin Few" and their magnificent fighting retreat in America's "forgotten war."

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

My complaint of Shaara is that he writes as if he's being paid by the page. His books are simply too lengthy. They are all in need of a good editor. I found this particular read very repetitive. Enough already. We get it. Major General Edward Almond was a dick. Oliver P. Smith was an outstanding commander. I think Shaara should have been able to make that point in about 150 fewer pages. Learn a lesson from your Dad, his acclaimed "The Killer Angels" was about 200 pages shorter than this read.

[Ben Denison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Shaara’s Civil War stuff, but this one, I struggled through it. It never really captured my attention and by the end I just wanted to get it finished.

[Connor Weyant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Shaara’s Korean War novel is expertly researched and highly compelling (as he always is), illuminating the heroics of individuals in a war forgotten by the American public.

[John Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

every book iv read by him not bad one in the bunch. This one set during the Korean war focusing on the early stages of the war mostly concentrating on jarheads battles with Chinese

[J.E. Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing novel about an inhumanly difficult chapter in American military history, The Frozen Hours chronicles the Marine advance up the Korean peninsula toward the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the winter of 1950. The story of Marines fighting unbelievable cold and the Chinese Army, The Frozen Hours is another Shaara tour de force.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaara does it again, showing he can master more conflicts than just the Civil War (a feat in itself). Personalizing a series of complex characters and explaining their decisions, and trials, in an easy to absorb way.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio. I didn't know much about the Korean War prior to this read. I made me once again grateful for the sacrifices our military has made in order for us to be free.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Shaara may be America's leading writer of military historical fiction. His realistic, well-researched tales of key American military exploits - the American Revolution, the Civil War, WW I and WWII, etc. - almost provide the reader with an honorary PhD in the subject matter.

"The Frozen Hours" puts the reader through the meat grinder of the American misadventure into northern Korea following General Douglas MacArthur's brilliant Inchon attack that turned the tide in the Korean War. The American, South Korean, and U.N. forces had been penned in on the southern tip of Korea until Inchon, but following that master stroke the American military believed that all it needed to do was race north to the Yalu River and crush any fleeing, shattered North Korean forces it might face - the war was going to be over in a matter of a few months.

The problem was, the Yalu River is the border between Korea and China, and China did not want the Americans or the U.N. getting anywhere near the Yalu. Plus, MacArthur had hinted about being willing to *cross* the Yalu. And so China came south. And China, the "sick man of Asia," was still reeling from the wreckage of the last two decades. It had inferior weapons. It had inferior equipment. It had inadequate supplies. But it had lots of men. Disciplined men. Soldiers.

Smart soldiers, as it turns out. The Chinese forces, while heading south, realized that the Americans were racing north as fast as they could go. Northern Korea, however, is about as rugged a territory as you can find on this Earth. It was also perhaps the coldest winter in over 100 years. So the American forces were 'racing' forward at wildly inconsistent rates, leaving their supply chains stretched and their forces vulnerable. Eventually, after the Americans had exhausted themselves in their rush to the north, the Chinese struck. Hard.

Most of "The Frozen Hours" tells the story of the horrific battle north of the Chosin Reservoir, where soldiers literally butchered each other as they froze to death. The casualty toll on the American soldiers and Marines was horrific, but it was harder to say whether the cold or the Chinese were the more dangerous. Together, they were lethal. Shaara describes in horrific detail the effect of cold on the men, from hot food freezing solid within a minute of being ladled into a bowl, to the shattering of frozen feet, to soldiers being happy that their wounds have frozen because otherwise they would bleed to death.

Not for the squeamish, "The Frozen Hours" should be read by any American who does not have a good understanding of the Korean conflict - often called the Forgotten War. I know I learned a lot - highly recommended.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.3/10
I went into this book pretty blind with only knowing a limited amount about the Korean War and knowing nothing about Jeff Shaara and wow, this was quite an experience. Over the past few years, I have had difficulty enjoying non-fiction and certain types of historical fiction because it felt more like an education than anything else. I mostly read as a form of escapism where I can turn my brain off for the most part and I was never able to do that with those books. This was the first book in a long time that seemed like an exception to that. The way that Shaara writes really brings the reader into the story and makes you almost forget this is historical fiction. Multiple times throughout the book I had to remind myself that all of this actually happened and that this isn’t just a well written fiction novel. For me that is the highest achievement a historical fiction book can earn. Now this book is not perfect, it seems to suffer from quite a slow beginning with the first almost half of the book setting up for the Battle of Chosin Reservoir as well as a strange choice of what to elaborate on. I understand that Shaara couldn’t give us a grand walk through of every skirmish or battle during this time or the book would have been even longer than it is now, but there were parts of this book that I wanted to read more about in detail while others I felt were written about too much. Overall, I thought it was a great novel that really made me appreciate this war and the men who fought in it.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent battle-based historical novel from Shaara. Surely his books are the best way to understand history! I like the way he tells the story through the eyes of the participants. Not only the generals, but the common soldiers also get a voice. Needless to say I know almost nothing about the Korean War--and now I know quite a bit about the battle at the Chosin Reservoir, fought in the dead of winter for goodness sakes with temperatures well below zero and neither the UN (here US and British) troops nor the Chinese soldiers were prepared for the temperatures. Or probably the hostile terrain. The war was being run by MacArthur from Tokyo, and we're all fortunate that Marine General Smith, on the ground, was able to avoid total disaster. Relentless pace; insightful, first-person accounts from both courageous Chinese and American characters mostly, with a Brit commander and a Russian observing the Chinese for Stalin; gripping, cinematic story, told from both sides but also violent with the horrors of war depicted in battles and as a result of the cold; descriptive language, military jargon, well-researched account; austere, gritty, sobering, intense tone. Narrator Paul Michael does a great job as always. Shaara's books are not to be missed; I value them for the thorough research, insights into characters, detailed descriptions of places and events, and gripping fast-paced stories.

[William J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again a super book by Jeff Shaara! This is the story of the US Marine Corps 1st Division during its landing at Inchon and again at Hungnan through its withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir back to Hungnam in September through December 1950. The First Marine Division was assigned to the US Army Tenth Corps Headquarters and the relationship between the Division Commander, Major General Oliver P. Smith referred to as OP and the Army Corps Commander, Major General Edward "Ned" Almond is addressed thoroughly. One does not get a very favorable impression of MG Almond from this book! The story is told through the experiences of the participants especially a Squad of Fox Company Seventh Marine Regiment.
The differences between the approaches to strategy and tactics of the Army and Marine Corps are addressed as is the quality of training and experience of the forces involved. Also the author addresses the Chinese Commander and his strategy, tactics and soldier training and experience. There is a Russian "observer" a Major Orlov who provides advice to the Chinese General Sung. There is an Army Major General Lowe who is an "observer" from President Truman with the First Marine Division periodically who adds to the story line but the real story is with Fox Company.
The fight up to the Chosin Reservoir and back is really graphic and the reader can feel the bitter cold and anxiety of the Marines.
This is a great read if one is interested in the Korean War. It is historically accurate and well written!