[close] Alabama, 1942. The war is everywhere, but Victor--a sixteen-year old boy sent by his father to care for his dying grandmother on a lonely island in Mobile Bay--can only dream of it. Then he wakes one amazing night to a thunderous roar from the Bay, and watches as a thug burns his boat. He also discovers a decomposing corpse, witnesses a near-seduction . . . and sees the ominous shadow of an enemy submarine surfacing at night.

Suddenly Victor is playing unforeseen roles--now hostage, now pursuer--in the perilous war at home. . . . [close]