Chameleons, An individual's heroic victory over political indoctrination

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

In the opening scene the readers immediately find themselves within the cramped, steam room-like conditions of a two man Japanese midget submarine lying on the muddy bottom of Pearl Harbor as if it is an animal waiting to pounce upon an unsuspecting prey. The date is Sunday, December 7, 1941. The time is just before eight in the morning and as the reverberations from aerial torpedo and bomb explosions rock the little submarine the two men jump to their controls and the midget sub comes to life.

The commander lines up the mighty battleships West Virginia and Oklahoma and launches two torpedoes, one at each ship. Disappointed the warhead striking the West Virginia proves to be a dud, they experience temporary elation when the second missile rips apart the Oklahoma, causing her to capsize. The sight of white-clad sailors scampering over the side of the dying ship proves very sobering to the Commander and his engineer as elation is replaced with sadness and respect.

Chapter two transports the readers to an ocean-front setting in present-day Kailua, Oahu. A pair of Hawaiian excavators are installing a pool for a popular woman known by all in the neighborhood as "Auntie Lee." When they discover a corpse clutching a strange looking pistol the work comes to a halt, causing "Auntie Lee" a great deal of consternation for she plans to host a party for the high school graduation of her favorite grandson the following month.

A US Navy investigative team is called upon to determine the identity of the skeleton and soon discover they are looking at the engineer of the Japanese midget submarine, I-16-tou, the very submarine that sunk the Oklahoma. Word of the find is leaked to a local newspaper which sends their most aggressive reporter, Lani Gale, to investigate.

The Navy team has a mandate from their Admiral to definitively determine what became of the midget sub's commander and bring him in for justice or find his death certificate. Their search is compromised when Lani Gale publishes a series of Front Page stories enlisting the public to help locate the missing Commander and offers a reward of $100,000.00.

The Commander, still alive and living in retirement on Oahu, reads the story and realizes there is a race between the Navy and Gale to find him. Convinced he will be located and his world shattered, he makes a decision to relate his life story to his grandson rather than have him read about his arrest in the paper. The telling of his true history is expertly interspersed with the progress of the Navy and Gale as they hunt him down.

The final chapters result in confrontations and a dizzying sequence of events which tie up all the loose strings and sets the stage for the first sequel, Geographic Treachery, through the introduction of two men of questionable character. All-in-all, the readers are in for quite a ride!

Last line of 4 star review by Onlinebookclub.org:

"Mr. Nannini's blend of real life events, a compelling modern day mystery, and vibrant characters has resulted in a first-class novel which could easily become a lasting gem in its genre."

(http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=42284)