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The Far Reaches (Josh Thurlow Series #1)
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Product Description
The year is 1943 and World War II in the Pacific rages on, with Americans engaged in desperate battles against a cunning enemy. Coast Guard Captain Josh Thurlow is on hand at the invasion of Tarawa, as the United States Navy begins throwing her Marines at island after bloody island across the Pacific. But nothing goes as planned, and young Americans go up against fanatical defenders.
As blood colors the waters around Tarawa, Josh flounders ashore through a floating graveyard of dead men and joins the survivors. Critically wounded, Josh expects to die. Instead, Sister Mary Kathleen, a pretty Irish nun, nurses him back to health, then shanghais Josh, sidekick Bosun Ready O’Neal, and three American Marines to a group of tropical islands invaded by a brutal Japanese warlord. Josh and his little band must decide whether to help the Sister ?ght the battle she demands, return to Tarawa and the “real” war, or settle down in the romantic splendor of the South Seas.
With an incredible eye for historical detail, edge-of-your-seat writing, and the talent of a master storyteller, Homer Hickam delivers another page-turning tour de force.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #52798 in Books
- Published on: 2008-06-24
- Released on: 2008-06-24
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This is Hickam's third WWII action saga featuring Capt. Josh Thurlow, an officer exhibiting military insight and preternatural fighting abilities. The book opens in 1943 as an American fleet assembles off Tarawa, and the Marines prepare to land. Observing from the deck of a transport, Thurlow points out flaws in the attack plan and predicts the disaster that follows. Although only a spectator, Thurlow cannot resist the lure of battle; he leaps into a landing craft, struggles to shore and rallies the few surviving Marines until reinforcements arrive. Wounded during the melee, Thurlow loses consciousness only to awaken in a caravan of outriggers with a beautiful young nun, a dozen Polynesians and three nondescript Marines. The nun and her flock had endured the invasion as prisoners of the Japanese and are returning to the Far Reaches, their home islands, now occupied by Japanese troops. The nun has near-impossible plans in mind for Thurlow and a painful secret of her own; fans of the genre will know what to expect. Hickam (Rocket Boys; The Ambassador's Son) keeps the stakes high and the tension taut in this fast-moving historical. (June)
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Review
“Homer Hickam establishes himself as an heir to such greats as James Jones and Herman Wouk.” --James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers
"This fast-moving tale of action, intrigue, and romance during World War II is filled with fascinating characters and vivid backgrounds. Hickam is one of the best yarn-spinners in the business." --James Reasoner, author of The Last Good War“A well-written piece of WWII fiction that would be worth reading even without its bonus characters.” –Roanoke Times
“Hickam effectively weaves storytelling and exhaustive research on Kennedy into a thrilling tale” –The Denver Post
“A fast-paced adventure novel with sea chases and skin-of-their-teeth rescues…the real strength of the book lies in the characters. The main protagonists are well-drawn and credible…[and] the peripheral characters truly shine.” –Richmond Times-Dispatch
"THE AMBASSADOR'S SON is the reason I love to read. It takes you to a place where propellers and tides and bullets decide men's fates and you feel like you're sweating along with the heroes and villains. Homer Hickam is such a good writer that I'd probably read anything that he put out, but this adventure made me feel like a kid again." --Rick Bragg, bestselling author of ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN'
"Homer Hickam is the best natural storyteller I've read in years." -Stephen Coonts
From the Inside Flap
As blood colors the waters around Tarawa, Josh flounders ashore through a floating graveyard of dead men and joins the survivors, determined to somehow wrest victory from disaster. Critically wounded, ,Josh expects to die. Instead, he is spun off on one of his greatest adventures when Sister Mary Kathleen, a young Irish nun, nurses him back to health, then shanghais Josh, sidekick Bosun Ready O'Neal, and three American marines to a group of beautiful tropical islands invaded by a brutal Japanese warlord. Josh and his little band must decide whether to help the Sister fight the battle she demands, return to Tarawa and the "real" war, or settle down in the romantic splendor of the South Seas.
