My dad has all of Robert Goddard’s books and this was my first time reading one. I picked Pale Battalions because it’s highly rated online; because its name sounds like a Fischer Z song; and because when I asked my dad to suggest a Goddard title, he suggested the same one. Plus we’ve been to the Thiepval Memorial, although this was when I was a kid and did not care for history.

But what a story. It’s cleverly put together — not just merging the many perspectives from its story’s dozen characters, but it’s also done in such a way the reader does not get lost. We’re slowly drawn into a mystery, traveling back and forth in time and across decades to unravel it (for this it reminds me of Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino). Plus it’s done with good prose.