The Neptune Strategy [Hardcover]

John J. Gobbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2004

Commander Todd Ingram is on the bridge of his ship, the destroyer USS Maxwell, on radar picket duty on a misty, overcast day when four Japanese Val dive bombers emerge screaming from the overcast. The coordinated attack is sudden and devastating, the ship rocked by massive explosions as the bombers hit their target. The concussions hurtle Ingram overboard and he watches in horror as his embattled ship leaves him behind.

Ingram barely lasts the night, clinging to a floating piece of his ship's lifeboat in rough seas. As he begins to lose hope, a periscope cuts through the water and in moments a submarine surfaces nearby. His joy turns to horror as he spots the numbers I-57 on the conning tower. He is now a prisoner of a Japanese U-boat and his troubles have just begun--but so has the race to save him.

A secret U.S. Naval Signal Intelligence Service station in Australia intercepts a situation report from the Commander of the submarine to his superiors in Tokyo--they have an American prisoner, Alton C. Ingram. A strategy is developed by the U.S. Navy and a classified plan put in motion: ensure that the I-57 escapes a net of ASW HUK groups (anti-submarine hunter killer) laying across the sub's path to Lorient, France and ambush it when it reaches shore. But the I-57 has other plans as it dodges depth charges and Allied ships in a deadly game whose outcome may effect the balance of power in a war that threatens to consume them all...

From the Philippine Sea to the Nazi U-boat pens in Lorient, France, The Neptune Strategy is a complex cat and mouse game between the Japanese submarine 1-57 and a U.S. Navy determined to save one of their own and is the most thrilling novel yet by a master of the WWII thriller.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gobbell's fourth WWII naval adventure (after When Duty Whispers Low) brings series hero Todd Ingram up to the rank of commander and near the end of the war. Datelined chapters span the months from February to October 1944 and skip from California to Madagascar to France. As Ingram's destroyer, the U.S.S. Maxwell, cuts through the north Pacific, it's attacked by a Japanese dive bomber. Ingram is rescued from the waves, but since it's by the Japanese submarine I-57, his troubles are by no means over. In one sense, Ingram's war is at an end; in another, it's just beginning. A test of wills as well as of physical strength and endurance unfolds for Ingram at the hands of his captors, who run the gamut from humane to sadistic. In nice counterpoint to this plot line is the experience of Capt. Jeremiah "Boom Boom" Landa, of the U.S.S. Morgan. Landa is assigned to a full-tilt espionage adventure (the mission of the title) involving Nazi U-boats, Swiss banks and even a cameo appearance by Arturo Toscanini. Gobbell's robust, colorful prose bears more of a resemblance to that of Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forester than to the language of the gritty, laconic men-at-war tales the novel otherwise models itself after. The story covers an impressive territory, supplemented by multiple maps and a comprehensive list of characters, identified by ship, location, vocation and nationality. This is a solid addition to Gobbell's developing war chronicle, as much historical fiction as military adventure.
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From Booklist

Gobbell's protagonist, World War II destroyer officer Todd Ingram, begins this adventure being blown overboard from his ship by a Japanese bomb. His rescuer next morning is a Japanese submarine, which begins an odyssey across the Pacific and into the Indian Ocean. On the way, Ingram endures the frequently brutal treatment the Japanese meted out to POWs, and readers get an uncommonly vivid portrait of the Imperial Japanese navy's little-recorded submarine service in action. Even after he escapes, Ingram's travels aren't over, and code-breaking, historical characters such as Arleigh Burke, Yakuza gold, and a thuggish Nazi out to feather his own nest each play parts in resolving this conflict and preparing Ingram for his next adventure. Gobbell has been reasonably justly compared to W. E. B. Griffin, although he is considerably more concise, perhaps at the price of some desirable background information and fuller characterization. Still, he offers an undeniably seaworthy tale for military-action buffs, and, fortunately, Ingram has much of WWII yet to serve. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (April 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312311702
• ISBN-13: 978-0312311704
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOHN J. GOBBELL is a former Navy Lieutenant who saw duty as a destroyer weapons officer. His ship served in the South China Sea, granting him membership in the exclusive ATonkin Gulf Yacht Club.@ As an executive recruiter, his clients include military/commercial aerospace companies giving him insight into character development under a historical thriller format. A Code For Tomorrow is the second of four stand-alone novels in the Todd Ingram series. Altogether, he has written six novels involving U.S. Navy action and is currently at work on his seventh. He and his wife Janine live in Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gobbell at his exciting best!, April 4, 2004

By 

George Wallace (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Neptune Strategy (Hardcover)

From the first page, Jack Gobbell draws you into the drama and excitement of the battle for the Pacific during WW II. You feel the heat, smell the cordite, sense the fear and bravery. As a fellow novelist, I am awed by Gobbell's skill at story telling and character development. He will have you on the edge of your seat as Todd Ingram struggles for survival against Shimada, the Japanese master submariner, and Taubman, the greedy Nazi. A must read!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Neptune Strategy, June 24, 2004

By 

Gary S. Vandeweghe (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Neptune Strategy (Hardcover)

Webster defines intrepid as "characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude and endurance." Roget offers courage, bravery, valor, spirit, daring, gallantry, derring-do, audacity, dash, defiance and self-reliance as synonyms.

Spring 1944 finds our intrepid hero Navy Commander Todd Ingram on the bridge of his Fletcher class destroyer, the U.S.S. Maxwell, on picket duty ahead of the Mariana Islands invasion fleet. Caught by eight Japanese attack bombers, Todd gets blasted into the sea and shortly thereafter rescued by a Japanese submarine. Our favorite Navy storyteller, John J. Gobbell, tells this continuation of Todd's saga in The Neptune Strategy.

The Japanese submarine that picks Todd up is reported sunk in a torpedo bomber attack. Although battered, the boat survives and continues what turns out to be a rogue mission as a ghost ship. Todd is treated as slave labor, and guarded night and day. The language and cultural differences make it worse. He has some contact with a German officer traveling with the Japanese, but otherwise is starved, beaten, tortured and worked to the point of death.

The rogue sub heads west through the Indian Ocean, stopping in Madagascar en route to the Nazi submarine pens in France to return the Nazi officer to Europe. Todd is transferred to another submarine headed back to the South Pacific, but not before he sees a huge stash of gold ingots hidden under the submarine's diesels.

Back in Southern California, a very pregnant nurse, Todd's wife, Army Captain Helen Ingram thinks Todd has been lost at sea. The Navy knows that he was rescued, but cannot reveal that they are reading Japanese codes, and so she cannot be told he is still alive.

Even in 1944, it was a small world, and it looks like the parties are all headed for New Caledonia in the south Coral Sea. The Neptune Strategy will take you there to see what happens.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read!, July 31, 2004

By 

J. Taylor (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Neptune Strategy (Hardcover)

John J. Gobbell's "The Neptune Strategy" is another great read that follows three previous books featuring war hero Todd Ingram. The action and suspense never stops. And the historical setting, in this case the Normandy landings and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, gives the reader a great history lesson. Compared to the previous books, "The Neptune Strategy" contains more international intrigue. I would not have thought that Gobbell would have ventured to Europe, but he does with a gold-hungry Nazi submariner who finds his way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. And Ingram is along for the ride! I hope that Gobbell has enough ideas for a final installment for the war's finale. In all, a really fun book to read!