The Hooligans

A Novel (World War II Navy, Book 7)

By: P. T. Deutermann

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

A gripping and authentic World War II naval adventure by a master storyteller

The Hooligans fictionalizes the little-known but remarkable exploits of “The Hooligan Navy” that fought in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Loosely-organized in fast moving squadrons, PT (patrol torpedo) boats were the pesky nemesis of the formidable Japanese navy, dubbed “the mosquito fleet” and “devil boats” for their daring raids against warships, tankers, and transport ships.

After the Pearl Harbor raid plunges America into war, young surgical resident Lincoln Anderson enlists in the Navy medical corps. His first deployment comes in August 1942 at Guadalcanal, when after a brutal sea battle and the landing of Marines on the island, Anderson finds himself triaging hundreds of casualties under relentless Japanese air and land attacks.

But with the navy short of doctors, soon Anderson is transferred to serve aboard a PT boat. From Guadalcanal to the Solomon Islands to the climactic, tide-turning battle of Leyte Gulf, Anderson and the crew members of his boat confront submarines and surface ships, are attacked from air by the dreaded Kawanishi flying boats, and hunted by destroyers. In the end, Anderson must lead a division of boats in a seemingly-impossible mission against a Japanese battleship formation - and learn the true nature of his character.

Informed by P. T. Deutermann’s own experience as a commander of a patrol gunboat in Vietnam, The Hooligans is first-rate military adventure fiction.

©2020 P. T. Deutermann. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Will play with your feelings

I am a 100% disabled vet, and this book tore at my heart, made me laugh and made me remember. Over all I have to say this is a wonderful book. I thank the author.
Garry

P t does it again

Entertaining and consistent with nonfiction accounts. This was well worth the cost and the time.

Narrator style.

Took a while to get used to Peter Berkrot’s presentation - it was distracting compared to past narrators (John Pruden and Dick Hill) in this series.
Got used to Peter’s style - but preferred previous narrators.
Story was excellent as always once I got used to the narrator.

Narrator knocked it out of the Park

great book and even better narrator can't wait for the next book in the line up

Excellent action described like "being there"

Very good action story that covered not only the PT boat mission in the Solomon's and beyond but how that mission intermeshed with the Navy's "big picture" of island-hopping strategy. I enjoyed listening to this drama very much. The performance was excellent and the audio quality was top notch.

Horrible, just a mess.

Possibly the worst listen on Audible. I’m 2.5 hours into the story and can’t tell where it’s going. I’m asking aloud “What is the plot?” Although incredibly accurate, especially in the details, this is simply a boring listen. I cannot recommend and I’m angry I wasted a valuable credit on this audiobook.

Very Enjoyable!

I have read several previous PT Deutermann novels including nearly all in his WWII series. Unlike some reviewers, I found this book to be among the most enjoyable of any of the previous ones though I would recommend all of them to any potential readers. I especially enjoyed hearing about the Solomons campaign from the perspective of a doctor. The author thoroughly explained how battlefield medicine must have been practiced during that time. All those real life Docs, nurses, and support staff, as well as the combat troops and sailors they supported are gone now, but Deutermann has done a masterful job of reminding us what challenges they all faced and endured and what a debt we all owe to them. I thought the story was well conceived and well told. The narrator did a great job. I have enjoyed all the PT Deutermann novels I have read thus far, but rated this book his best since "Pacific Glory"... WELL DONE SIR!

a WWII surgeon in the Solomon Islands

I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series of World War II in the Pacific. I know it's fiction but it seems to communicate how it must have really been, which was terrible.

I had always known that Guadalcanal bad been a brutal battle in World War II but I didn't really know any of the details. What I learned was that Guadalcanal was a southern island in the Solomon Islands. They were SE of Japan and were considered a stepping stone in the plan to defeat the Japanese. I google mapped these islands to understand where they are and the part they played.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had dealt the US a serious blow. It took most of 1942 for the US to get on a war footing and start taking the war to the Japanese. Guadalcanal was where the US started going on the offensive. The Navy, Marines, and Army fought their way up through the islands an island at a time and the fighting was 24/7 for months, night and day. It was fierce fighting every step of the way with a fierce, brutal Japanese military doing its utmost to stop the US. But this was when the US might started to show itself logistically with replacement military personnel, ships, planes ammunition, medical supplies, food just everything kept arriving. The Japanese could not keep up.

It seemed the title of this book was a misnomer, the hooligans being the small PT boats. Yes, they were a key part of the book but the real story here was the surgeon that was assigned to these boats but the story was really the story of him being a surgeon and the whole effort he and other medical personnel had to do to survive and to do their part. Yes, everyone else played a role but this surgeon and his story was the story.

Captivating

This story goes from Guadalcanal to the Leyte Gulf during World War II. Our protagonist is Lieutenant (j.g.) Lincoln Anderson. Anderson is a physician with the Navy Medical Corp. The story opens with the battle of Guadalcanal. He then is assigned to “The Hooligan Navy”, a P.T. Boat Squadron.

I have read a number of Deutermann’s books and have enjoyed them all. The author takes a historical situation and inserts his fictional characters and, of course, he takes some liberties with facts. The book is well written and fast paced. There is good character and plot development. The author provides a picture of what the medical and nursing corps dealt with during WWII. I recommend this book to all WWII fans.

The book is nine hours and thirty-eight minutes. Peter Berkrot does an excellent job narrating the story. Berkrot is a voice over-actor and audiobook narrator. He has won three EarPhone Awards and has been nominated for the Audie.

Deutermann's Best Yet

I've listened to several of his boots, but this one beats all that went before.