There are only a very few authors whose books, when they arrive in the mail for review, jump right to the top of my to-read-immediately pile. Alaric Bond is on the short list for that honor.

Mostly I have been enjoying Bond's Fighting Sail series, which has followed the career of Royal Navy officer Tom King in the early years of the 19th century since publication began in 2009. Narrow Seas, on the other hand, is the third novel in Bond's Coastal Forces series, which is set during World War II.

The primary protagonist here is Ian Anderson, who begins this book as No. 1 to skipper Bob Harris aboard MGB 194, a Coastal Forces gunboat protecting England's shores and shipping from Nazi attacks in the English Channel. Unfortunately, boats of this type are fast but flimsy. As Bond writes: "She lacked solidity. Rather than steel plates and iron bulkheads, this would be a matchwood job with little of the frame being built of anything heavier than what might grace a garden shed."

And, as we have learned in previous books in the series, lives can be fleeting in the service; when men are put in dangerous situations so frequently, readers come to expect that not everyone will make it to the final page. But -- and this is your only warning -- one death in this book hits harder than most.

Anderson, who has been serving since the start of the series as Harris's second officer, is given his own command midway through the book and, along with it, his own boat, the newer, more powerful MvK 320. It is faster, better armed and comes with that newfangled radar that is changing the face of naval warfare. The question is, will Anderson, who has served so well under Harris's guidance, do as well in command of his own vessel ... and how will he get along with Alan Milner, his new second in command?

Bond also packs the book with supporting characters -- mostly, the crew of MvK 320, as well as the captains and crews of a few other boats in the service, as well as commanding officers and support staff on shore. Of course, the crew here is greatly changed from the previous book, for casualties and other reasons that depleted the boat's manpower during their last adventure. Bond quickly introduces a raft of new characters and, just as quickly, makes readers care about them.

Among them, for instance, is a gunner who recently married into an awkward relationship and has some shady associates who come looking for favors, and a communications officer who plays a mean jazz piano. Another gunner goes through a marked change in personality after he suspects his hasty aim might have led to the destruction of an allied boat.

Together, the officers and men of MvK 320 are ordered into a tiny, secret flotilla that operates outside of the usual Coastal Forces scope of action. Rather, they escort boats that touch on the coastline and nearby islands of France, transporting fleeing agents and escaped prisoners of war, dropping supplies, and otherwise supporting the war effort beneath the noses of the German naval forces.

There is, as always, plenty of action, from touch-and-go naval battles and a bar brawl or two, to a desperate rescue operation when two men are lost overboard in the midst of a firefight.

Bond also manages to squeeze a surprising lot of wartime romance into this one. When the book begins, Harris and Anderson each has a steady relationship ashore, each of which evolves in new ways. Through the course of the novel, Milner acquires one as well, as does the radioman, and there's also the gunner's troubled marriage to contend with.

I love Alaric Bond's writing. His characterizations are top-notch, and he makes readers feel the fragile decks beneath their feet, the roll of the waves, the shudder as enemy fire slams into the hull, the fear as enemy vessels appear and disappear from view in the night, the desperation as a fellow crewman falls to enemy fire.

I can't help but wish that Bond could produce these books even faster. Then again, I would miss the adventures of Tom King, who lived and fought for England's navy more than a century before. Can't we just clone the man and set both of them to work on more stories?

[ visit Alaric Bond's website ]