Pacific Glory: A Novel

World War II Navy #1

by P.T. Deutermann

A thrilling, multi-layered World War II adventure following two men and an unforgettable woman, from Pearl Harbor through the most dramatic air and sea battles of the war

Marsh, Mick, and Tommy were inseparable friends during their naval academy years, each man desperately in love with the beautiful, unattainable Glory Hawthorne. Graduation set them on separate paths into the military, but they were all forever changed during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.

Glory, now Tommy’s widow, is a tough Navy nurse still grieving her loss while trying to save lives. Marsh, a surface ship officer, finds himself in the thick of terrifying sea combat from Guadalcanal through Midway to a climactic showdown at Leyte Gulf. And Mick, a hotshot fighter pilot with a drinking problem and a chip on his shoulder, seeks redemption after a series of failures leaves him grounded.

Filled with wide-screen action, romance, and heroism tinged with the brutal reality of war, Pacific Glory is a dynamic new direction for an acclaimed thriller writer.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, War, Military Fiction, World War II, Action, Historical

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 2011

About the author

P. T. Deutermann is a retired Navy captain and has served in the joint Chiefs of Staff as an arms control specialist. He is the author of eighteen novels, and lives in North Carolina. His World War II adventure novel Pacific Glory won the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction, administered by the American Library Association; his other World War II novels are Ghosts of Bungo Suido and Sentinels of Fire. His most recent novel is Cold Frame, a contemporary thriller set in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently I seem to be reading some excellent historical fiction. I just finished reading Herman Houk, Simon Scarrow and now Deutermann.

This story follows three naval academy classmates. Tommy was married to navy nurse Glory Hawthorne. Tommy dies on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. Marsh “the beauty” is a surface ship officer fighting in the pacific and Mick “the beast” is a fighter pilot who has a drinking problem. The author provides a bit of a twist in what happens to Glory.

The book is well written and researched. Deutermann does an excellent job inserting his protagonist into the real history and action of the War. The author writes stunning World War II battle scenes. There is lots of action and suspense. I am looking forward to reading more by this author. If you are a fan of World War II stories this book is ideal for you.

Dick Hill does an excellent job narrating the book. Hill is a multi-award winning audiobook narrator.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undoubtedly, this is one of the best WW2 novels I have had the pleasure of reading. P.T. Deutermann wrote his novel in such a way that I felt that I was right there looking over a dive-bomber pilot's shoulder, was on the bridge with the XO on a variety of vessels, or with a navy nurse as she cared for the grievous wounds and burns suffered by those lucky enough to escape from sinking ships, marauding sharks or air ambulances ravaged by enemy fire. Deutermann, a career naval officer, gives us a heavy dose of realism on the printed page-at least, I am surmising that he does, based on my feelings as I read this book in about three days. He makes you care for his characters, and is ruthless in terms of the paths their stories take. At times, I was struggling to read the text through tears, and found myself afraid for people populating the pages.

I learned a lot about the movements and battles of the Big Blue Fleet in the seas around the Solomon Islands, including Guadalcanal and the Battle of Leyte. Do not be put off by the fact that Pacific Glory has a love story as part of its plot. Deutermann uses romance to enhance our understanding of what it might have been like for the thousands of young men and women, that Tom Brokaw calls "The Greatest Generation", to deal with fear, falling in love with someone who might never return to you, and how countless relationships did not have the proverbial happy ending.

I remember reading Leon Uris' Battle Cry in my mid teens. I loved that book, although I was horrified by some of what I read. This book kindled similar feelings. I am confident that Mr. Deuterman would feel he had achieved his goal, knowing that Pacific Glory: A Novel generated that type of response.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several years ago I nourished my long-standing interest in naval history with two books on the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of World War Two, and, depending on the criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history. What we now call Leyte Gulf actually comprised four separate engagements: Battle of Sibuyan Sea, Battle of Surigao Strait, Battle off Samar and Battle of Cape Engano, along with other actions. P.T. Deutermann's Pacific Glory, in its essentials, is a novel of the Battle off Samar. However, it is also a gripping and emotional fiction of three intertwined people caught up in the horrors of the Pacific War. In one sense Deutermann portrays the finely grained minutiae of everyday life away from the battles and in another he portrays the vicious and complex maneuvering of warships and airplanes and the emotional strain endured by those who wait and those who survive.

