McCrabb: Middletown graduate returns to history roots for first book

Being raised around a father who possessed an unquenchable thirst for history, especially World War II, Egelston said he obtained the same interests.

Bob Egelston watched WW II documentaries religiously. His wife, Terri Smith, said if the TV was showing something in black and white with planes flying across the screen, she knew her husband was home.

So it’s no surprise that Egelston’s first novel revolves around a character during WW II. He has written Reluctant Contrition that traces the trials and tribulations of Louis Fournier, who in Nazi-occupied France, mounts a one-man brigade, ambushing German soldiers under cover of darkness.

Fournier, who Egelston estimates is 18 years old, fights a war that becomes a personal battle and asks the question: What’s the moral cost of choosing between what’s wrong and what’s needed?

“He does some things that he knows are pretty terrible against terrible people,” Egelston explained. “While he tries to figure out if two wrongs make a right, he starts enjoying the chaos.”

About 10 years ago, while reading a book, Egelston said about halfway through, he thought he “got this story figured out.”

Then, the last half of the book was “a letdown,” he said.

“I can tell a better story than this,” he convinced himself.

He remembered when Henry Rollins, a singer, writer and actor, said if you want to act, find a stage, if you want to play in a band, find an instrument.

Egelston sat at a computer.

“I started writing to see what happened,” he said with a laugh. “I had no idea what I was doing.”

For nearly 18 months, he kept his writing project a secret from everyone except his wife, Marcia.

Writing came easy. Editing was hard.

His first draft was 200,000 words, an “absolute beast” of a book, he said. He cut out 30,000 words. The book is 442 pages.

Throughout the process, Egelston, a 1996 Middletown High School and Miami University graduate, wanted to write a book that he thought his late father would read.

“He would have enjoyed it,” said Egelston, who said the main character’s first name is the same as his father’s middle name.

“A little nod to Dad,” he said.

Others also have enjoyed the book that has received “rave reviews,” according to Egelston.

“It felt really cool to hold the thing in my hand,” he said.