Douglas Valentine

The Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A very true book and a story well told, chilling in its accumulation."

James Kaufmann, The Los Angeles Times
"This is a very true book and a story well told...chilling in its accumulation." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Thomas D'Evelyn, The Christian Science Monitor,
"After the dust settles, The Hotel Tacloban will be there. It sheds light on these dark times. Read it." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Robert Taylor, the Boston Sunday Globe,
"Searing." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Allison Knopf, The New York Times
"Very dramatic...compelling."

Casey O'Malley, Best Sellers, the Monthly Book Review,
"It is an easily read book, and a strong human document."

Leslie Hanscom, Newsday,
"This vivid and compelling narrative...cries out for film treatment."

Publishers Weekly
"Not just a searing picture of life in a terrible POW camp, this is also a significant historical document."

Book Description
In this extraordinary story of World War II, the author's father describes the experiences that would affect the course of his life. Douglas Valentine tells of enlisting in the army at age 16, his capture by the Japanese in the fetid jungle of New Guinea, and his internment with Australian and British prisoners-of-war in the Hotel Tacloban--and from which few came home alive. A celebration of camaraderie and a testament to "the soldier's faith", this is a story of murder, mutiny and an incredible military cover-up.

From the Author
The film rights to The Hotel Tacloban have been purchased by the Kennedy Miller Film Company (makers of the Mel Gibson movies, Mad Max and The Road Warrior) in Australia. The author would like to "turn" these rights over to any interested film producers. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.


Excerpted from The Hotel Tacloban by Douglas Valentine. All rights reserved
"My father was not like other veterans I knew, although he did keep some treasured, faded photographs of friends in uniform. But he wouldn't march in the Memorial Day parade, or allow real guns in the house, nor would he have anything to do with the U.S. Army or with veterans organizations like the VFW or the American Legion...

"For a long time I had the feeling my father was avoiding me, and as I grew older, through Junior High and High School - through the first years of the Vietnam War - he and I grew progressively further apart. We disagreed on just about everything, including Vietnam, and when it came time to head off to college, I couldn't get away from home fast enough...

"It wasn't until two years ago, on his doctor's advice, that we finally sat down together to patch up our differences. And that's when I learned about the nightmares, visions, and flashbacks that had driven my father to the brink of madness for so many years. I learned how, at the age of fifty-six, the faces which had haunted him, day and night for almost forty years, finally became too much for him to bear. I learned how he sought psychiatric help after his second open heart surgery, and how the doctor convinced him to tell the truth about what happened in the war, even though, by doing so, he risked arousing the wrath of the U.S. Army. Never one to worry too much about risk, Dad took his doctor's advice and told me the whole unbelievable story."