There is something beautiful and rare in this book; a sense of whole people striving to get through the terror, full of doubt and questions but also motivated by a profound sense of duty. Military fiction is a hard beast to master. Concentrate on the weapons, the tactics and strategy and you often end up with shallow one-dimensional characters; concentrate on the people and you can be left with something closer to soap opera. Deutermann has achieved a fine synthesis of people and of action. His characters came alive on the page for me and I was left, as I am with many histories of the Second World War, with this stunned appreciation of what ordinary people did. Our parents, our grandparents standing up and doing valorous things. Deutermann explains the difference between courage and valor in the book:

Courage is when you function under fire. Valor is when you’re scared to death and your brain is screaming at you to run, and yet you still turn around and go back.

I think, part of the reason why this novel works so well is the experience and feeling the author brings to it. Deutermann is retired Navy, a former destroyer captain, his father was a Vice-Admiral at Leyte Gulf, plus he has already published a dozen or so other books. Even though historical fiction is not his general forte he certainly succeeded with this one. Reading it reminded me of a quote from Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn which I recently read:

"The dawn was bright and blowing. Angels perched unseen on the shrouds and crosstrees. Young men, fated to survive and become old men dying abed half a century hence, would forever remember this hour, when an army at dawn made for the open sea in a cause none could yet comprehend. Ashore, as the great fleet glided past, dreams of them stepped, like men alive, in the rooms where their loved ones lay sleeping.”

[Mr. Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pacific Glory was a nice surprise. It was more than just a testosterone loaded romp through the Pacific during the Second World War. All too often historical fiction set in the context of a major conflict is exactly that -- lots of killing, lots of shooting, and mostly conversations between dudes about ho war is hell and they can't wait to get back to their lady-friends, and, oh, shucks, John just got a letter from Mary. Not the case here.

Yes, Pacific Glory does follow the Pacific Campaign. And, yes, there is plenty of action. In particular, March (more or less the main character) finds himself leading a destroyer up against several cruisers and even a battleship. (Needless to say it did not end well for Marsh.) Also, we get to follow Mick, a stereotypical egotistical flyboy who doesn't play well with others but does manage to cause lots of pain to the Japanese. The book also follows Glory, the widow of a good friend of the other two characters. A naval nurse, Glory also tells her story and we get to follow her through the war as well. There is (no surprise) a bit of a love triangle that develops.

Unfortunately, by keeping the focus on the three characters the story remains kind of unfocused. You never really connect with any of them - except possibly Marsh. I frankly wish the author had simply focused the story on him. It might have bumped my rating higher.

Three stars out of five. Honestly, I feel a little guilty because I read this a while ago but got hung up due to life and general craziness. Still, all-in-all it was a decent read.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sort of a mystery, but if you haven't figured it out by by the end of page 2, I'm disappointed in you.

The author was born December, 1941; son of an admiral; became a career Naval Officer with a remarkable career and has now finished 15 novels. He has a perfect concept of naval war, having been in several theaters between 1963 and 1989 in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Shore duty included time in Washington, DC with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His daughter flew US Navy F-14s; his son and daughter-in-law are Coast Guard helicopter pilots; besides his father, two of his uncles and both of his brothers have served in the military.

His tale of 3 Annapolis class of 1932 buddies and the woman they all loved is woven into and the constant refrain behind the awful events of World War ll in the Pacific...primarily the Naval battles.

Mr. Deutermann covers an impossible span of time and space efficiently but thoroughly enough for non-historians. His insights in the Author's Notes are very helpful, especially as he explains what he made up. I particularly liked one of his closing lines: " 'Glory' is usually an inappropriate word when applied to war, man's most horrific endeavor..."

The story is compelling as we follow each character through their own versions of hell from August 1942 until 1949.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The battle scenes are well written, but they are basically the entire point of the novel. The characters are a little wooden - Marsh is probably the most developed, and his personality is seen mostly through his actions at war. Glory exists only to further the men's story, and her motivations are often difficult to understand/accept.

Deutermann does a good job putting the reader into the battles and in among the men fighting at sea. I probably would have liked the story better had he just excised the entire Glory plotline. (A fellow book club participant pointed out Glory's symbolism in light of the title, but I think the men could have been disillusioned by "glory" without her character.)

