Product Description

The unimaginable horror of total nuclear war has been let loose upon the world, and only one ship, the Nathan James, with 152 men and 26 women aboard, has survived. Her captain narrates the electryfing story of this crew's voyage through the hell of nuclear winter, their search for survivial, and the fate of mankind when they find an uncontaminated paradise.
"Beautifully written...A magnificent book."
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133242 in Books
• Published on: 1989-02-13
• Released on: 1989-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 616 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this apocalyptic novel of the sea is that Brinkley has been able to spin so slender a plot to so great lengthmore than 500 pages. Global nuclear disaster has struck, and the guided-missile destroyer Nathan James, short on food and fuel, its crew of men and women seriously depleted by desertions, sails the seas in search of an uncontaminated landfall. The Nathan James is apparently the only ship afloatuntil it meets a Russian sub and a little belated glasnost is arranged. The destroyer's captain, a man given to Conradesque reflections more often ponderous than illuminating, describes how he struggles to assert his authority and maintain crew morale, how he establishes a settlement on an unpolluted Pacific island, assigning to his female crew the task of ensuring the continuation of the human race (he has a steamy affair with one of them himself) and how he handles, among other problems, a case of multiple murder. Brinkley (Don't Go Near the Water, Quicksand) clearly knows the U.S. Navy, and his narrative has its moments. However, his style here is turgid and the story as a whole, unlike the sleek and deadly Nathan James, sits pretty heavily in the water.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The author of Don't Go Near the Water superbly depicts life on a U.S. Navy destroyer after a heavy nuclear exchange. That women are now integrated into the navy adds to the interest. The survivors hunt a safe haven where life and perhaps the human race can continue, away from radiation. A Russian submarine, apparently friendly, appears and then is gone, while a group of mutineers irrationally try to return "home." The captain's narration is thoughtful and sensitive. Inexperienced with women, he must oversee the desperate assembly-line attempts to conceive children that he himself does not join. More than a military adventure, this is a first-rate study of beauty amid ghastliness, engrossing to the end.William A. Donovan, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
We published THE LAST SHIP rather quietly as a trade paperback in 1987. During the mid-eighties, the Reagan years, the Cold War was still on and fears of nuclear war were at a height not seen since the early sixties. Naturally,a slew of books came out to feed the fear.

THE LAST SHIP took that "genre" to a new level. William Brinkley is a terrific story teller, and he's also a wonderful writer. I remember reading this book and being torn between my instinct to race through the book and wanting to slow down to a near halt to admire the paragraphs and his use of the English language. (I was driven more than once to the dictionary, not that the vocabulary was instrusive in any way.)

I am heartened to see such recent comments from customers. I have seen this book reorder steadily for years, and it is terrific to read reviews from new found fans. Perhaps the nuclear testing in India and Pakistan revived the interest in books like this, but I think it is more likely that THE LAST SHIP is so well written that it has stood the test of time.

Sheila Phelan, Director of Circulation

Customer Reviews

I liked it despite the writing style
Brinkley writes in long, convoluted sentences that I often found hard to follow, with incomplete sentences mixed in to confuse things even more. He uses an awful lot of SAT words, and his descriptions use so many adjectives that they reminded me of compositions created with a magnetic poetry kit.

And yet, I found the book engaging. I like post-apocalyptic stories; this one is about a U.S. ship carrying perhaps the last humans alive after a nuclear war. The book gets you inside the life and mind and worldview of a sailor, which I found fascinating. I was drawn into the quandary of how to create a stable society with such a high male/female ratio (though I didn't believe that their solution would work as well as it did). And I did like one of Brinkley's writing quirks (which some readers may find annoying): he can take three pages to narrate a five-second conversation because he includes so much detail about what's going on in the head of the ship's captain, who's the narrator.

For other non-sailors: The word "ways" can be a singular noun meaning "an inclined structure upon which a ship is built or supported in launching." (I couldn't make any sense of the opening sentence until I looked that up.)

Better post-apocalyptic novels: "Earth Abides," "Alas, Babylon," "The Stand," "On the Beach," and "The Road."

My favorite book
I am a 29 year old woman who doesn't really care for the ocean. I generally find the genre of "war novels" to be predictable and immature. That said, this book has some of the best writing, the most clearly developed characters, and the most affecting situations that I have ever read. I don't pretend to know a great deal about the navy, or warfare, or the innermost workings of the military. However, the story is impeccably written, and I literally could not put it down. The author doesn't condescend to the reader, and there is no Clancy-like jingoism or sermonizing. There are some astounding plot turns, yet they remain believeable. The first few chapters-particularly after...well, I won't spoil it...are harrowing. Brinkley's style of writing is actually more akin to Melville, than anything out today. If you like your reading intelligent, exciting and thought-provoking, this is a terrific choice.

An epic drama written in a classic style.
This story and author make my all-time favorites list. Brinkley's complex writing style, where sentences often stretch to paragraph length, is well suited to his thoughtful exploration of morality and character. He places his believable characters in unthinkable situations, then spends a great deal of time inside their heads, shedding light on the impossible decisions they make that drive the plot of the story.

In the story, the captain and crew of an American destroyer launch their nuclear missiles toward a Russian city, then speed toward the south Atlantic in a frantic effort to escape the inevitable retaliation. The ship and crew survive after a hellish journey through a radiation-soaked nuclear winter, only to find themselves alone in a world that offers few, if any, places of refuge.

Where they go, how they survive, and their search for a future in a shattered world, bring the story to a satisfying conclusion, but set the stage for a sequel. Mr. Brinkley, I have to believe that anyone who has read your story is eagerly awaiting your next effort, and hopeful that it will be the sequel to The Last Ship