THE HERO SHIP

by Hank Searls ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 13, 1968

World War II sea saga with battles and shore leaves over the active years of one man's life piling up evidence against a nagging antagonist. Ben Casco, who came up the hard way to the post of commander of the carrier Shenandoah, had no use for Christ Lee, the ""Golden Boy,"" hero of the football field, product of all the right schools. It is not until the terrible battle off Tokyo, during which the Shenandoah became an inferno of warped steel and charred flesh, that Ben witnesses--or did he--the ultimate cowardice, when Lee, leaving his men at their guns, jumps ship. It is this memory, and Ben's blood hatred (he once found Lee and Ben's wife Terry in delicto) that propels him in the 1960's to expose Lee who is up for appointment as Chief of Naval Operations. With the help of his old shipmate, ""Father"" Epstein, and an ancient witnessed statement of a Japanese pilot, Ben prepares his attack. However, Lee's suicide brings to light incidents in Lee's career which revealed his agonizing inner torment, further horrors in a life of running scared. An implausible yarn perhaps, but the action is immediate and gripping, bar - and - shipboard talk convincing. Heroes, holocausts and hawsers.

Pub Date: Jan. 13, 1968

ISBN: 0595144497

Page Count: -

Publisher: World--NAL

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION