CLOSE COMBAT

Griffin's WW II saga of the Marines in the Pacific continues (Line of Fire, etc.), now covering the five weeks from October 11 to November 18, 1942. This is not the place for beginners to pick up the history, since Griffin's very big cast is in the middle of everything. Readers who enlisted early, however, will recognize everybody. Millionaire Marine general and WW I hero Fleming Pickering is still at the center of action. As Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox has his eyes and ears on the Pacific battle scene; and Pickering, who dabbled in a little hands-on warfare on Guadalcanal, is back to his staff role, stroking Douglas MacArthur and interpreting supersecret decryptions from Japanese radio traffic. The Americans are just barely hanging on at the Guadalcanal airfield they grabbed from the enemy, and the Japanese want it back in the worst way. Meanwhile, the heroic young fliers—including Pickering's dashing son, who held back the air attack in the big battle—have been ordered back to the US to pick up some fancy medals and to star in a cross-country savings bond drive. Hollywood megapublicist Jake Dillon, another WW I hero serving his beloved Corps, also helped on Guadalcanal and returns to his USMC flacking duties, bringing together glitz and guts. Very much in the middle of things. Good military and political gossip—but little action.