The Edge of Honor, written by a retired Navy captain, tries hard to bring the reader into the Navy world and capture the reader's imagination, but doesn't quite succeed. With its stiff prose and bland characters, the novel plods along without building much suspense until two-thirds of the way through, when plot, action, and character finally combine to produce a page-turner. Until that point, however, the military jargon is overwhelming, even with a glossary included at the back of the book. Deutermann's attempt to have the reader learn along with the new guy simply makes the hero look unappealingly naive. A few scenes of life aboard a ship in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam war are extraneous to the plot, do not build character, and are not strong enough in a literary sense to merit inclusion in the book.

Retired navy personnel may find this novel an intriguing description of an ultimately dysfunctional ship, but to the outsider it has little to offer.

Well, Captain P.T. Deutermann USN (Ret) has done it again. He has written another well thought-out military thriller that also has all the ingredients of a good mystery. With each book released, he just gets better and better.

LT Brian Holcomb is a young surface warfare officer who is trying to undo the damage of a potentially career-ending fitness report. Attempting to do so, he takes an assignment to a guided missile cruiser, the USS JOHN BELL HOOD. Once aboard, he realizes that he will have his hands full. Drug abuse is rampant and as those of us who remember 1969 can attest, the American war effort was already universally reviled by civilians and military people alike.

LT Holcomb leaves behind his wife Maddy who is beginning to feel the stirring of restlessness and the desire to be her own person. She realizes as she embarks on a career as a banker that she does not need to be the good little Navy wife and stand by her man. She does not need to be Mrs. "Lieutenant" Holcomb to have a life of her own making.

But Brian is at war and the USS JOHN BELL HOOD is on the firing line in the South China Sea. Mr Deutermann does an outstanding job of describing life at sea during those unpopular war years. He knows from whence he speaks, having commanded a cruiser himself.

Mr Deutermann served his country in the Navy for more than 25 years. He has captured the essence of that service and what sacrifices are made by service members to a "T." If anyone doubts what naval service during the Vietnam War meant, I recommend that they read this book. It is a great look into that period of time and what it meant to value duty, honor and country.

Brian Holcomb is a fine character and a better junior officer than he gave himself credit for. Peter Deutermann did a great job with all of the characterizations in this book, but especially Holcomb's Commanding Officer. I would go so far as to say that if schools around the country pick a naval story to replace THE CAINE MUTINY in their American Lit classes, then this should be the one. But don't take my word for it, read this book and you'll be hooked. You'll go looking for the backlist of all the books by Peter Deutermann and you won't be disappointed.

Thank you Captain Deutermann for another great read. BZ from a former paratrooper.

This is the best contemporary Navy story I have read. Many of us who served in the Navy in that era fought the same fights on our ships as did LT Holcumb on the mythical Hood. (Don't think the problem Holcomb had on the Hood didn't exist - it did. We had a similar experience with drug use on my ship as several key personnel we were removed from duty at a critical time.) The CIC scenes in the book are excellent - they brought back memories of long, difficult watches. The relationship between Holcomb and his Chief is well done - with Holcomb trying to learn from the more experienced man, while trying to provide leadership. Further, Deutermann well describes the loneliness and stuggles faced by spouses left behind when the ship deployed. While I am an avid reader, I rarely reread a book. However, I've reread this one several times. It is highly reccommended. REC

Here's a paragraph from "All We Know of Heaven." If you swoon, this book is for you; however, if it does not pass your giggle test, try something else: "Sometimes I find myself standing and staring, mesmerized by the memory of our lovemaking, the crests of feeling our love has pulled into being, waves as metered and inevitable as the real waves pulled back from all the beaches of the world by the strength of the moon." I can't believe I made it to the end of this 180 pages of silliness.

A MOVING AND MEMORABLE LOVE STORY, ALL ABOUT THE TEXTURE OF ORDINARY LIFE

I highly recomend this bittersweet romance. The lyrical writting of Ms.Villegas gives what some would call a tragidy, a triumphant ending. I became so enthralled with the caracters that I had a hard time putting the book down.