From New York Times bestselling author Larry Alexander comes a gritty historical novel of World War II, told through the eyes of soldiers on both sides of the firing line.Tarawa was hell but Saipan is worse.For Sergeant Pete "Hardball" Talbot, recently returned from being wounded on Tarawa seven months earlier, Saipan is just another battle as the United States leaps island to island toward an invasion of the Japanese homeland.But the Japanese have learned, all too well, how to defend their islands, with carefully constructed and concealed bunkers and machine gun nests. Talbot and the dozen men of Second Squad have no idea they are running headlong into thirty-five thousand Japanese soldiers who have sworn to fight to the last man.In vivid, startling detail, Shattered Jade explores the strategy and horror of battle in one of World War II's most brutal conflicts and illuminates the extraordinary courage of ordinary young men.

The gripping historical novel of the invasion of Tarawa by US Marines in World War II, from bestselling author, journalist, and historian Larry Alexander.The island of Tarawa, a tiny spit of sand out in the middle of the Pacific, teemed with five hundred pillboxes filled with artillery pieces and highly motivated Japanese soldiers. Their commanding officer encouraged his troops, saying, "It would take one million men one hundred years" to conquer Tarawa. They were convinced that the Americans would be slaughtered before they ever got ashore.Private Pete "Hardball" Talbot was one of the US Marines tasked with taking the island. A cocky, tough street kid from Philadelphia, Pete joined up to escape his abusive father. In his mind, nothing the Japanese could throw at him could be as bad as what his father dished out. He was angry, and more than willing to take it out on the enemy. But once he climbed over the side and into the landing craft, and once the Japanese artillery...

A new account of World War II heroism from the national bestselling author of Biggest Brother. Determined to retake the Philippines ever since his ignominious flight from the islands in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur organized a first- rate intelligence-gathering unit. They were called the Alamo Scouts.Larry Alexander follows the men who made up the elite recon unit that served as General MacArthur's eyes and ears in the Pacific War. Drawing from personal interviews and testimonies from Scout veterans, Alexander weaves together the tales of the individual Scouts, who often spent weeks behind enemy lines to complete their missions. Now, more than sixty years after the war, the story of the Alamo Scouts will finally be told.