When Duty Whispers Low [Hardcover]

John J. Gobbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2002

With The Last Lieutenant and A Code For Tomorrow, John J. Gobbell has firmly established himself as one of today's leading authors of epic war novels. His hero, Todd Ingram, has proven to be one of the most fascinating and endearing characters in the genre. In When Duty Whispers Low, Lieutenant Commander Ingram faces his biggest challenge to date as his best friend turns against him when the chips are down.

It's 1943 and the U.S. Navy is caught in a fierce battle against the Japanese in the South Pacific. At stake is the Allies newly won Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. But Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of the Combined Fleet and architect of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, desperately wants Guadalcanal back. Calling it "Operation I," Yamamoto throws everything into the foray, scraping together top-line dive bombers and torpedo planes from all over the Pacific to carry out a series of Pearl-Harbor sized bombing raids in the Solomons.

In response, the Allies introduce the proximity fuse to the fleet-a top-secret anti-aircraft detonator that can greatly assist the U.S. Navy in their desperate fight against Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes. However, in the heat of battle Commander Jerry Landa refuses to use the fuse - and pays the price as his ship, the USS Howell, is torn in half by Japanese "Val" dive bombers. Lieutenant Commander Todd Ingram confronts Landa, questioning his authority as the two become enemies in the midst of battle.

As Ingram and Landa fight to survive "Operation I," Yamamoto personally directs the raids that will return him to the glory of December 7, 1941; raids that will facilitate the recapture of Guadalcanal and that will cripple the United States Navy forever.

Filled with epic battles, romance, and the brutality of war, John J. Gobbell has crafted a tale that will transport the reader into the South Pacific during World War II--a story as vibrant and stunning as anything he has ever written.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fourth novel from the writer of historical military thrillers (The Last Lieutenant, A Code for Tomorrow) combines two actual events from 1943 the killing of Isoroku Yamamoto and the introduction of proximity fuses into antiaircraft artillery shells which the author (himself a veteran naval officer) highlights as watershed moments in the Pacific theater of WWII. Opening in the wake of the Japanese withdrawal from Guadalcanal and the attendant brutal naval battles, the novel follows the story of Comdr. Jerry Landa and Lt. Todd Ingram, the skipper and executive officer, respectively, of the U.S.S. Howell, a destroyer on patrol in the notorious "Slot" of New Georgia Sound. Landa's brother, Josh, working on top-secret proximity fuses for American antiaircraft shells, is killed during a research accident. When ammunition with the new fuses turns up at the Howell, the grieving Landa prohibits their use in his ship's guns. Predictably, the Howell is crippled in a Japanese air attack and forced to beach on an island. A subsequent battle with Japanese Marines and a dramatic evacuation by PT boat leads to a race between navies to get to the store of the new ordnance in the Howell's hulk. Extensive subplots featuring the cast's many principals (Landa's romance with the widow of one of his KIA friends and Ingram's stalking by a U.S. government assassin over a security breach) round out the action, but it is the convincing historical detail from the grim Guadalcanal mortality chart to the "monster" battleship Musashi and the famous victory missive"Pop Goes the Weasel" that really distinguishes this book from the competition.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The sequel to A Code for Tomorrow, this is Gobbell's third book featuring Lt. Commander Todd Ingram and his exploits during World War II. It begins with Ingram as the executive officer of the USS Howell, a destroyer in the South Pacific. As the war takes its toll of men and ships, he must make some important decisions: will he take command of his own destroyer or accept a post at home to be near his wife? Ingram must also resolve whom to trust his old friend and commanding officer, Jerry Landa, or the navy's rising star, Captain Ashton. The battle scenes are frequent (there is a war on, after all), straightforward, and realistic. Gobbell knows how to keep the story moving without overdoing the mayhem. In fact, things frequently get muddled when the action breaks and characters are left to interact with one another; they repeat themselves and quarrel for no good reason. While this may be true-to-life behavior, it's a drag on the narrative. Thankfully, the battles soon resume, and the book regains its edge. Fans of World War II fiction and David Poyer's novels will enjoy this latest entry. Recommended for all public libraries. Patrick J. Wall, University City P.L., MO
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (April 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312274912
• ISBN-13: 978-0312274917
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,971,709 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

