The Keeper's Son (Josh Thurlow Series #1)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786259523 ISBN 13: 9780786259526

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004

New York Times Bestselling Author

Josh Thurlow, the Keeper's son of the Killakeet Lighthouse has forsworn his heritage to become the commander of the Maudie Jane, a small Coast Guard patrol boat operation off Killakeet. Josh is still tortured by guilt, seventeen years after losing his baby brother at sea. Then his life is complicated by the arrival of the beautiful Dosie Crossan, who has journeyed to lonely Killakeet to escape the outside world. While Josh's heart is stirred by the often vexing Dosie, he continues his search for his brother, even after a wolf pack of German U-boats arrives to soak the island's beaches with blood and oil.

From the Back Cover:

"Homer Hickam Is The Best Natural Storyteller I've Read In Years."--Stephen Coonts

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rocket Boys comes a tale of romance and daring set against the World War II battle for the Atlantic.

Haunted by inner demons, Josh Thurlow returns home to Killakeet Island to command a small Coast Guard patrol boat manned by a colorful crew of locals. Dominating the glorious beauty of the little island is the majestic Killakeet Lighthouse, kept for generations by the Thurlow family. Its presence is a continuous reminder to Josh of the mysterious loss of his baby brother at sea seventeen years before, a tragedy for which he was blamed. But Josh is convinced that his brother might still be alive and begins searching for him even after German U-boats arrive and soak the beaches with blood.

Josh's quest puts him in the path of Otto Krebs-the most audacious of the U-boat commanders and a deadly enemy who may also hold the answers Josh is seeking. But when he meets Dosie Crossan, a young woman fighting her own war against the invaders, Josh must decide whether to risk all on a love that could destroy him or redeem him...

"Hickam builds a story of overcoming obstacles...[an] eloquent evocation of a lost time and place." --The New York Times

"Fantastic characters and a suspenseful, race-along plot." --The Washington Post

About the Author:

Homer H. Hickam, Jr., was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia. The author of Torpedo Junction, a Military History Book of the Month Club selection, as well as numerous articles for such publications as Smithsonian Air and Space and American History Illustrated, he is a NASA payload training manager for the International Space Program and lives in Huntsville, Alabama.
From the Paperback edition.