Matthew Eberz, a resident of Cumming and Atlanta, Georgia for the last ten years, may have made a hit in publishing his first novel, Tenth Man. “It has been a work in progress for many years,” Eberz said. “I first started the effort when I was in the army and assigned to Fort Sheridan. I came across the graves of nine German POWs from World War II and became curious. After doing some research about the POW camps on Ft. Sheridan, I became fascinated with the period.” Tenth Man, is a story about two men, one in the present and one in the past. The present day soldier, Major Sam Call, is at the end of his once promising career, and Sergeant Jonathan Simon who was a Sergeant in administration during WWII. Sam was a career minded soldier of honor and integrity but by openly fighting the system he ended his career. His last assignment is preparing the soon to close Fort Sheridan for turnover to civilian authorities. In doing so he finds Simon’s diary, some financial data and a possible plot involving German POWs and American Officers.

“More than writing a mystery, I wanted to tell a story about soldiers; soldiers who fight battles that civilians don’t hear about. Soldiers who fight the fight of internal corruption and who stand their ground against senior military officers on the principles these very same corrupt officers profess to hold so dear but have long since disregarded. In shaping the characters of the book I used my experiences with real soldiers who fought real battles, and lost that which they so dearly loved, their careers. I wanted to show soldiers not on the battlefields of war, but on the battlefield of daily army life and how the friendships soldiers develop forever bound them together. This is a story of integrity, of honor and of loyalty that only a soldier can experience. It is a story I needed to tell.”

Mr. Eberz is currently working on his second novel, entitled Very Public Data.