A bracing start to a new series about naval warfare.
A work of speculative fiction focuses on World War II.
This volume, the first in Weatherly’s (Sheppard of the Argonne, 2014) new Allies and Enemies series, follows in the wake of his previous novel. It’s military fiction with a twist, as he explores what naval warfare would have look like during World War II if the 1922 Five-Power Treaty limiting shipbuilding hadn’t happened. In his author’s note, he explains, “I chose to accelerate some technology development such as ship building, metallurgy, ordinance, and radar, while keeping others such as aircraft close to the actual timelines since that development was not restricted by treaty.” As this tale opens, Capt. Sheppard McCloud is a reluctant national hero after the Allies’ victory in the Battle of Cape Vilan. Instead of celebrating, Sheppard remains haunted by the many sailors who died: “Oceanic swells left no tombstones, no markers for young lives snuffed short at his order.” Although Sheppard enjoys his days with his soul mate and wife, Evelyn, he’s soon temporarily distracted from his nightmares by new orders. He and his Argonne crew must sneak Adm. John Hamblen across the Atlantic to persuade the French navy not to turn over their ships to the Axis. But it’s hard to hide a massive battle cruiser such as the Argonne, and before long, Sheppard is entangled in a conflict that he is unlikely to win with the Italians and Germans. Weatherly has a sterling protagonist in the tormented Sheppard, who is highly skilled as a leader but who tends to dwell on his losses rather than his wins. The author’s detailed descriptions of the battles give the reader a real “you-are-there” feeling. The flip side is that the minutiae he provides can be overwhelming at times. Do readers really need a two-page, step-by-step description of how shells are fired? Still, Weatherly makes it possible to hear the crash of the guns and the rending of steel as a shell hits. Readers don’t have to understand everything the author supplies to realize how much must go right for a ship to survive rather than sink. That’s why his books work.
A bracing start to a new series about naval warfare.Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63393-362-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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