East Wind Returns
William Peter Grasso
350 pages, read in paper-back
In October 1945, just after the passing
Monsoon season, The United States is poised for invasion. Large Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Army
assets from the south will begin with operation Olympic; followed in the Spring
of 46 by another initiative which will enter from the east, titled Operation
Coronet. The invasion is expected to cost
the allied forces millions in human lives.
On August 6th 1945, the United States dropped the first of its atomic
arsenal on Hiroshima, soon followed on August 9th with a second bomb delivered
to Nagasaki. These bombs killed an
estimated 150,000- 246,000 deaths with no Allied losses and six days later
Japan surrendered to the allied forces.
But what if...we never succeeded in building a bomb that could be
delivered via long air voyage and pin point accuracy drop methods? What if the Empire of the Rising Sun
possessed a nuclear bomb and Allied forces did not?
East Wind returns in a piece of historical
fiction that deals with that last question, what if Japan had a nuclear bomb
and we do not, through the eyes of John.
John is an officer stationed in Okinawa prior to the invasion and mans a
P-38 Lightning stripped of all offensive capability and laden with aerial
photography equipment. John's job is
simple, fly through hostile airspace and penetrate the interior to take
reconnaissance footage and of course return with the footage. With no guns and in hostile airspace, John
must rely on his speed and capability to save him.
Grasso's writing is superb for the subject
matter and it is obvious he has done his research on both the war and aviation
for the time period. The chapters are
short and organized perfectly; I don't think I saw one out of place chapter or
chapter without purpose. Each chapter
covers what needs to be covered without a lot of frills unless needed. One thing in particular that I want to call
out is Grasso's ability to facilitate the absolute chaos and panic that a World
War II fighter pilot would have to endure while still being able to describe
the maneuvers of planes and overall action of the embroiling aerial combats
simultaneously. It's fantastic.
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