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there were a larger audience for WWII novels, because they’re rare but almost always enjoyable. ‘Pacific Glory’ was the best out of all the Deuterman books I’ve read; I remember not caring for ‘The Nugget’ much at all. I liked the three interconnected storylines, especially that of Marsh, the Taffy 3 destroyer XO who plays a key, fictionalized role in the heroic Battle of Samar. Deuterman clearly has a surface-navy background and writes most confidently on that aspect of the war; being an aviation guy, his naval aviation writing is a bit less accurate. Characters were multifaceted and realistic, as were the settings and dialogue. The only thing I actively disliked was the disjointed timeline — the story would sometimes move forward by days, other times by 9+ months, so I think each chapter, not just each major section, could’ve used a date inscription.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, three friends see their lives take separate paths, until the war brings them back together, with woeful results.

An action-packed, yet somber WWII story, with some romance, and a lot of detailed battle scenes.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and non stop action.

[Klára · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna z nejpůsobivějších válečných beletristických knih, jaké jsem kdy četla.

[Marshall Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done! Deutermann is the American Douglas Reeman!

[Robert Mckay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a few of Deutermann's World War II novels, and while he's no Hemingway, he's good at what he does (and who wants ersatz Hemingway? a fake is no good). But here he falls down.

It's not that it's a bad book - if it were, I'd not have finished it. But it's not up to the standard of the others I've read. The combat scenes are vivid - but vivid as though they're movie scenes rather than the characters actually being under fire. Obviously reading a book which attempts to depict combat can't possibly be as vivid and emotional as the actual experience, and - I hope it's equally obvious - no one who hasn't been in combat fully knows what it's like. But I've read much better - I've read, here and there, written depictions of combat which gave me a fright, they were so good. Deutermann just doesn't do it here.

And whenever he takes us back to the rear areas, it's as though he's making it a point to give us a disgust for REMFs. Aside from one doctor and a couple of nurses, everyone at Pearl Harbor seems to be going through life much the same as before the Japanese attack, with the addition of self-satisfaction at how well they're playing the war game.

Then there's the Glory Lewis aspect of the book. At first she seems like a good woman who loves her husband, who died in the Arizona, and finally begins to reenter life. But then she turns into a depressed, obsessive woman who very melodramatically glorifies herself by swimming down into the sunken ship and deliberately drowning herself. As I read that, I had two reactions. First, I wondered at the denseness of the boatman who took her there, because I could see from a mile away what she was going to do. And second, I wondered what on earth Deutermann thought he was doing.

I won't be reading this one again.

[Tim Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tale had flashes of brilliance and major flaws; I wonder if it lacked a good editor.

The brilliance: the author knows Naval history and shipboard procedures and culture. He brings naval warfare alive; the reader feels the heat of the fires, the thump of the bombs and the chaos of sinking ships and crashing aircraft (and there were plenty of these). The author is at his best describing a warship or aircraft in combat, under attack, or as it is sinking / crashing.

On the other hand, the story had major flaws. The first is its glaring lack of any antagonist at all. It’s a story of three Naval Academy classmates and their rivalry over one woman (named “Glory” in a ham-handed way to give the title a double meaning). One is killed at the outset, while the other two are now friends, now rivals, now friends as the story unfolds. But the lack of real conflict or any antagonist at all left this reader disappointed, as if the point of the book was only to describe heroic naval officers who also had some interpersonal disagreements.

The second was Glory. Her character was poorly crafted, showed no real growth and little change over the course of the book, took part in a somewhat head-scratching, very graphic sex scene which seemed entirely out of place in the book and had no understandable reason for happening (particularly because she was falling in love with a completely different character who wasn’t even one of the main rivals of the story [huh?]). Worst, though (without revealing any spoilers) the author took her character to an end that was mystifying in the extreme. It was a conceivable end, I suppose, but would have required a far more developed and explained character with a completely different arc in the story to be a reasonable end, and even then it probably wouldn’t have worked.

With some good coaching or editing, it could have been great.