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good sea action adventure, May 7, 2002

By 

Robert F. Jakubowicz (Pittsfield, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Duty Whispers Low (Hardcover)

If you enjoy your novels featuring sea battles -e.g. the Hornblower series, etc.- you will enjoy this book. It is not your ordinary sea action story. It is a well written, literary fiction. The author, like Bernard Cornwell in his Sharpe series, uses an actual historic battle event as the setting for his story. In this case it is the naval battle in the Pacific in WWII between the U. S. Navy and the Japanese fleet. In particular it is centered around the Japanese attempt to retake Guadalcanal.
The action is real and the characters give a reader a real sense of what it must have been like while serving on a destroyer in these battles.
Without missing a beat in the action and drama, the author also interweaves into his story the introduction of an actual secret U. S. weapon that was deployed in these battles, namely, the proximity fuse. This and a few other sideplots increase the drama and one's interest in this book.
If you like this genre of fiction, then I also highly recommend a previous book by the author entitled, "The Last Lieutenant."
It's a great book to have on a summer vacation to be read by the sea.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Duty Whispers Low, June 24, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: When Duty Whispers Low (Mass Market Paperback)

Book Three, When Duty Whispers Low, is a page-turner.
The action is in the Phillippines in The Last Lieutenant and A Code for Tomorrow, and now we move to the Solomons, specifically Mondo Mondo off New Georgia in the Slot. In early 1943, both the U.S. and Japan were fencing after the heavy tolls in the Coral Sea and at Midway, and U.S. ground forces (okay, the Marines) have retaken Guadalcanal. The U.S. Navy is across Iron Bottom Sound at Tulagi, at the southeastern end of the New Georgia Sound bisecting the Solomons (the Slot), and the Japanese are 300 miles northwest at Bougainville (closer than San Jose is to L.A.).
Todd Ingram, now a Lieutenant Commander (a Major to folks who like solid ground or clear air under their feet), is the Exec on the destroyer U.S.S. Howell. In a rough fight off Mondo Mondo, the Howell loses its ass end and ends up on the beach. Most of the crew narrowly escape, and a banged-up Todd Ingram is sent home to San Pedro to recover.
Meanwhile there is plenty of intrigue. Helen Durand, now Helen Ingram, is a Navy nurse and receives an unwanted assignment to North Africa. Navy crytroanalysts are hard at work on Japanese naval codes, and there may be problems with proximity fuses. The last is a project of desk sailor Captain Frank Ashton, whose high opinion of himself spells trouble.
The Gensui of the Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is just north of the Solomons at Rabaul on New Britain. He is planning a trip to Bougainville to visit the troops.
Todd Ingram is about to take his first command when an air raid forces his ship, the tin can U.S.S. Pence, out of Tulagi harbor and after a nasty fight to the bottom. Soon he is on a PT Boat heading back up the Slot to the Howell to blow it up and rescue the survivors of an earlier attempt to scuttle her.
Army Air Forces are revving up on Guadalcanal to look for Yamamoto's flight to Bougainville. They know where he is going, and his compulsion for punctuality.
So?
Something's got to happen, and it does. Plenty.
Volume 4, Neptune's Progeny is next.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Greyhound WWW II Action, June 28, 2002

By 

Bob Mahan (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Duty Whispers Low (Hardcover)

Haze grey and underway. Tin can sailors will love the book.

Great sea/air battle scenes and lots of them. John puts you right in the action. This is the third in a series of SAGAs involving Todd Ingram. The first two should be read first. I look forward to the next novel.

Best sea novel since "Time and Tide" by Thomas Fleming.