Description:

This is an action filled World War Two historical fiction novel about Jacob Scott Williams, the assistant gun director on the battleship Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

The story begins with a news reporter for a radio station getting the assignment to interview a retired Navy admiral who is celebrating his one hundredth birthday. The conversation rapidly turns to the memories of William's participation in WW2, when he accepted the surrender of a Japanese submarine at the end of the war. From there he continues to relate the major events in his experience which led him to that point.

The action starts with LCDR Williams having a meeting with the junior officers under his command in the officer's wardroom on the morning of December 7th, when the first torpedo strikes the ship. Ten minutes later he is swimming for his life in Pearl Harbor as the Battleship Arizona blows up and his own ship rolls over and dies.

Consumed by thoughts of revenge, his deepest desire is to kill as many Japanese as he can before the war is over. He accepts a transfer to the battleship North Carolina taking the position as the Air Defense Officer. Several years after that he receives command of a light cruiser called theBuffalo. During his tours of duty on each of these ships he witnesses several torpedo attacks, air attacks, a submarine attack and one of the first organized Kamikaze attacks of the war. Each battle he faces he loses more of his shipmates and several times faces the possibility of his own death.

But his one-on-one confrontation with the deadliest of his enemies proves more shocking and life-changing than all his battles and tragedies combined. This man's journey from hatred to honor is one that will strike directly at the heart of any human being.

From the Author

This book is dedicated to all the men who, during what hopefully will be the last of the world wars, left their homes and families to defend the free people of the world. It is a work of fiction and is only to be taken as such, but it does include several people who were very real and very heroic in situations they actually had to endure on our behalf. Some information regarding the real people who were involved in this story can be found in the notes and acknowledgments at the end of the book.

While the backdrop of this book is obviously military in nature, it is still basically a story of the internal struggles of a man dealing with the violence of war. As such, I have tried to write it in a way that makes it easy for the civilians as well as the soldiers to understand.

I hope you enjoy the read and would love to here any feedback you might have. You can contact me at the e-mail address which is listed in the back of the book. Just to give more information to those who may be interested in reading this book, I've decided to fill some of the rest of this space with some comments I've received via e-mail.

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I enjoyed your book Vengeance: Hatred and Honor. It's a great read and I thank you for a job well done. Much like you, I am a World War II enthusiast and I enjoy learning about this era in our country's history. Although your story was fiction, I'm certain that those principles and values of Captain Williams were in many of those men that helped the Allies on to victory. I am a teacher and occasionally I get the opportunity to inform students about the heroic duties and painful sacrifices that so many people made such a long time ago. Your book will be a reference for me in the future and I will recommend it to those that take interest. I also would like to thank you for your service to our country.

Most Sincerely,
SC

p.s. If you could recommend any similar books to yours, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm sure that you are a busy person, but how about a follow up book?

I just finished reading Vengeance: Hatred and Honor. I thoroughly enjoyed your work, it is well researched and very well written. I felt the emotions of the old admiral as he narrates his experiences during the horrifying times of being under attack so many different times and surviving only to see his friends and men under his command being killed in so many different and terrifying ways and all the while agonizing about his family. In spite of all that, the message comes across very clearly that peace and freedom have always come at a terrible cost.

Sincerely,
SS

Just finished your novel. I was seven years old in Dec. 41 and did all of the things that we were supposed to do for the war effort. From the age of 7 years to 11 years old I followed the war news like an addicted junkie and now that I'm 78 years old I am still addicted.

I return to Hawaii often and hit all of the historical points and never get tired of doing it.

Thank you for keeping my interest alive.

RM

Brett, I wanted to compliment your book. I am a student of all things WWII but have a rule that I don't buy historical fiction. I have read several hundred books on the subject and felt I had exhausted the subject. I accidentally bought your book, thinking it was autobiography, finished it and really enjoyed it. Both of my wife's grandfathers served in WWII. One grandfather was stationed in Oahu in the Marine Corps where he met my wife's grandmother who was part Hawaiian. He actually visited Hiroshima shortly after the war ended. My wife's grandmother's family fled into the mountains when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The other grandfather was a paratrooper in the Army, training to jump into Japan, which was luckily called off after the bomb was dropped.

Her family never would buy Japanese goods for as long as I have known them. Still don't. Your character accurately captured the deep resentment borne by that generation.

Regards,
HM

From the Back Cover

"If you could've made the book a little less interesting I could have helped you by proofing it. However you just couldn't do that. I'm sucked into it and am having a hard time not just reading it cover to cover. This is a book I recommend." -Bob Keifer

"I must say I'm very impressed! I found it entertaining and very readable." -Lt. Col. Dusty Ashton

"Oh my God, I can't believe how good your book is! I totally didn't expect that." -Jeff Breedlove