[Dkovlak · Rating 1 out of 5]

WARNING: If books were rated like movies, this one has an X rated scene. I stopped reading whenI came to it. Up until that point, the descriptions of the WWII sea battles were good. Since I am not a big War book reader, I was not overly impressed by that either. Without the X rated part, up until the point that I read, I would have given the book 3 stars. I was surprised when I got to this part, almost half-way through the book. This book was recommended by a WWII Vet , who I ran into. I wonder what he thought when he got to that part of the book. Make sure you do not recommend this book to anyone if you would not want them to see this type of movie. (Particularly young students of WWII.) The shame of it is, that the author could have written a great book without this scene. Since I stopped reading immediately, I am not sure how many others scenes in the book are X rated.

[Tony Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great naval tale... Captain Deutermann is a class act in how he can bring the characters and the incidents of his books to life; he is a master of detail, especially when writing about the Navy and stories built upon naval history. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, especially the close-up action in his describing some of the great sea battles of WWII in the Pacific. This book is extremely well written and full of surprises... it should definitely be on everyone's read list not only for the story, but for an insight into another aspect of naval history.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The battle scenes were excellently written. This is not a book I would normally choose, but my father served on a battleship in the Pacific in WWII and was present at several of the battles represented in this book. I wanted a better vision of what he experienced/witnessed,and was not disappointed.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this. Wow, quite an emotional read. I expected it to be good, but this far exceeded my expectations. Intense battle sequences, really capture the sacrifices our brave men and women made. A great read with Veterans day this week. Most strongly recommend this one!

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of action. I listened to the book on disc. Well done. Leyte Gulf was the highlight of all the action sequences. Author has his own serious Navy credentials, so the spirit of the book captures WW II very well.

[happy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. Follows two Annapolis classmates and the widow of a third from Pearl Harbor through Leyte Gulf. I thought his discriptions of the destroyer actions at Leyte Gulf were riviting

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good solid series debut effort by Deutermann. The battle scenes were particularly riveting. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Viva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spoilers ahead. I had already finished Deutermann's WW2 series, except for this one. Having read it, it feels different from the others. The others were meant to be in a series. This felt like a stand alone book. And it feels like a saga, an epic, like some of those Wilbur Smith books. It has romance, richly described characters and intertwined relationships between those characters, and a timeframe that they go through (roughly WW2).

The characters are a foursome: straight shooter Tommy, wild football player Mick, ugly but steady Vincent and beautiful Glory. The book starts roughly at the Pearl Harbor attack but the story starts when the 3 men were at the naval academy and Tommy was dating Glory.

Fast forward to 12/7 and Tommy has already died, entombed in the USS Arizona, Vincent is a gunnery officer in a cruiser and Mick is a SBD dive bomber pilot. The story mostly follows Vincent (the main protagonist), then Glory and Mick in lesser amounts.

Vincent's cruiser is sunk in the battle of Savo Sound. After recuperation he becomes the XO of a tin can (destroyer) and eventually the temporary captain when the captain was accidentally electrocuted. He then participates in the Battle off Samar which was described in much detail. His ship is sunk but he is rescued. The books starts and ends with him.

Glory is given the next most time. She starts the war as a widow, then we are shown her relationship with Vincent and Mick and a doctor. To be honest, I fast read, then skipped most of her story because I thought this was a military fiction book and I thought she would be a side plot.

Mick is given the least time. He's a dive bomber pilot and his story is told in short segments. He's somewhat of a wild card and tends to fall afoul of his superiors so he's shunted back and forth despite his acumen as a dive bomber. He bombs one of the carriers at Midway becomes an orphan when his carrier is damaged, has some shore time, disobeys orders and ends the book as one of the pilots on the escort carriers at the Battle off Samar.

What makes this book a saga and Wilbur Smith like is the richness of the story between the 3 people and the detailed description of the events. All is written in a manner that is easy to read, easy to get into and follow. One day I found myself reading until 5am because I couldn't stop. Sad that the book is over but it's a one off. The other books in the series are more of a military fiction nature. I would give this book 6 stars if I could.

