A man-overboard signal arrives in the wheelhouse as the mighty James F. Bridger steams seven hundred miles southwest of Hawaii on her way to the Battle of Guadalcanal. For Bridger’s executive officer, Commander Jonas Pratt, losing a passenger overboard is the price you pay when you stuff more than seven thousand young, scared Marines into Bridger’s six decks and near eight-hundred-foot length. Any one of those kids could have decided jumping overboard is better than the jungle of death that awaits them in the Solomons. But this man-overboard event is complicated. It’s not just about a missing body. There’s a torrent of blood, drag marks on the deck, no weapon, nor any eyewitnesses—least of all a name. More dead Marines materialize, and Commander Pratt and his security chief Nate Haggerty contend with blood-type mix-ups, switched dog tags and a cruel, inventive killer as they race to stop a series of brutal murders. They eventually learn a Chicago hitman has stowed away, and he’s running down a group of south-side hoodlums who’ve stolen money from the mob. The killer chases them all the way into the front lines of Guadalcanal, with Pratt and Haggerty in pursuit. They capture their suspect, but with exquisite timing, their return to Bridger is delayed by the arrival of several thousand Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonets. The battle for Henderson Field has begun.