Book excerpt: Former naval officer John J. Gobbell brings to life marine warfare as few others ever have. Now, the author of When Duty Whispers Low, A Code For Tomorrow, and The Last Lieutenant, returns to the fiery panorama of World War II, as Commander Todd Ingram is caught in a living hell. BETWEEN THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL... In 1944, the Allies have delivered a stunning blow to Hitler's Western front. In the Pacific, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Fifth fleet is poised to eviscerate the Japanese Navy--and begin a new war for the occupied islands. But in the center of this world-spanning drama, a lone Japanese submarine is on a mission of a very different kind. And on board is Todd Ingram, a prisoner of war and captive of fate. IS THE ULTIMATE ACT OF DECEPTION. Navy brass knows Ingram is on the sub, but can't reveal its ability to break Japanese code. So Ingram's friend, Captain Jerry Landa, is put in charge of a covert "Neptune Strategy" to save Ingram. But Landa can't help himself as he falls for Ingram's wife Helen while the top brass demands to know where the Japanese sub is going, who is in command--and what its astounding ultimate mission really is... "The Neptune Strategy is a fast-paced World War II story that is not only a page-turner, but managed to teach me a few things, too. I don't know of any novels set aboard a Japanese submarine but this is one, and it's an adventurous blend of fact and fiction that hooked me from the moment Commander Todd Ingram, Gobbell's realistic hero, is knocked overboard into the path of a marauding I-boat." --Homer Hickham, author of The Ambassador's Son and October Sky "A solid addition to Gobbell's developing war chronicle, as much historical fiction as military adventure." --Publishers Weekly