World War II was a deadly time. Not only for those who fought in it, but for those around the world as well. There were many loved ones killed and wounded while fighting and living in places that this war showed its face. In the book, Four Steps to Death, By:  John Wilson, was overall a good book. This can be proven by showing how the author used the Aristotelian unities of characters and plot. In this book, the author used well-organized characters and put a new spin on who the characters are, what they do in the story, and what happens to them. The author also used a well planned plot that will keep you guessing until the end of the book, and make you want to keep reading until the very end, because you can’t foresee what will happen.

            One of the ways to prove that this book is excellent is to look at the way that the author used the Aristotelian unity of characters. The author used an amazing set of characters, not only that; but he also made a few twists as to who the characters are, what they do in the story, and what happens to them. In this book, the protagonists are three people; Conrad, Vasily, and Sergie. They were all the main characters, but they weren’t together. The author wrote it, so, that in a way, they were against each other. For instance, Conrad was a German tank commander, Vasily was a Russian scout that later on became a sniper assistant, and Sergie was only 7 years old and lived through the war. The war eventually made its way to Sergie’s hometown, where it was the first time they all were together. It wasn’t only these characters, but they each had a few of their own people that you could call their “crew,” and/ or secondary characters, that they spent the story with, and you got to follow their journey through the war. Conrad’s crew was his tank crew that consisted of Franz, Gottfried, Heinz, and Erich. Vasily’s crew was his squad that consisted of Nikolai, Yevgeny, Yelena and other soldiers. Sergie didn’t really have a crew; he was with his friends, and his mother. The role of the antagonist was very different. The author’s antagonist was war. It was war because that is what kills most of the characters and secondary characters at the end, and is against the characters throughout the whole book. The author also used a love interest. The love interest was between Yelena and Vasily. The thing about their love interest is that they died together. They were the two bodies that Sergie found at the beginning of the book; they loved together, fought together, and died together. Overall, the author’s use of characters was excellent. He was able to follow the proper format of the unity, and put in his own twists.

            A second way to prove that this book is brilliant, is by talking about the unity of plot that is in this book. The author used a wonderful plot from the beginning to the end that kept you questioning what will happen. At the beginning of the book, the author used an interesting way to start that makes you ask questions, such as who this is, and what is their story? Sergie starts off the book by falling into a hole at age 70, and finds these two skeletons. From there, the book goes into each of the main character’s own stories’ during World War II. After a few days pass in the story, you get to know about them and understand what they are doing as part of this war. The author used an interesting set of characters; the trigger event was different in a way that it forces you to read on because you have one character on either side of the war, and one stuck in the middle; so there is no way that you can predict what will happen at the end of the book. Throughout the book, the author puts each of the characters’ through times that you don’t know if they will survive or not. He was extremely good at this, because as a reader you always want to read on and see what will happen. The most unexpected part was when he had Sergie walked away from his house, and he was in a deadly situation as the war is right with him. He was in a case that he had a gun, and was somewhat fighting in the war. As the climax comes into place, it is so powerful and appealing it automatically grabs your attention. The author had all the main characters together in one city, covered in war, without you knowing which of them will survive. Then, as another twist, the author had two of the three protagonists die, which were Conrad and Vaisly. Not only did most of the main character die, but almost all of the secondary characters did to. This feature that the author put in to the book further supports the meaning of the story. Overall, this book was full of twist and turns that will keep you guessing until the last page.

            The author was able to catch the reality of war, in this amazing book, Four Steps to Death. This book was a well written piece of literature that will keep you guessing until the book is over. On top of that, the author used an excellent set of characters, with many of his own twists that sends you off into this amazing fantasy.