The Last Paladin

It’s the summer of 1944 in this capable naval thriller from Deutermann (Trial by Fire), and Lt. Cmdr. Mariano deTomasi, captain of the destroyer escort USS Holland, has arrived in the Solomon Islands to assist the Pacific theater war effort. Previously stationed in the North Atlantic hunting German U-boats, the small ship is considered an afterthought to “the Big Blue Fleet” that will take the fight north to the Japanese home islands. The Holland is assigned to patrol an area of the empty ocean based on rumors of a line of Japanese submarines intent on ravaging the approaching U.S. armada. After aircraft spot a Japanese sub, the Holland begins a tense search and destroy mission for a pack of submarines, which may strike readers as unlikely, but as with all Deutermann’s novels, it has a strong historical basis. Though the voices of deTomasi and his executive officer, Lt. Ephraim Edmond Enright, who shares narrative duties with the captain, sound much alike, Deutermann ably conveys naval battle tactics, day-to-day life aboard a vessel, and the pandemonium of warfare. This is smaller in scale than the author’s usual fare, but no less potent. Agent: Ed Maxwell, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (July)