"The humming changed to a strong roar as many aircraft flew low over their heads toward the ships moored in Pearl Harbor... The small aircraft banked... orange meatballs glistened on their wings."
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MacArthur's Pacific Appeasement,
December 8, 1941 The Missing Ten Hours by Mark Douglas Trafford Publishing
book review by Staff
Mark Douglas's novel, MacArthur's Pacific Appeasement, December 8, 1941 The Missing Ten Hours, is part revisionist history and part historical fiction told in two parts. The first is a large wide scope view of the world in general prior to the outbreak of World War II, setting the stage for the events to follow relayed in chronological fragmented news items and newsreel type entries. Bits of scenes make up the main narrative. The story then moves mostly into scene with dramatizing events leading up to the Japanese Pacific-wide attack in early 1941. The second section is a fictionalized account of an Article 70 Board of Inquiry ordered by FDR on MacArthur for his failure to obey orders and acceptance of money from a foreign power.
The heart of the book is its segments in scene, told through an omniscient narrator recounting the events from all sides of the battle. The all-seeing eye in the sky spares no one. Distillation of this omniscience through disembodied voices radio news correspondents conveying information in abrupt and jagged blurbs on the ever-growing global threat of war are placed throughout the book. Simulated bits from Reuters and the BBC, simulated telegrams, correspondence and telephone conversations are all part of Douglas's hyper-reality.
The author's attention to precise details in examples such as details of combat quality telephones, military machinery and aircraft enhance the world he has created. The author was challenged choreographing the action alongside the historical accuracy of events. This section where the author describes the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, beginning with the bombing of a submarine prior to the zeros reaching the islands was exciting. The moment by moment calculation and arrangement of these sequences must have been just as daunting as the battle described. Aside from an informative yet distracting three-page prologue setting out the entire premise of the book, the work was engaging, entertaining, and a thrilling read.