Hero's Tribute by Graham Garrison (Book Review)

Title: Hero's Tribute
Author: Graham Garrison
Publisher: Kregel Publications

My synopsis: Michael Gavins has selected Wes Watkins to give the eulogy at his funeral. He has never met Wes, but only knows of him through his sports features in the local newspaper and an "anonymous" blog called Back Words. Michael is dying of cancer and has seemed to have led an exemplary life. He wants someone to do his eulogy who won't sugar coat everything and will not approach the task with a bias. He feels that Wes is the perfect one for the job.

It isn't until after Michael dies that Wes learns of this last request. Confused yet intrigued, he accepts this "assignment" and begins the daunting task of getting to know the man that Michael was. Michael conveniently left Wes a list of people to interview to get to know him. On the surface Michael was a high school football star, an Iraqi war hero who received the Medal of Honor, and now ran a retreat for foster kids. Wes feels that since Michael wanted him to do the eulogy, that there must be a bigger story there. The more he digs, the more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

Many in the town, including Wes' boss, do not want him digging into Michael's past. In many ways this just makes Wes look a little harder, because he feels that there must be a story there somewhere. As he continues to uncover Michael's story though, he realizes that there are some things in his own life that he must change.

My thoughts: I think Graham Garrison is a great storyteller! I was crying through the first 15 pages and finally turned the book over to see if it was fiction or non-fiction! (Fiction) I really enjoyed this book and loved the way that he would introduce us to one more piece of Michael's story. Wes would be interviewing some one and as a question would be revealed at the end of a chapter, the next chapter would be the actually retelling of that the incident in question. It was very smooth and really kept me reading. I really liked Michael's family - his wife Lynn and the grief that she was not afraid to show, and the strength that came after; his mom and dad - Betty and Paul - they played a large part in his life - larger than just being his parents; Addy - his young daughter - a typical and lovable 6 year old.

He kept me reading right up to the last chapter to get the lesson/message of this book. While there are many smaller lessons along the way, the final one is pretty big - but I am not going to spoil it for you.

Read the first chapter of Hero's Tribute.

~I was provided this book for review by First Wild Card Tours.~

Hero's Tribute
Publisher/Publication Date: Kregel Publications, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8254-2685-8
240 pages