Boatswain's Mate [Paperback]

Patrick Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2002

Jake Rickmeyer joins the Navy at age sixteen. For the next twenty-five years he’s caught up in world events, three wars and International crises. He’s married to a woman who turns to booze and men; his best friend dies in his arms in Korea. Jake’s lifelong friends include powerful men, such as Admiral Sullivan P. Rooks and United States Senator Edward Morrow. He gets caught up in the Civil Rights’ movement, where he has to juggle the racist attitudes of a tough Marine Gunnery Sergeant from Alabama, with his own more temperate views. Years of hating a sailor called Rabbit causes Jake to form moral judgments; their interlocking lives finally come together in a completely unexpected way. Jake’s commitment to watching out for his dead friend’s son will cause anguish. At the point where his relationship with Barbara-Jean (his ex-wife) appears to be resolved, he goes on one final mission where it becomes politically expedient to sacrifice him.

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: AmErica House (February 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588514897
• ISBN-13: 978-1588514899
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,863,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars IGNORE THE COMPROMISE RATING - READ THE REVIEW, September 23, 2003

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boatswain's Mate (Paperback)

This book could easily have been titled THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JAKE RICKMEYER, or A NAVY MAN WITH THE SCARS OF VIETNAM. It is a fictional autobiography, written in the first person and is the first novel written by the author, Patrick Johnston, following a very varied and quite nomadic career.

Due to family problems, Jake Rickmeyer leaves Hodskins, Oklahoma before his high school graduation and although underage enlists in the Navy during WWII and sees action in the Pacific before the end of the war. Jake decides to make the Navy his career and sees his next action during the Korean War and then subsequently in Vietnam. He is a conscientious seaman who performs his duties well and earns the admiration and friendship of many of those brave men with whom he serves. These include an Admiral and a US Senator, due both to his achievements and also specific events which put each of them individually in his debt.

Jake also marries too young, but long after his divorce he and his ex-wife eventually reunite. However, she remains justifiably concerned about the dangers he faces. Men under his are killed, and he eventually ends up with a chest full of ribbons for his service, his combat actions and his injuries. In other words, Jake is a quintessential example of those brave individuals in the Armed Forces who protect us and make the world safer for democracy and freedom.

Unfortunately, in my view the author tries to do too much and thus appeals to a limited audience. (E.g., Jake's whole experience in WWII takes less than twenty pages.) Thus, while the reader comes to respect and care about Jake, the action never becomes so compelling that it actually engages the reader. There are many interesting observations, not only about war, combat and military service, but also about such happenings during that period as the start of the Civil Rights struggle in the South and, of course, the political upheaval concerning the Vietnam War. But these are all touched upon only briefly, and never with intensity or real passion. Thus, this book did not particularly appeal to me for the same reason that I seldom read biographies and autobiographies, even when they involve the lives of very interesting and important people. I prefer a complicated plot, intense action or at least real mystery or suspense (hopefully combined with clever conversation and new insights about the subjects involved) rather a simple narrative account of events.

As some previous reviews indicate, this book will undoubtedly appeal to those readers who served in the Navy and can relate to Jake or who want a relatively accurate and insightful narrative about what such a life might have entailed. (Although there is not surprisingly too much profanity to make it suitable for young readers, for whom it might otherwise provide a great historical education.) So if my description makes it sound like the book would appeal to your reading interests, you should purchase it and will undoubtedly feel that it deserves at least four stars. However, while the author accomplished his goals, I believe that that for the majority of readers such as myself it is only worth a two star rating; so I have compromised by splitting the difference.

I should add that this is a print on demand book that suffers from the usual spelling and grammatical mistakes that most such endeavors contain. They are not disruptive but frequent enough to be noticeable. As often happens in the case of works published by smaller presses, the author has been frustrated by the relative lack of promotion that his novel has received. Therefore, he contacted me to request that I review it. (He is a complete stranger to me, we have no friends at all in common.) Since I am always anxious to discover new authors, I agreed to his request despite the hesitancy that I expressed to him since the nature of the work seemed somewhat removed from my normal interests. In retrospect my concern was justified; I only hope that this review manages to be fair to him and at the same time helps the readers of this review decide whether the cbook would be of interest to them.

Tucker Andersen

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midwest Book Review - rousing patriotic tale, September 21, 2002

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boatswain's Mate (Paperback)

From first page to last, Boatswain's Mate is one helluva read, driven by a super powered engine fueled with testosterone, adrenaline and patriotism. To say this book is a keeper doesn't begin to cover it. Pat Johnston writes in first person and does it in a superbly masculine style, with gusto. Everything is documented so realistically, I had trouble believing it was fiction.

Jake Rickmeyer flees a drunken, abusive step-father and joins the Navy in 1944 at age 16. The Navy is an ideal home for Jake. He loves the sea and everything it stands for, including the ideals of serving home and country. His career spans World War Two, Korea, the Cuban missile crisis, two tours in Viet Nam, and Black Ops for the CIA. The reader sees each action through Jake's eyes as he serves aboard destroyers, cruisers, amphibious ships, and anything else the Navy throws at him. Jake is the best of the best in everything he does, from rigging for a stormy ocean to piloting through murky Vietnamese rivers, to pleasing females every chance he gets in foreign ports. Along the way he makes some influential friends who give him a leg up in rank. Such boosts are always more than earned.

Life aboard ship is described lovingly: "...the cooks baking tomorrow's bread, the comforting smell of cigarette smoke and coffee...the smell of men, machinery, fuel oil, grease and paint in every pore of her." Jake's women, also, add to his persona. A failed marriage that gets a second chance in later life, unrequited love,[unhappy-motivated]foreign women all help define Jake as a man, a patriot, a warrior, an often decorated man of courage, a typical American male giving his best and grieving the death of friends in battle. Jake has no political agenda, no deep hidden philosophy except to be a man and gut it out no matter what. He takes in stride rescuing fallen flyers in frigid oceans, covering night landings on enemy held beaches, and gunning after kamikaze planes that fill the sky like wasps.

Be prepared to wave the American flag in spirit as you read this rouser of a book. Pat Johnston's writing is powerful, visceral, as he communicates duty and honor. And don't be surprised at the chilling end to Boatswain's Mate. Somehow I doubt that Jake Rickmeyer was. This book is for mature adults, not children or young adolescents. I recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars boatswain mate, December 28, 2002

By 

Larry Payne husband of Karen (Gardner, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boatswain's Mate (Paperback)

From the moment I received the book, I could not put it down.My wife had purchased it for me. After just a few pages I thought the author had studied my records of my twelve years in the Navy, except for a few things it seemed like my life over again.Pat surely did his homework on this book, I know that it was only a novel, but a lot was things that could or did happen. I am a Korean and Vietnam vet. and saw things happened just like it was written, kudos to you Pat, keep up the good work.Please write more and inform me when you do.