The details were meticulously researched for this book and provided an in-depth look at how horrifically Germans and Japanese were treated in America during WWII. The family is plunged into disaster and turmoil right away and I could not put the book down once I got into it - I needed to find out how things were resolved.

For Malice and Mercy by Gary Toyn brings together the stories of several residents of the town of Huntsville, Utah, as they navigate World War II and all the changes it brings to their lives. It covers lots of topics - interment camps, deportation, prisoner of war camps, PTSD, the women who ferried planes from one point to another - to name a few. Add in the hardships the war brought to everyone and the suspicions born of fear, and we can understand a tiny bit of what life during World War II was like. Fascinating read from both a fictional and historical point of view.

Inspired by real people and events, the author of For Malice and Mercy writes about atrocities which happened in America when the country joined WWII. After many chapters he includes research notes detailing true stories and details of the time, all fascinating to read. Though the stories contain brutal details, they are real. They happened to real people on every side of the war. Here we follow the story of one Jewish immigrant family from Germany who are Americans...and proud of it. Karl and Marta Meyer are living in Utah when they were suddenly taken from their homes and interned at Santa Anita where thousands of other Germans and Japanese were imprisoned as they were deemed as threats to America. They were eventually deported.

Brother and sister Hank and Ella are alarmed at their parents' disappearance but their hands are tied. Hank is actively involved in the war effort in Europe. Their friend, Billie, is a WASP. Survival for all of them is life and death, in differing ways. I really like seeing several perspectives and learning much more about American internment camps. The Pentagon letter is riveting...I really had no idea. The historical details are incredible...often chilling, at times heartwarming. Lives were turned upside down, betrayal was rife and desperation drove people to do things they would never have contemplated earlier.

It is obvious this author cares in his thoroughness and careful treatment of the topic. If you are intrigued by WWII in general, do read this book. I'm so glad I did! This is a remarkable look at history and the author brings is close to home, very personal and focused.

My sincere thank you to American Legacy Media and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this informative and compelling book.

I couldn't get into this book. Finally after setting it aside for awhile at 15% in I decided I should just review what I had read so far. Written okay, wanted to get into it, but couldn't. Not my cup of tea. Thanks for the opportunity.

The story is about the families of Karl and Marta Meyer, their neighbors and friends in rural Utah. Billie Russell is a free spirit who wants to learn to fly and is able to to take lessons at the local airfield. Billie ends up being a pilot in the WASP's program. Her best friend, Ella Meyer has desires to be a nurse. After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, America declares war and everyone wants to do their part in the war effort. Hank , Ella's brother, is not old enougih to enlist. Hank argues with his parents to sign the papers to enlist. and join with his friends to do his part in the war. With the advice from his Uncle Willy, Hank is later able to join the Army Air Corp.
Karl and Marta immigrated to America from Germany after the Great War. They have made a nice home in Huntville, Utah. Their world is turned upside down when the FBI come and take them to an internment camp. The details of the story continue with the lives of these characters and how the war affects them.
I enjey this story and appreciated the footnotes at the end of the chapters with the details of the research the author had done. I appreciated the realistic distriptions of the events that happened during this time period. I also appreciated the details of the religious practices of the characters. As I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I could relate to the life style they discribed. I also was familiar with the interment camps for the Japanese but was unaware of the camps for the Germans.
The book was enjoyable and at times read like a Family History. I highly recommend.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. I loved this book! This is an amazing story set during World War II, largely based on true incidents. It covers life in the US and Germany during this tumultuous period. Instead of focusing on battles, this is an up close view of the people involved in the war and follows their personal struggles and achievements. I totally recommend this book to any reader who enjoys the story inside the big picture.

This story is based on the true events that happened to the Meyer family of Ogden, Utah. A family of German-American immigrants and their trials pertaining to World War II.

I believe that a LOT of people need to be made aware of the atrocities that the U.S. Government committed to the innocent families of German and Japanese descent during these trying years. My mother's best friend in childhood was a Japanese American girl in California. One day she went down the street to find the house torn apart and her friend's family and all the other Japanese families in that area were just....gone.... She never knew what became of her friend.

My uncle, a respected doctor of medicine in Zanesville, Ohio received a phone call asking him about his German sympathies? His reply was, 'WHAT?, what's this about?' whereupon the caller said, 'your last name is Geist is it not? a German name?' Uncle Joe was quick to inform the caller that our surname was GIST and that we were originally from England! My uncle flew B17 bombers during the war and survived being shot down behind enemy lines more than once.

History is doomed to repeat itself to those that take no heed of the past. Sad but true and in these trying times a book of this sort is desperately needed to show the evil deeds that 'good patriots' can visit on the innocent.

