SAGAHAWK BY THE SEA

A school project uncovers amazing coincidences and sends a teenager on an incredible adventure in this historical novel.

In 1961, Joseph Christopher Carr is a carefree 15-year-old growing up in Sagahawk on Long Island. On his way to school one morning, Joe takes a shortcut through the nearby cemetery and trips on a gravestone. After school, his teacher asks Joe to select three graves and write reports on the people buried in them. One of the graves Joe selects is for Thomas J. Harding, a captain who was lost at sea and presumed drowned in July 1951. Joe’s friend Mary Hurd lives next door to the captain’s widow, and she agrees to work with him on the project. The teens discover that the captain may have been involved in studying extraterrestrial life and that he knew Joe’s father. What started as a research project turns into a race to save humanity as Joe learns that the captain possessed encrypted documents that warn of a missile attack in October 1962. With the help of Mary, his parents, and German engineer Max Werner, Joe embarks on risky plan to warn President John F. Kennedy and avert a disaster. This latest book from Bronzo is a fast-paced historical thriller that deftly blends elements of SF with a coming-of-age tale. Joe is an amiable and well-developed protagonist. A nascent romance between Joe and Mary forms a tender subplot. The story is at its strongest when the author focuses on daily life in Sagahawk. The descriptions of Joe’s work on the family farm, the school, the leisure activities he shares with Mary, and their plans for a life together are appealing and poignant. The narrative is driven by Joe’s project and the secrets he uncovers when investigating Harding’s life. This aspect involves Roswell and possible aliens, and the SF elements of the enjoyable story offer surprising twists and turns.

An engaging, genre-bending tale that delivers SF action and romance.