Hickam expertly weaves the adventures of these hot-blooded characters tighter and tighter until the Sister's secrets and sins are finally revealed during a horrific battle in the lair of the warlord. With an incredible eye for historical detail and the talent of a master storyteller, Homer Hickam delivers another tour de force.
Customer Reviews
His tough crust still surrounds a tender core for the men and women who are loyal and true. 
Captain Josh Thurlow is back in a new World War II adventure, packed with action and pathos. Fans will remember the feisty U.S. Coast Guard Captain from two previous books. We first met Josh in THE KEEPER'S SON as he hunted a wolfpack of German U-boats off the Outer Banks of the Carolinas before the U.S. entered the war. In THE AMBASSADOR'S SON, Josh and his crew were sent to the Solomon Islands on a secret mission to search for President Roosevelt's missing cousin early in the war.
Captain Thurlow's sea-savvy has been duly noted by Washington after his action in the Solomons, and he is dispatched to the Mariana Islands as an observer for Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. The Americans had met blistering resistance from the Japanese in the bloody battle of Guadalcanal, and now the U.S. seeks to secure the island chain to the east as a strategic stopping point in the supply lines as they gear up for invasion of Japan. Late in 1943 the Marines are launching an assault of Tarawa.
Hickam's earlier war stories have leaned toward storytelling and character development in the early pages. Not so in THE FAR REACHES. The opening chapters are filled with graphic, action-filled battle scenes, as his impressive writing skills chronicle a near-catastrophic battle early in World War II. Based on recorded history of that battle, THE FAR REACHES aims a zoom lens on the fighting men from both sides in what began as a fiasco as the Marines tried to land under poor sea conditions. It is here that Hickam injects his rich and colorful characters into the story.
Captain Thurlow, horrified at the carnage taking place during the misguided landing, discards his observer role to jump ship and join the battle.
Meanwhile, Sister Mary Kathleen, a pretty, young Irish nun and her retinue of "fella boys," a group of South Sea Islanders fleeing a prisoner-of-war camp on a Japanese occupied island, have had the misfortune of being recaptured by the Japanese holding Tarawa. They are sequestered in a bunker under guard beneath the dunes of the small atoll and due to be executed. When the pounding begins from the American warships offshore, their future is even less certain as shells fall on the bunker.
During a lull in the bombardment, the nun and her fella boys crawl out of the smoldering ruins to give aid to the few wounded Marines still alive after the first unsuccessful beach assault. Among them are Josh and his bosun, Ready. Josh, gravely wounded during the landing, succumbs to a recurrence of malaria and is shanghaied by Sister Mary Kathleen, who has a war of her own to win back on the island she fled.
As the second wave of the 2nd Marines is gathering for what will be a successful battle for the island chain, the unconscious Josh, his bosun Ready, the determined young nun and three surviving Marines are being rowed in three reed outrigger canoes by the nun's faithful fella boys back to the island group known as the Forriges, or the Far Reaches, to help Sister Mary Kathleen exact her revenge on her brutal captor.
Members of the crew find love, honor and insights into their own human spirit as they go from hand-to-hand fighting on the brutal beaches of Tarawa to an idyllic existence on an outlying island. There, they finally confront the cruel Japanese warlord and the lives of each are changed forever.
Hickam's hero is strong, filled with zeal and brave in the face of overwhelming odds as all heroes must be. His past books have been laced with humor and hijnks by Josh and his unlikely band of sailors, but THE FAR REACHES is dead serious and strikes a darker note. The war has hardened Josh and the games are over. The curmudgeonly Captain frightens strangers but doesn't fool his trusted friends. His tough crust still surrounds a tender core for the men and women who are loyal and true.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
Hickam's Best Novel to Date
If you've read any of Hickam's other books you will love this one. If you haven't read any of his books yet, what are you waiting for? As a Vietnam combat veteran you can tell that Homer uses a lot of his own experiences in this novel. A must read.
Wow!
If you thought Rocket Boys was good, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Hickam displays his versatility in his most intense work to date. In the vein of both Saving Private Ryan and The Killer Angels, Hickam's The Far Reaches is guaranteed to thrill, shock, and thoroughly move even the most stoic of readers.
