A Chain of Devils

Looking back years later, a retired naval officer tells the story of his first ship: his struggle to balance ambition and conscience, his friendship and rivalry with another officer, his domineering captain, falling in love with a woman in the Philippines. All this against the backdrop of the last year of the war in Vietnam, a losing effort but to which so many Americans are devoting every effort. Once again Thomas Corcoran has given us a wise and beautiful novel, of immediate interest and lasting satisfaction.