Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th

This is an “alternative history” type of book with the main theme being how would the attack on Pearl Harbor had been different if Yamamoto himself was there coordinating the attack.

The book does a good job of examining the diplomacy, and lack of it, that led up to the attack, but it takes around 250 pages of doing that before an actual hint of any major change happens. That's almost 70% of the book done before we get a hint of a change, and it's later than that when the change becomes noticeable.

The concept of how things would have been different if Yamamoto was in command, there, do make sense; a third strike on Pearl Harbor rather than just ending at two strikes, and a plan to bombard the island using the Imperial Japanese Navy ships that were in the attack force.

Which, of course, will lead to a sequel. Which maybe is the real reason why so much of the book simply leads up to the change; maybe the two books together would really only be one regular book without using that much space in the first book for background.

Whatever the reason, if the reader is already familiar with WWII in the Pacific, then he or she might want to start this book at page 250 and go from there.

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