Vengeance Reviews

Shattered Sword member G. Alvin Simons has just published his second novel – an excellent “you are there” story of the Battle of Midway, as it could have been seen through the eyes of the major participants. Those eyes include RADMs. Fletcher and Spruance, Waldron, Thach, Brockman, Henderson, Melo, Best and Ramsey on the American side, and Kusaka and Tomonaga on the Japanese side. Other, minor characters, such as Miles Browning and Nimitz, flesh out conversations that very likely occurred in a similar form.

The major characters come across as very human. Some of them battle their inner demons; for examples, whether they are up to the task that fate has given them, while others are concerned for their loved ones at home, or their careers. An interesting scene described LT. Tomonaga’s discussion with his roommate regarding what makes a samurai. It is reprised in the closing chapter when RADM. Kusaka, Nagumo’s chief of staff, reflects upon the heroic deeds of the American torpedo bombers, most of whom gave their lives in suicidal attacks that cleared the way for their dive-bombing shipmates to strike the fatal blows.

Since the reader already knows the outcomes of these individual battles, Simons has chosen to create the drama through their decision-making process, which is the best reason to read the book. If this work had been a video, it would compare very favorably with the 1976 movie, The Battle of Midway, because it doesn’t include any love scenes or fake heroics to keep the reader involved.

Spruance confronts the difficult task of learning how to become an effective carrier commander on the job, while also dealing with the irascible Miles Browning, a brilliant aerial strategist and favorite of Halsey, but also a certified pain in the keister. Fletcher feels the hot breath of ADM. Ernie King, whom he suspects wants him cashiered. Best and Waldron are concerned with how their mostly-untested men will survive in combat against the best naval aviators the world has seen. Through these individual vignettes the reader gets a very good picture of the essence of the decisions that affected the outcome of the battle.

The combat scenarios are well-researched, and true to all that I’ve read elsewhere about them. Only a few representative actions are included, as the book is already 400 pages, and editorial judgment was necessary. One set of actions that made the cut was of the only U.S. submarine in the vicinity of the Japanese Mobile Force, USS Nautilus. 

I wish that Simons would have included ADM. Nagumo in his cast of leading characters; however he does appear in scenes with Kusaka. All in all, the book is well-worth the $12.95 purchase price and is a good read. It is available from Amazon.

Jim Hanford for Shattered Sword website