Battleground

This latest volume in the Corps series takes the U.S. Marines from Midway to Guadalcanal. Navy Cpt. Fleming Pickering travels to various headquarters, reporting events to the secretary of the Navy; recently promoted Cpt. Charley Galloway forms a new fighter squadron; Sgt. John Moore is a Japanese-language expert on a top-secret intelligence assignment. Griffin ( Counterattack ) employs a surprisingly effective alternative to military fiction's usual foxhole-and-cockpit perspective--he places the characters on the fringes rather than in the thick of the action, skirting familiar events and offering opportunities to explore the Pacific War's less familiar byways. As he creates a framework of coherent subplots and interesting personalities, he reveals WW II arcana, including the principles for establishing travel priorities and the status of enlisted Marine pilots. Sure to be welcomed by series fans, Battleground is also likely to inspire new readers to seek its predecessors. (Jan.)