Shattered Jade

Alexander’s dutiful sequel to 76 Hours finds U.S. Marine Pete “Hardball” Talbot taking part in the invasion of Saipan, one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific theater of WWII. It’s June 1944 and Pete, back in action after being wounded at Tarawa and marrying his sweetheart back home while recuperating, is made sergeant and put in charge of a 12-man rifle squad. As they hit the beach on the strategically important island of Saipan—1,300 miles from the Japanese mainland—the squad faces off against enemy forces abandoned by Japan’s Imperial Headquarters and ordered to fight to the last man. The Japanese perspective is rendered through the eyes of Maj. Tadashi Tanimura, whose mother was Caucasian-American and who was raised in both Japan and the U.S. Unlike other Pacific islands over which Japan and the Allies clashed, there are many civilians on Saipan, and their presence complicates the Marines’ advance. The novel culminates with Pete and his fellow soldiers beating back a suicidal banzai attack by the Japanese. As before, Alexander hurls the reader into the white-hot swirl of combat. Though there are some trite epiphanies by both Japanese and American characters, the alternating points of view offer a multidimensional feel to the conflict. Military fiction addicts will happily find their fix here. Agent: Doug Grad, DG Literary. (Mar.)