The first time I had heard about Ghosts of Honolulu was near the beginning of the year. Someone had mentioned it in a reader group that I am in on Facebook. They did not say much about it, just that they were reading it. At that time I did not know who the authors of the book were. I had been intrigued by the title of the book, and had planned to look it up. But with a busy life with the kiddo and her schedule I never got around to looking it up and had forgotten all about it until Mike showed me an email. He showed me an email from Barnes and Noble about a discussion and signing with the authors of Ghosts of Honolulu. He thought I would be interested because he knows how much I like and respect Mark Harmon. He is one of my 2 favorite actors, my other favorite is Harrison Ford.
I do not normally go to those kinds of events because they can be overwhelming to me. And it was a little overwhelming. But I am happy that I decided to go because I enjoyed reading the book.
It’s not the kind of book that I normally read, but I thought it was good. It felt like a cross between reading a history book and a diary. I like how it is in sections. And how the sections of the book have dates and locations of what I was reading about instead of just being pages of text. The way that style of writing is broke it up, made it easier for me to read. I found the photos at the end of the book interesting. It was interesting to read about the people and what happened to them. The book tells events of the day and has information of what happened to those people involved after the war. I found that to be pretty neat.
As I was reading I found myself remembering the nice old man I met at the grocery store 2 times who was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was sweet both times I saw him he shared pictures of his grandkids and his Pearl Harbor survivor card. He was wearing a Pearl Harbor hat both times I saw him. As I was reading, I thought of him and wondered if he encountered any of these people talked about in the book.
Also while reading this book it made me think of a man I knew Tom whose family was in one of those interment camps. His family owns/owned a lot of land. Their old farmhouse still stands here in Lakewood, no longer occupied since the daughter of the family passed years ago. I met some of that family, including Tom who was a farmer’s son through my mom who lives in a mobile home park his family owned. He was a really nice man who passed away a few years ago. The family recently sold that mobile home park. But as far as I know the family still owns Tanaka Farms in Orange County. Which is a fun farm to visit.
It’s intriguing to me how reading this book made me think of those two men, and how the war affected them.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading Military history books. It’s available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This book was published 11/14/2023 and the paperback was published 8/27/2024.
Author: Mark Harmon, Leon Carroll Jr.
Title: Ghosts of Honolulu
Published On: 11/14/2023
Publisher: Harper Select Pages: 288
My Rating:
Purchase Links:
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SYNOPSIS
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"A fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account." — Publishers Weekly
A U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor; a Japanese spy ordered to Hawaii to gather information on the American fleet. On December 7, 1941, their hidden stories are exposed by a morning of bloodshed that would change the world forever. Scrutinizing long-buried historical documents, NCIS star Mark Harmon and co-author Leon Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, have brought forth a true-life NCIS story of deception, discovery, and danger.
Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island's residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet.
Douglas Wada's experiences in his native Honolulu include posing undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate, and interrogating America's first captured POW of World War II, a submarine officer found on the beach. Takeo Yoshikawa is a Japanese spy operating as a junior diplomat with the consulate who is collecting vital information that goes straight to Admiral Yamamoto. Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu's gripping depiction of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of the second world war.
Also caught in the upheaval are Honolulu's innocent residents - including Douglas Wada's father - who endure the war's anti-Japanese fervor and a cadre of intelligence professionals who must prevent Hawaii from adopting the same destructive mass internments as California.
Ghosts of Honolulu depicts the incredible high stakes game of naval intelligence and the need to define what is real and what only appears to be real.