Books I've read this week - Soul Survivor

Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot ©2009 by Bruce and Andrea Leininger with Ken Gross

About the book: “The parents of James Leininger were first puzzled and then disturbed when their two-year-old son began screaming out chilling phrases during recurrent nightmares, such as “Plane on fire! Little man can’t get out!” The centerpiece of a loving family of three, James was a happy, playful toddler who had only just begun stringing together sentences. Determined to understand what was happening to their son, Bruce and Andrea set off on a journey of discovery that was to rock them to their core. For the more they researched the arcane comments and fragmented details little James revealed, the more they were drawn inescapably to a shocking conclusion: that James was reliving the life of James Huston, a World War II fighter pilot who was killed in the battle for Iwo Jima -- over sixty year ago!

Through painstaking research and conversations with war veterans and surviving members of James Huston’s family, Bruce and Andrea were forced to confront their skepticism and reexamine their entire belief system. In the process, they not only managed to solve the mystery of their son’s statements, they also uncovered revelations about James Huston’s life and wartime experiences that could finally bring peace and healing to his loved ones, decades after his death.”

This was a fascinating story. A two-year-old starts having nightmares and says he’s trapped in a burning plane. That by itself is nothing too unusual but when he names a specific type of plane and says he was shot down by a Japanese fighter plane, his parents began to wonder what’s going on. He has knowledge of things that a 2-year-old couldn’t know. James was lucky he had parents who took the time to try and figure out what the problem was, instead of just ignoring it or medicating him, because the screaming nightmares went on for months. If I hadn’t known this was a true story, I would have thought it a very interesting novel. Do I believe James Huston was reincarnated in James Leininger? I’m not sure. Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. For more information, you can go to http://www.soulsurvivor-book.com/ .