[Robert Poor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is a terrific re-telling of the heroism of the Destroyer Navy, in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack during the push through the western Pacific back into the Philippine Islands, leading to the Battle at Samar (I've always thought of it as the Battle of Leyte Gulf). There, with almost unimaginable bravery, several US Navy destroyers and an assortment of under-armed aircraft stood between Japanese Battleships and Cruisers to protect USN aircraft carriers on their way to support MacArthur's return to the Islands. None of the USN combatants carried anything larger than a 5" gun, whereas the well-armored Japanese had everything up to 18" guns. In one of the great feats of sheer guts in naval history, seven American DDs and DEs charged the entire Japanese squadron, which outgunned them so utterly it is difficult to describe. Far too many USN sailors paid the ultimate price.

Two DDs and a DE were sunk, but not before they tormented the more powerful Japanese force, convincing Admiral Kurita that he was actually up against Pacific Fleet CVs with cruiser escorts. Additionally, American aircraft caused significant damage to his vessels, forcing him to turn away from the battle area several times to avoid torpedo attacks, completely disrupting his command of the tactical situation, and causing him to give up and return toward home.

P.T. Deutermann (USNA, Class of 1963), a career Naval officer and, afterward, a successful novelist is uniquely positioned to write about maritime life during WWII's War in the Pacific. His father (USNA, 1927), a VADM in his own right, was part of the Fleet at the time.

This is a wonderful novel, not for the squeamish, but for those who want to get inside the old newsreels and history books and get a real gut-wrenching feel for life in the Pacific during the war years.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a while since I picked up a historical adventure, the books I read the most of in my younger days, and it was a pleasure to read something in that vein again. Here's the plot: Three naval academy room-mates who all feel for the same girl are still in the navy at the outbreak of WWII in the Pacific theater. The girl chose Tommy, but he buys it on December 7th, leaving her, now a nurse, the desire of every navy man who catches sight of her. Mick, a dive-bomber pilot, and Marsh, a surface navy officer, have their stories woven through the war's most famous battles while pining for the nurse when they're in port.

Still, I had my gripes. I felt it was strange that the author sometimes made up ships, (he says in the afterward it was to avoid stealing any valor from the real sailors), but it wasn't consistent. Mick flies from a real ship at Midway, Marsh gets sunk on a fake ship off Savo, Marsh ends up on a fake destroyer called Evans, but there was an Evans, it just wasn't where Marsh was. This just robs a bit of authenticity and adds a bit of confusion. Also, a pair being present at Midway, Savo Island, on Guadalcanal, the Marianas turkey shoot, then with Taffey 3 off Samar seems just a little too much like an author trying to get his characters at all the high and low points of the war - which of course is exactly what was happening. Perhaps the author was shooting for something like Herman Wouks' The Winds of War, something sweeping and dramatic, but it seems a bit too forced. There's good stuff here, though, and it's nice to see the author has continued their writing.

[Veronika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vzala jsem si pár dní na to, abych si srovnala myšlenky. Úplně mi ta pauza nepomohla.
Stále netuším, co napsat, abych vystihla své pocity z knihy. A že jich nebylo málo.

Přidávám se k těm recenzím, které říkají, že pokud se Vám líbil film Pearl Harbor, bude se Vám líbit i tato kniha. Je tu pár historických nepřesností, ale to se autorovi dá odpustit. Příběh mnou zarezonoval více, než bych čekala a než bych byla ochotná připustit.

Připravte se také na popis bitev, zbraní a zranění. Samotný příběh vypráví o tom, jaké to je, když Vám válka převrátí život na ruby a jak moc nelítostná je.

Postavu Marshe jsem si oblíbila hned, u Glory a Zvířete (Micka) mi to trvalo o něco déle. Postupem času/děje jsem si oblíbila všechny postavy, které dostaly prostor. O to víc mě dostal ten konec, který byl pro některé postavy připraven. I když jsem ho na jednu stranu čekala, stejnak měl neuvěřitelnou sílu.

Je to subjektivní názor (ostatně jako vždy). Slovy knihu nedokážu pořádně popsat a vystihnout všechny ty pocity, které ve mě stále rezonují.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
“Vidíte každého, kdo se nikdy nevrátil a nikdy ani nevrátí.” řekl
“A to přesně byste měl vidět. Medaile cti není žadná ‘výhra’. Člověk jí prostě uchovává jako posvátnou vzpomínku na všechny, kteří s ním byli, živé i mrtvé. Kdybyste nebrečel, nebyl byste člověk. A pokud Vás to uklidní, já pláču dodnes.....”

