- Hardcover: 360 pages
- Publisher: St Martins Pr (August 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312131089
- ISBN-13: 978-0312131081
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 703 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,025,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Gobbell (The Brutus Lie), a former Navy lieutenant who served in the South China Sea in the 1960s, has fashioned a complex WWII thriller about events surrounding the American defeat at Corregidor and the subsequent victory at Midway, which turned the tide of the war against Japan. The tale is loosely based on South From Corregidor, Lt. Commander John H. Morrill II's 1943 factual account of his escape from the ill-fated island the night it fell to the Japanese. In June 1941, after murdering a U.S. Navy bugler named Walter A. Radtke in El Paso, a Nazi spy assumes the dead man's identity and winds up, nearly a year later, as an American cryptologist on the war-ravaged island of Corregidor. Because they hold crucial information about the American plan to defeat the Japanese at Midway Island, Radtke and his American superior, Lt. Epperson, are ordered to evacuate. Lt. Todd Ingram, skipper of the USS Pelican, which has been assigned to effect their rendezvous with a submarine, comes upon a mortally wounded Epperson and learns that Radtke has disappeared. As the Japanese overrun the island, Ingram takes 17 survivors on a desperate dash for freedom in a battered 36-foot launch. A subplot about war-thwarted musical careers and a miraculous reunion between Ingram and an Army nurse brutalized by a bestial, American-educated Japanese officer provides plenty of thrills and a poignant romantic twist. Gobbell's thickly inhabited page-turner successfully melds elements of espionage, classic combat heroism and carefully reconstructed historical fiction. Maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA?This fast-moving thriller is set during the early days of World War II. By April of 1942, the few remaining defenders of the Philippines are bottled up in the crumbling tunnels of the island fortress of Corregidor, stoically enduring round-the-clock bombing in a desperate attempt to prevent the Japanese from taking Manila. Holding out despite dwindling supplies are soldiers, sailors, nurses, and civilians caught in the war's awful web. Among them lurks a Nazi spy in the guise of a Navy cryptographer. This dastardly, clever espionage agent has not only managed to commit several murders, but is also gathering intelligence to pass on to the Axis. When the intelligence officer begins to suspect the cryptographer, he passes his doubts along to his roommate from the Naval Academy, Lt. Ace Ingram. As Corregidor falls, Ingram and his brave crew escape from Manila harbor and begin a perilous journey dodging Japanese patrols in pursuit of the spy. They make their way south through villages and hidden coves, escaping danger in a death-defying chase. Though the naval terminology and detail will elude some readers, and the absence of a good map of the Philippines is a detriment, Gobbell's fine descriptions of the horrors and heroisms of war, and the fascination of the compelling events, make this a real page turner.?Catherine Noonan, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
The radioman's foghorn voice rattled through the door, "Hey, rat-man! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The radioman's foghorn voice rattled through the door, "Hey, rat-man! Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Last Lieutenant,
By Gary S. Vandeweghe (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Last Lieutenant: In The Heat Of A Great Battle, The Fate Of A Country Rests In His Hands... (Paperback)
It is the end of April 1942, and Navy Lieutenant Todd Ingram is pushing his beat-up minesweeper U.S.S. Pelican around the dangerous waters in the mouth of Manila Bay. Bataan has fallen, and Corregidor, against terrible odds, is being defended against an endless barrage of enemy shelling and aerial attacks.Life, such as it is, on Corregidor is indescribable, although John Gobbell does his best. Everything is in short supply except the wounded and dying, dust and Japanese bombardment. MacArthur is gone, and the situation passed desperate weeks before. As an overview and an aside, the defense of Corregidor seen standing alone is senseless. The loss of life and suffering of the wounded and about to be wounded cannot be justified. Seen from a larger perspective, the U.S. is in a terrible position. The war in Europe is not going well and won't for some time, and the Japanese have just about everything their way in the Pacific. The U.S. needs an Alamo, and time, and those are paid for in blood. Hence, Corregidor is ordered defended, and brave men and women make tremendous sacrifices to do so. The Pelican lies in the lee of the small island of Caballo, about a mile south of Corregidor. Zeros attack and the Pelican sinks. As much as possible is salvaged, and Todd Ingram and about twenty of his men take over a 36 foot shoreboat called No. 51. No. 51's mission is to evacuate a number of critical personnel and nurses across the minefields out to a submarine rendezvous. One of the evacuees is a Cryptographer Technician Second Class Walter Radke. Except Radke is lying naked and garroted in a janitor's closet in El Paso, Texas. The guy in Radke's uniform with his papers is Abwehr agent Helmut Dottmer. Radke/Dottmer knows the U.S. has the Japanese naval code, and learns that the Americans know about Japan's early June assault plans for Midway. He needs just a minute or so alone with a powerful radio to warn Germany and its Axis partner Japan. Dottmer, a pretty nurse named Helen Durand, who stitched up Ingram's badly cut cheek, and others make it aboard the submarine U.S.S. Wolfish. Helen is dropped off on Marinduque Island, about 150 miles south of Corregidor, where she is promptly arrested by the Japanese and badly mistreated. Dottmer and the Wolfish continue through the Philippine seas, the Wolfish gets sunk by a Japanese destroyer, and in mid-May Dottmer ends up with guerillas on Mindinao. Meanwhile, Ingram and the Pelican crew, aboard No. 51, escape from Manila Bay and make a harrowing journey . . . Japanese patrols, weather and heavy seas, engine trouble . . . south through the Philippines traveling only at night and hiding under palm trees and in the marshes in daytime. After a stop at Marinduque, Ingram learns about Helen's fate at the hands of the quintessentially despicable Kempetai Lieutenant Kiyoshi Tuga, and manages to rescue her even though she is practically dead. No. 51 gets away and several long days and nights later, limps into Naispit in Northern Mindinao. So the protagonists have assembled, with the usual side cast of brave Philippine men and women, feuding sailors, a horse's ass army major, guerillas, and plenty of close calls and fireworks. Finally, with yeoman (no pun) effort on the engine and finding supplies, No. 51 is made ready for a 1,000 mile trip to Australia. Ingram, Helen, Dottmer and Tuga are all there. Then all hell breaks loose. So, do the baddies get it? Is Japan warned? Does everyone go to the seashore? Read this page-turner and you'll find out for yourself.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heart rendering reality,
By
This review is from: The Last Lieutenant: In The Heat Of A Great Battle, The Fate Of A Country Rests In His Hands... (Paperback)
The horror of Bataan and Corregidor coupled with the heroism and sacrifice at that time of history is almost beyond belief. Each man in himself was a rock of Gibraltar standing against all the tyranny of a nation gone wild. The Greatest Generation is not enough words to express what the men and women of WW2 gave to preserve freedom and our great country. This book is a work of fiction but tied closely with actual events;very close to Herman Wouk's Winds of War and War and Remembrance. It is actually a smaller capsule of the full picture. I plan to read all his books, I have found another great writer to add to my ever growing list of future readings.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Non Stop Action,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Last Lieutenant: In The Heat Of A Great Battle, The Fate Of A Country Rests In His Hands... (Paperback)
This book is full of great action; right from the 1st page of the book. This was the 1st fiction WWII book I 've read and it was great. I was enjoying the book so much that I ordered the next book in this series when I was only half way through this book! I would buy this book again!
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