This is the follow-up to Gobbell’s well-received The Last Lieutenant (1995). This time Gobbell tracks young naval officer Todd Ingram, a Corregidor escapee, through more World War II action afloat in the Pacific , ashore in the Philippines, and through the hallowed halls of military high command.

It is still early in the war, and despite the promise of easy duty, Ingram is quickly sent back to help fight the Japanese navy in places few Americans knew existed prior to Pearl Harbor. Ingram is also anxious to get back to the Philippines where Helen Durand, his army-nurse sweetheart, is working with a resistance force behind enemy lines.