After spending several volumes' worth of adventures with Alaric Bond's cast of Royal Navy officers and men warring with France in the Age of Sail, I decided to take a break from the era and settle in with the latest Alaric Bond novel pitting a Royal Navy crew against the Germans in World War II. Although Glory Boys is only the second book in the Coastal Forces series, the men aboard MGB 194 feel like old friends; it's been too long since we spent some time together in Hellfire Corner.

There have been some changes in the gunboat's complement, with several members of the crew dead or disabled for various reasons. But Bob Harris is still the skipper, and Ian Anderson is still his reliable executive officer. Unfortunately, Harris's temporary appointment as a senior flotilla commander in the previous book was not confirmed, and he finds himself serving under a man with slightly more seniority but far less experience or wit.

He finds the experience frustrating, to say the least.

Although bracketed by two minor -- though still deadly -- sorties against German convoys, the major focus of the book is a raid by British Army and Navy forces on St Nazaire, a vital Nazi dry dock in occupied France, without which the Nazis would be unable to unleash their battleship Tirpitz, sister to the greatly feared Bismarck, on Atlantic shipping.

I have a personal interest in this particular mission, given that the linchpin ship in the plan is HMS Campbeltown, a former U.S. destroyer traded to Britain in a ships-for-land pact before the States entered the war. The ships in the deal were renamed for cities in both America and Britain; in this case, Campbeltown in Scotland and Campbelltown in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, which lies close to my own home, where HMS Campbeltown's bell has resided for many years since the war. I have written news articles in the past about the relationship between the two cities and, consequently, have done a good bit of research on the mission.

As Bond demonstrates here, it was a mission that, although ultimately successful and a major blow to Germany's sea power, carried a heartbreaking cost in terms of lives lost, men captured and boats destroyed. And his retelling of the mission here is fairly close to the historical record; only MGB 194's role in the attack is pure fiction.

And Bond handles both fact and fiction with incredible skill. His description of action on a powerful but ultimately fragile boat is potent stuff. He lets readers feel like they are in the heat of the action, and it's hard not to wince as bullets rip through the bulkheads, and men, of MGB 194.

Anyone familiar with Bond's writing knows he doesn't focus solely on one protagonist, but seamlessly shifts his attention among several key characters. Fair warning, don't get too attached to everyone in the cast. Entwined within the action, Bond also finds time to delve into the captain's and crew's personal lives. In some cases, that means attempts at romance -- with varying degrees of success -- with available WRENS (members of the Women's Royal Navy Service). In one instance, it means felonious acts by an unrepentant gunner.

Bond makes the harrowing work of World War II's Royal Navy come to life in a manner that's hard to match. I was on the edge of my seat through much of Glory Boys, and I was sorry to reach the end. It's been three years since the first book in the series came out; I hope Bond doesn't make readers wait that long again for the next one. (But please don't fall behind on the Fighting Sails series, either!)

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