Sunset (Complete & Unabridged)

Rating:
Summary: British Destroyer Crew tries to save Hong Kong in WWII
Review: If one had to pick a specific time when the British Empire ended, December 1941 would be an excellent choice. Sunset reaches its climax at that time and the sunset of the title is really the sunset of the British Empire. In Europe the centre of the largest empire in human history was struggling to survive, in North Africa its armies were in retreat at the hands of the wily desert fox and much of its huge territory in Asia began falling to the Japanese. In December 1941, the battleship and battlecruiser Prince of Wales and Repulse, respectively, were sunk by the Japanese. Hong Kong fell and it was clear that Singapore "the Gibraltar of the East" would also fall. The British Empire would never recover from these blows.

The last days of the Empire are portrayed with both sympathy for those leading ordinary lives and with contempt for those who lead lives of abused priviledge. There is a strong sense of ennui in this novel.

The novel's time span is April to December 1941 and there is little action until the end. But Reeman builds the tension steadily as we know what is going to happen even though the characters don't. The tension is built well and the climax is stunning.

The reader gets a great sense of impending catastrophe as the crew of an aged destroyer patrol the seas around Hong Kong. The fall of Hong Kong is described graphically although we are spared the worst of the details. As a veteran Reeman feels no obligation to political correctness and the reader is left with no doubt about the severity of Japanese brutality.

There are a few loose ends which aren't tied but nothing major. One bone that I did have to pick was with his mention of the Canadian troops sent to garrison the island. He got the battalions right and the deficiencies in their training as well. However, in highlighting them he may have unfairly implied that they didn't do their part. There were fewer than 2000 Canadians nearly 300 of whom were killed in the fighting. In the end they were simply overwhelmed by a superior force and ultimately this is the reality that the novel presents.

While Sunset is a sea story, it does not have a large portion of the story set at sea. I give it a good solid 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Hong Kong and the Royal Navy before the Pacific exploded
Review: Sunset is the story of an old ship of the Royal Navy, sent from the UK to Hong Kong in early 1941. It is the story of men sent thousands of miles from a war torn country to a small segment of the British Empire that seems to be living the life of a fool's paradise.

The ship, HMS Serpent, is manned by the usual spectrum of sailors and officers one might have seen in any ship as the needs of war stretched the manpower pool more and more. The captain is a retread - wounded during the Spanish Civil War and beached thereafter until the drums of war sounded his recall to the only real life he knew. A young regular officer who can't wait to get off the ship and on to something better. A navigator who is a grounded pilot and winner of the Victoria Cross while his shipmates and ship were destroyed by the German Navy. The senior enlisted members of the crew are diverse and not untroubled either. The coxswain is tasked with keeping order amongst the sailors when speculation and uncertainty are making everyone nervous. The senior signalman learns, on the eve of sailing, that his wife and daughter had been killed in an air raid. A moment of deep sorrow for me came as the emmbers of the mess think about this man's loss and one remembers that when his daughter was born, she was baptised in the ship, using the ship's bell as a baptism font. It is an on-going tradition filled with meaning and significance. For me, this made the story that much more real.

The crew and officers are used to the ways of the North Atlantic and it takes a scruffy volunteer reserve officer to show them the ways of survival in a totally different style and form of warfare. The transition is not pretty at times.

Hong Kong, when the ship reaches it, is a city that is living as if there is not thought of what is going on in Europe or across the border in China. The Japanese Army and Air Force are all around the territory, yet no one seems to be really concerned. Pink gins and tennis seem to be the order of the day for the British residents. A few people can forsee the coming disaster but can do little to shake the insulation loose from the governing bodies. Several incidents involving the ship are a prelude to the events of 8 Dec 1941. The captin is unable to convince his superiors that trouble is on the way.

When the crunch comes, the response is panic and disintegration for the British. HK has no real hope of resisting the Japanese Army but the word from London is no surrender. A disaster ensues tht is still remembered by survivors to this day.

The ship does it's best to support the land forces but ultimately is send south to safer waters. Even leave taking from Hong Kong is not simple. Friendships have been established and in some cases consumated and it is difficult for the crew to leave the city to it's fate. Yet they carry out their orders.

I found this book a gripping read from start to finish. I recommend it to any Naval enthusiast or historian. Remember novelist, at least good ones, write what they know best and in Reeman, we have an unsurpassed master of the Royal Navy of World War II. This is a book not to be passed over.