I give "For Malice and Mercy' a 3.5 star review only on the condition that the writing of the book is somewhat clumsy. It's more a series of micro stories presenting the details than one unbroken storyline. There are multiple protagonists and the viewpoint jumps from one to another constantly. The events on the other hand are truly disturbing and need to be acknowledged.

I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read "For Malice and Mercy' and leave my honest personal review.

<i>For Malice and Mercy</i> by Gary W. Toyn is that rarity, a novel based on historical fact that is still a novel, weaving together two families’ wartime experiences. The characters are believable and fully developed against an equally vivid and fascinating background. For those who take an interest in historical accuracy, Mr. Toyn has listed the records, documents, memoirs, and other sources for each incident. The only way it could have been improved was by careful copy editing, and yes, I am picky about typos, Saxon genitives, and (lack of) punctuation.
Even beyond its human and historical interest, <i>For Malice and Mercy</i> is scarily relevant today, when propaganda and fear can still lead to hate and acts of cruelty.
Netgalley sent me an ARC for my unbiased review of <i>For Malice and Mercy</i>, which is scheduled for publication on September 15, 2021.

Thank you Netgalley and American Legacy Media for allowing me to read this arc. I loved this book! The characters great The story was good, but parts of it were hard to read and heartbreaking. While I appreciate how much research the author did, the chapter notes distracted me from the story, so I stopped reading them. If they had been footnotes at the end, I would have read them all, and the way the book was written, it sounded so long it was a little daunting for me.

Although I appreciate that this book is about a little known subject and well researched, sadly I did not find it flowed well or was particularly well written. The writing was somewhat stilted and reminded me of reading students accounts of their holidays. An interesting and heartbreaking subject dealt with well Netherlands.

I have read dozens and dozens of books about World War II. This is the first book that I have read about the internment of German-Americans and the costs to those American citizens. The book is fiction, but based on many facts about the times. It is a well-written and fascinating story. Gut-wrenching at times, but well worth the read. I applaud the author.

I read For Malice and Mercy by Gary W. Toyn. This book is essentially about the treatment of loyal German-Americans and Japanese-Americans in America during the Second World War was beyond reprehensible. Of course there were those of German and Japanese descent who worked gladly as spies for their governments. Then there were those whose whole life had been lived as true loyal Americans, only to have their adopted country turn on them. Even good neighbors harbored suspicions and turned them in to the authorities for perceived subversive activities.

This is the story of Karl and Marta Meyer, good American citizens whose neighbors brutally determined that they were a threat to America. The oldest son, Hank, joined the services in order to show his American loyalty. The parents, Karl and Marta were eventually taken from their farm and interred in a camp. Conditions there were less than good and eventually the two were sent back to Germany. There they lived the war as it happened with their relatives.

I could tell more, but the story itself is so intriguing and suspenseful that I don’t think it would serve the future reader’s full enjoyment of reading the book. I loved the book and the author certainly did a wonderful job of keeping the reader involved to the end.

This engrossing novel is a family saga of the Meyer family, who were born in Germany and became US Citizens who started their family in the US, and how each one was affected by WWII both in Europe and their hometown in Utah. I’ve read numerous books about WWII, both fiction and non-fiction, and this author touched me to my core like no other.
I never knew about the horrible detention camps for US citizens here in the USA where Americans were treated horrendously due to their heritage. I found this particular storyline to be upsetting and shocking as I never realized that Americans were treated so badly during the war on their own soil.
I particularly enjoyed the author’s notes at the end of each chapter which gave the true account of events that occurred in the chapter. These notes made this historical fiction novel come to life, tugging at one’s heart when realizing these things happened to real people.
If you’re a fan of WWII, this one needs to be on your TBR list!

