1. It is fast-paced yet does not ignore character development.
2. It has an interesting cast of characters who aren’t what readers might expect. I have tried to create characters who are themselves contradictions. For example, the principal character, French LaPorte a naval intelligence officer is a complete scoundrel, who hates the navy. Sonny Wheeler, is a rich man’s son who is sent, against his father’s wishes, to the troubled waters of the Far East. Sonny’s mentor and friend is the ship’s executive officer, a World War One retread, who never quite graduated from high school, yet is an intellectual, master seaman and navigator.
3. Beginning with French LaPorte there is plenty of conflict. LaPorte is constantly at odds with the navy, primarily for his womanizing. In the Far East, Sonny Wheeler uncovers troubling information about his father. Luis Rojas is trapped in Manila, caught between the demands of a brutal Filipino who is allied with Japan and his loyalty to Tip Wheeler, Sonny’s father. LaPorte meets the beautiful and independent Daphne and the two clash repeatedly until they are united by a dangerous mission. Toward the end, LaPorte and Tip, meet for the first time at Pearl Harbor. Both walk away more determined than ever to prevail in what has become a personal contest of will.
4. The geographical settings, primarily Manila, the East Indies, Hawaii and California are exotic, or at least interesting. The time is 1941 the last year of peace for America. I capture an aspect of WW II that has not received much attention. I have done a great deal of research in order to accurately portray the historical setting, the locations as they were in 1941, and life aboard an aging destroyer of the Asiatic Fleet. My aim was to make the fictional events plausible in the historical context, so that an informed reader would agree that it could have happened the way I wrote it. As a teacher, I imagine myself in front of a tough audience having to defend my portrayal of events, including those leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which remains hotly debated to this day.