[Mountain343 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this book... at least not MUCH of this book. I'm a fan of some of this book, I'm a great fan of what WASN'T in this book,... what SHOULD have been in this book... what I feel the author probably could have written a LOT about... but didn't.

His description of the battle of Taffy 3 was very well done. If you read those sections alone, this book is a 4 or 5 star easily. If you read about Mick's experiences on Guadalcanal and in his SBD.... It's worth reading....

The love story.. the countless pages and pages and chapters and chapters about Glory and Dr. Superman and the love story and the rear base Pearl Harbor stuff... not so much.

In fact, replace that with more of Mick's exploits onboard the sub and after he got to Darwin. Replace that with more info on what it's like to actually be on board a Destroyer at sea and dealing with the various personalities, the daily routine of shipboard duty, dealing with submarine sightings and rescuing downed airmen and other things.

THAT would have been a great book... This was.... not.

[Russell Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting a book crammed with naval combat action and I got all that. The two main navy men are academy graduates, one a bomber pilot, one a destroyer man. The writing is unabashedly gung ho with political correctness out the window. It's written in the vernacular of the WWII navy, so if you're shocked by the term Jap or upset by violence and gore in general, this isn't a book for you. There are also two navy nurses as secondary, but important, characters. What I didn't expect was the well done character development and love stories. Since it's a WWII story, we know mostly how it comes out in the big picture, but the lives of the characters are uncertain throughout the book, just as they were in the war. The author managed to keep me in suspense throughout, and to pluck my emotional heartstrings rather surprisingly. I'd give it another half star if Goodreads would allow it. If you liked Clancy's early works or the Hornblower series, you'll enjoy this. The authenticity and detail are mind-blowing.

[Studebhawk]

Glory at a Cost

This is my third novel by this author, and it vividly captures action in the Pacific during World War II. The story moves with a palpable intensity, and the scenes are rich with detailed descriptions of a WWII destroyer engaged in battle. Mastery is the defining characteristic of this author’s storytelling. The meticulous attention to the action at sea draws you deeply into the narrative.

However, the inclusion of the Glory storyline feels like an unwelcome distraction from the main plot. It detracts from the overall coherence and credibility of the story's conclusion.

Despite this weakness, the author excels by crafting a riveting tale of maritime conflict. The historical research is thorough, and the technical knowledge of naval ships in peril adds greatly to the enjoyment of the narrative. The theme of glory at a high cost during this tumultuous period emerges clearly, and the author leaves readers eager for more.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing and exciting WWII novel about two men, former classmates an Annapolis, who are now hip-deep in the war. One is the XO of a destroyer after his original ship is sunk of Guadalcanal. The other is a bomber pilot who fought at Midway, but whose "Lone Ranger" attitude keeps getting him in trouble.

They both end up fighting at Leyte Gulf, where a few American destroyers hold off a line of Japanese battleships and cruisers. It's an amazing event to read about in a history book ("The Last of the Tin Can Sailors" is a superb account) and this novel uses its fictionalized version of the battle to showcase the bravery of the American sailors who charged in towards an enemy that was overwhelming more powerful and actually drove them off.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good World War II novel concerning the naval battles in the Pacific with one flaw. The novel was good overall, probably the best description of naval warfare in World War II, I've read. It's definitely a novel of action, and since Mr. Deutermann spent his career in the Navy, its accurate with the details.

The one flaw was not in regards to the Navy or naval battles, but in the actions of one of the female characters in the book. Suffice to say, that she definitely acted out of the character Mr. Detuermann had written of her up to that point and it was a huge letdown. I suspect he could have gotten what he wanted out of the character but with more faithfulness to her actual character. Too bad.

Good book though. Lots of action and battle scenes.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very seldom give a five star rating and this one was very close. I’ll let the better reviewers give the long reviews about the book. I was looking for a quick read after a marathon 5 book series. Having read ‘The Ghosts of Bungo Suido’ (3 stars) I knew the author was going to give me action. WOW!! What a ripping page turner of historical fiction about the Pacific War. The best fictional portrayal of ‘The last Battle of the Tin Can Sailors’ I can imagine. Highly recommended for WW2 Pacific Theatre readers. Now that the author has my attention I’ve got another of his books in the batters box.