A CODE FOR TOMORROW
A Code for Tomorrow
Todd Ingram Adventures, Book 2
Kindle:
ASIN: B003F778WI
Starboardside Productions
Trade Paperback
United States: $14.95
Great Britain: (GBP) £11.50
Europe: €12.95
Kindle: $8.95
As the war in the South Pacific heats up, Lieutenant Todd Ingram gets a new assignment to the destroyer U.S. Howell, on which he will serve as executive officer. Thrown into two epic naval battles of early World War II, the Battle of Cape Esperance and the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a young but already battle-weary Todd Ingram is also in the middle of a personal nightmare: his sweetheart, Army nurse Helen Durand, is trapped behind enemy lines, fighting for the resistance on Mindanao. With Soviet espionage activity hindering his rescue of Helen, Lieutenant Ingram is at an impasse. In danger of losing both the woman he loves and a war in which he had fought so valiantly, Ingram puts his life on the line for a world on the brink of destruction...
From the whispers of lovers parted by war to the explosive, harrowing naval action in the battle of Santa Cruz Islands, A Code for Tomorrow brilliantly portrays World War II and the lives it irrevocable touched... Read more»
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SYNOPSIS
In A CODE FOR TOMORROW, Navy Lieutenant Todd Ingram escaped the horrors of Corregidor. Now, in San Francisco, he agonizes over Helen Durand, the Army nurse he left behind, fighting for the resistance on Mindanao. Todd Ingram is befriended by Senior Lieutenant Eduard Dezhnev, the Soviet Naval attache’ to the USSR’s consulate there. But things go badly for the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific’s Solomon Islands and Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance orders Ingram to the destroyer U.S.S.Howell as executive officer. Right back in the fighting, Ingram is caught in two of the epic naval battles off Guadalcanal: the Battle of Cape Esperance and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Amidst this, Ingram reaches for Helen but her rescue is hampered by the espionage activities of Dezhnev, a man Ingram grew to trust and admire. With the war at its apex, Todd Ingram puts his life on the line not only for the girl he loves, but for his country, and for a world so perilously close to collapse.
Critical Praise / Cover Quotes
"From its exciting beginning on board a Russian prisoner ship off the coast of San Francisco to its incredible high-action conclusion off the coast of Mindanao, this World War II novel cooks with intrigue.... This stick-to-your fingers novel is John J. Gobbell at his best."
"A Code For Tomorrow is big and fast as a Fletcher class destroyer and the story races along with pace and power...a thrilling read."
"...the sea action is thoroughly convincing."
Reviews
This is the follow-up to Gobbell’s well-received THE LAST LIEUTENANT (1995). This time Gobbell tracks young naval officer Todd Ingram, a Corregidor escapee, through more World War II action afloat in the Pacific , ashore in the Philippines, and through the hallowed halls of military high command.
It is still early in the war, and despite the promise of easy duty, Ingram is quickly sent back to help fight the Japanese navy in places few Americans knew existed prior to Pearl Harbor. Ingram is also anxious to get back to the Philippines where Helen Durand, his army-nurse sweetheart, is working with a resistance force behind enemy lines.
Gobbell, himself a young naval officer, combines painstaking research and solid storytelling to produce a highly readable military adventure. The novel ends in 1943, leaving fans anxious for the next installment of Ingram’s wartime exploits.
...the sea action is thoroughly convincing.
Book Covers
Gallery
USS Tingey (DD 539), a typical Fletcher class destroyer, re-fuels at Midway Island in 1962. USS Watts (DD 567) is inboard. (Photo by John Samuelson)
Near the top of Divisidero Street in San Francisco, this building was the Soviet Consulate in World War II. After the war, the Soviets were evicted because they would not allow a U.S. consulate in Vladivostok. (Photo by Richard Heilman)
This was the Soviet's view San Francisco Bay when they stood in front of their consulate near the top of Divisidero Street.
Lavrenti Beria, in a latter 1930s photos as he vacationed with Josef Stalin on the Black Sea. Beria was one of the most dangerous people in the world. Stalin had just promoted him to Commissar of State Security, NKVD Narodnyi Kommissariat Vnutrennikh Del (which later became the KGB). Notice Beria's boss in the background. Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, sits in Beria's lap.
Destroyer USS Smith (DD 378) after the Battle of the St. Cruz Islands. Note damage after Japanese divebomber crashed on foredeck.
Another view of the carrier Hornet, now mortally wounded, lying dead in the water. The Destroyer USS Russell (DD 414) lays under her starboard bow taking off her pilots and crew.
The US Navy sustained enormous losses, including the sinking of the fleet carriers Wasp and Hornet, to ensure Marines like these, could take Guadalcanal
An early photo of the drawing room of the Pope Suite in the Saint Francis Hotel (Courtesy St. Francis Hotel)
Mid-1930's photo of the Soviet Slave ship Dzhurma, one of six used to carry Soviet prisoners to the arctic for forced labor from which many did not return. 6908 tons, 402 feet length, 58 foot beam, three decks; One triple expansion steam engine delivers 10.5 knots top speed.