I have read a lot of books about WWII, both fiction and non-fiction. I was aware that there were camps housing suspected "spies" in America during the war. I never read anything about them nor did I really even give them a second thought. Needless to say I have made a grave error in not learning more about some of the negative roles the U.S. itself played during the war. Always so used to hearing that horn being tooted and our praises sung about our dramatic and heroic entry into and subsequent defeat of the Nazi. I never considered that there are things we should bow our heads in shame about. No one is completely good or completely innocent, there is always a negative if you have a positive. I have just kept my blinders on too long.
This novel is based on one German families true experiences during those times. The parents are naturalized American citizens, the children, having been born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens by birth. This does not protect them when the parents are arrested in the middle of the night on unsubstantiated claims of being spies and collaborating with the Germans against the U.S.. The children are left to try and maintain the family home and their way of life. The parents are stripped of their constitutional rights and ended up in horrific amps under appalling conditions until they were eventually deported back to Germany.
The author took years to research this book meticulously and did a great job with it. We all know about the horror of Auschwitz, Dachau and the other German concentration camps, but there is little if anything said about the cruelty and mistreatment of fellow human beings on this side of the Atlantic. My parents never mentioned a thing about these camps and they were very much present and involved during WWII. Not a word was said.
This is a wonderful, eye-opening experience for me, giving me many new things to contemplate and ponder about the U.S.'s role during WWII.
Thank you to Net Galley and American Legacy Media for the free ARC of this novel, I am leaving my honest review voluntarily in return.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. And honestly, I couldn’t get into it. And I couldn’t quite figure it out because it had gotten several glowing reviews. And then it hit me – the book was 90% telling. I was not able to relate to the characters because I was rarely shown how they felt, what was important to them, what motivated them, but was told instead.
Part of the problem, I think was the author tried to cover too much in one story. Rather than trying to interweave four stories into one novel it would have been better if he’d done a series, concentrating each on a different main character. That would have given the reader a chance to really get to know the characters.
An irritating part was the use of historical notes at the end of many chapters. It was as if the author tried to justify what he’d written by saying, hey if you don’t believe me, this is what happened. I received an eARC so maybe these notes were intended as back matter but as presented they broke up the narrative and added no value. If I could I’d give this book a 2.5 rating as it did have some tense moments which elicited strong emotions on my part (even tears,) but unfortunately they were few and far between.

Lots has been written about the experience of Japanese-American immigrants during WWII. This is my first encounter with anything focused on the German-American experience. Gary Toyn's novel For Malice and Mercy is an eye-opener. This well-documented account of how Germans were treated in the USA during the war is heart-wrenching in retrospect, but sadly so believable. Their story was buried by our government after the war, when officials made German-American citizens sign non-disclosure agreements as a term of their release and return of property. These NDAs threatened deportation if they ever told how they were treated. Chapter end notes highlight the source of many experiences woven into the storyline.

German immigrants Karl and Marta Meyer are very loyal Americans living in Utah with where they moved for religious freedom and raise a family in the Morman faith. But when America enters the war against Germany, Karl and Marta are arrested as spies and stripped of their citizenship. Their teenaged children are left to maintain their house, farm and farm animals. At the German/Japanese internment camp where they are sent, the couple is violently targeted by Nazi supporters. Their children, back in Utah, are shunned by friends and members of their church, and their home is trashed and tagged with red swastikas.

As the war progresses, their son Hank joins the US Army Air Corp, both to defend his country and to earn money to pay their mortgage. After training as a crew member on a B-17, he's deployed to England and shot down over Germany. Captured and sent to a German POW camp, he hides his Germany roots to avoid the Gestapo labeling him as a spy. Meanwhile their daughter Ella goes to nursing school and works at a military hospital in Utah. Lots more happens to divide and haunt the family but I don't want to put any additional spoilers into the review.

This book is a great read, especially for historical fiction fans. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy. This review is my own opinion.

This is a very interesting and well-researched novel. I learned a lot about the internment of Germans and the further treatment of Germans in the US. It surprised me that naturalized citizens had their citizenship stripped so easily. I also learned a lot about the WASPS. That was fascinating. Overall, the only thing I found distracting was the focus on faith and the Mormon church.

The Myer family have family roots in Germany, but their home is in Utah. Ella is attending nursing school at a local college, and Hank is finishing high school. Billie, Ella's best friend, chafes at being a good Mormon girl. She'd rather be free and flying. Chester, Hank's best friend, is Billie's unofficial girlfriend. When WWII breaks out, all of their lives are changed forever.

The parents are arrested, put in an internment camp, and eventually repatriated to Germany. Billie joins the WASPs and transports military plans all over the US. Hank eventually enlists, becomes a B17 gunner, is shot down over Germany, and ends up as a POW. Chester enlists and becomes a medic serving in the Pacific.

For Malice and Mercy, by Gary W. Toyn, takes events from history to weave this story. The writing is stilted and the conversation seems forced. The book could have been fantastic, but it was disappointing. I was allowed to read this on #NetGalley. The opinions here are my own.

Thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction set toggling between the USA and Germany during the World War 2 era. We followed a group of young adults out of Utah who came of age right as the enlistment and drafting was occurring. Each had a unique contribution to the war effort. Wonderful story. My favorite part was the unique use of footnotes in each chapter citing the evidence basis from which the author crafted the story.

FOR MALICE AND MERCY BY GARY W TOYN is a very well researched WW11 novel, based on true stories, which looks at the war from a different angle, and tells us about injustices towards American citizens of German and Japanese origin, against the backdrop of Nazi horrors.
It is an interesting book.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from American Legacy Media. The opinions in this review are completely my own.