Breaking Point

Captain 'Dutchy' Holland

by J.E. Macdonnell

It is the latter half of WWII, as MacArthur gears up for his next big offensive, the Japanese slip a raiding force into the trans-Pacific supply lines.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

During his fourteen years in the R.A.N., Queensland born James (Jim) Edmond MacDonnell (aka James McNell, James Dark, James Edmond Macdonnell, James Macdonnell, J.E.M., Jim Macdonnell, J. Macdonnell, Macnell, Kerry Mitchell, Michael Owen.) came up through all lowerdeck ranks to commissioned gunnery-officer. This experience is evident in his sea novels which have been published in many countries overseas, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

Reviews

[Darren Goossens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review from https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/breaking-point-by-j-e-macdonnell-it-made-my-eyes-water/.

This is a strong book in more ways than one. The villain in monstrous (the cover shows his heavy cruiser firing on a hospital ship), the action intense and vivid, the torture and rape scenes pretty graphic and bloody. It hits harder than most of MacDonnell's output, and is very effective as entertainment though definitely gets an R rating for graphic violence. It is a late effort -- from 1979 -- and I don't know its number in the 'Sea Adventure Library', if it has one. The prose is effective, and it only perhaps twice shows one of the author's main narrative weaknesses -- injecting the presence of the narrator as an author into the text in a way that tends to take the reader out of the story.

[caption id="attachment_1652" align="aligncenter" width="519"] Heavy cruiser Mikuni breaks the rules of war and attacks a hospital ship; the cover of Breaking Point by J. E. Macdonnell.[/caption]

And the ending is a bit of a shock...

 

 

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