An exceptionally fine novel - almost a 10/10 - dealing with a US naval mutiny on board the fictitious minesweeper USS Caine during the Pacific campaign of WW2. Herman Wouk's account of the tensions and pressures aboard an American warship in action is brilliantly detailed and observed.

At the height of a typhoon with the Caine in danger of sinking, some of the ship's officers decide to relieve the floundering captain of his command. Naval regulations allow this in extremis, but in any event such action always becomes a case for court martial.

The action switches quite abruptly from life at sea to the court-martial, also brilliantly detailed. No spoilers here.

This novel is a fascinating study of objective truth when it comes down to human thoughts and actions - a much more slippery commodity than the behaviour of chemicals in a retort. Wouk is not judgemental, leaving the reader to assess the rights and wrongs, the heroes and villains, if any. In any event he leaves the lasting and profoundly thought-provoking impression that ethical choices in life are rarely simple and clear-cut.

There is love interest too, notably that of the young officer, Willie Keith and his sweetheart, May Wynn. Willie is a Princeton graduate, the privileged son of a wealthy NY family. May is the daughter of Italian immigrant shopkeepers in Brooklyn seeking a career as a singer. Willie's mother does not approve of the liaison...

And there is war: gruesome glimpses of the grim battle for Okinawa and Japan's desperate introduction of kamikaze fighters as a last throw of the dice.

An epic, unforgettable story. I have somehow not yet seen the 1954 Bogart movie under the same title, but will try to get hold of it soon.

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