Oh my gosh. Don't be intimidated by its 500 pages. I read this in one day. Admittedly, I've been a little burned out by WW2 novels lately but I picked this one up because I'm a fan of Robert Dugoni and the main characters are from Minnesota.

This was so good, that I started recommending it to my 16 year old son (who doesn't read much but loves history) before I had even finished it.

I used to know a WW2 vet who fought in the Pacific theater (he's been gone now for about 10 years) who would talk about his experiences every so often. I never really fully understood why he still harbored so much distrust for the enemy even after 70+ years. After reading this novel, I get it now. You will feel like you are there with the POWs. I would classify this as a must read!!

This book was phenomenal, so good! I could hardly put it down, and it’s one of my top 5 books of 2025.

In a nutshell, the story is about Sam, a young man from Minnesota, and his girlfriend Sarah. Sam enlists in the Army after the US is attacked at Pearl Harbor. His outfit is sent to the Philippines and everything goes downhill from there, as he becomes one of the thousands of men in the Bataan Death March. What a horrible part of the war.

In the meantime, Sarah graduates from college with a Master’s Degree in math , and she catches the attention of the military and is recruited to work in their special code breaking unit. She advances, and the way her story intertwines with Sam’s is stroking.

This story is action-filled and I felt like I was there! I think it would make a great movie.

I highly recommend this one! Five stars!⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy of the digital ARC via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

I definitely have some mixed feelings about this book. I have really enjoyed books by Robert Dugoni in the past but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. Here’s what I liked or even loved about the book: the character development is superb, the authors did extensive research so everything that happened was based on facts and I learned SO MUCH! I knew something about the Pacific theater and the Bataan death march and the Philippines prison camps but there is just so much more to learn and appreciate about what happened there. I also enjoyed Sarah’s character as a strong and intelligent code breaker who contributed so much at a time when these roles for women were unheard of. And the characters surrounding Sam, especially Father Tom and Chavez added so much to the story. What I didn’t really like about the book: it seemed to go on and on, everything that could possibly go wrong happened to just one character and the romance part was pretty corny. I understand that authors sometimes use relentlessness to help readers emphasize with what the characters are going through and I can appreciate this but it tends to make the story not as enjoyable for me. I also understand covering as many atrocities as possible but having everything happen to just one character frustrates me and makes the story too unbelievable. And all I can say about the romance is that I don’t like most romance stories especially corny ones.
So I would recommend the book for historical fiction lovers, especially those who enjoy WWII stories with caution that the violence is graphic but this book is very educational and will probably be rated 5 plus for many readers.

This was a tough story to get through. War is never easy or pretty and I am reminded the taste of freedom is something the protected will never know. Based on a true story of WW 2, the story of Sam and Sarah is heartbreaking and true-to-life. Robert Dugoni does a good job weaving the threads together.

Editor’s note: This review and roundup appears in several Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia newspapers and magazines, including at https://cullmantimes.com/2025/03/11/review-a-sip-of-spring-fiction-with-a-bit-of-history-for-flavor/

A sip of spring fiction, with a bit of history for flavor

By Tom Mayer

On the cusp of the 80th anniversary of the atrocities ending with World War II’s VJ Day, comes an important reminder in the form of cinematic storytelling from the pen of best-selling author Robert Dugoni, assisted by fellow academic researchers Chris Crabtree and Jeff Langholz.

Five hundred-page novels that contain more than a hundred pages of afterword and notes aren’t typical fare for the type of thrillers Dugoni writes; and if cinema is used as an adjective for such tomes it generally implies “best documentary” rather than “best picture.” But this fictionalized re-telling of the end of the war is anything but documental, especially with its final 150 pages moving full steam ahead, filled with submarines, warships and Clancyesque code breaking.

“Hold Strong” (Lake Union) tells the story of Sam Carlson and Sarah Haber, young sweethearts from Eagle Grove, Minnesota. It’s the end of the Great Depression and looking for a way out of his and his parents’ misfortunes — the family farm has been repossessed — Sam joins the war effort. Finding that the Army life suits him, he rises through the ranks. In 1942, he’s taken prisoner by the Japanese and survives the worst that that experience can offer, including the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and captivity in the hold of a Japanese “hell ship,” the Arisan Maru.

Through this, Sarah, and Sam’s family, receive no word about him, and the Army records him as missing in action. Though the couple made a promise to each other but never cemented an engagement before he left, Sarah especially is left in limbo, loving a man who she knows could be dead.

But Sarah’s strong, independent character is coupled with a brilliant mathematical mind, and she’s recruited out of college by the Navy to become a code breaker in the service of the WAVES — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — helping to turn the tide of the war, and possibly even unknowingly, Sam’s fate. The upshot is that no one, not even their families, can know what the women are doing, even to the point of telling others if asked that they are nothing more than secretaries in the service of Uncle Sam.

The story of Sam and Sarah is just that, a story, but Dugoni and company get it right, opening new and little-known chapters on the hells of that war — and the critical roles of female recruits — with startling and stark reality.

“Hold Strong” works well as a novel, and its secondary characters, such as Father Tom with his unflappable faith and Grace Moretti with her unbounded optimism, are extraordinarily well-developed. But this is one book bound for the big screen, and with its historic foundation underpinning a captivating wartime love story, one that is sure to become the sleeper read of the year.

Another novel of potential sleeper status comes to us as a dream in the charming coming-of-age “The Rainfall Market” (Ace). Written by a young South Korean novelist, You Yeong-Gwang (whose own dream as a young author is this story), and translated by Slin Jung, this magical novel tells the story of the impoverished teenager Serin and an abandoned house on the outskirts of Rainbow Town.

The legend says that if you send an essay explaining your misfortunes to that address, you could receive a ticket in return, and one that not only allows entrance to the Market beyond the house’s front door, but the offer to swap your life for another.

The odds are long but Serin sends off her letter and gets in return a ticket and an invitation to visit the Market for the duration of the rainy season — those who overstay the welcome are destined to never leave — with the total of its enchantments, including a magical cat companion named Issha.

Travels and travails follow Serin and Issha as they are plagued by Dokkaebi — goblin-like creatures taken from the pages of Korean folklore — who run the individual shops in the market, each offering a “happier story in our stock.”

With help from Issha and others that she befriends, Serin traverses the market’s allegorical landmines, comparing one life’s outcome with another until she comes to the end of her visit in this predictable but rewarding fairytale.

Other notable titles out this spring and worth the price of admission — no essay required — range from the fantastical to the feral with a number of big-hitting authors submitting some of their best work, including sequels:

“Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” (Berkley) by Grady Hendrix: 15-year-old Fern arrives alone and scared and pregnant at the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida — as are all the young woman and girls living at the home. Life is strictly regulated under the tyrannical control of the adults until Fern is gifted a book about witchcraft — and the power it contains to both create and destroy.

“The Ends of Things” (Blackstone) by Sandra Chwialkowska: A romantic lovers’ paradise is anything but idyllic for Laura Phillips and her boyfriend as shea becomes involved in the disappearance of the lone traveler befriended on the beach. An exotic getaway soon itself gets away from Laura as garnished cocktails and sumptuous suites turn into a murder investigation — and a fight for her innocence.

“Somewhere Toward Freedom” (Simon & Schuster) by Bennett Parten: Parten, a Georgia-native university professor with an expertise in the Civil War period, shines with storytelling as his reporting illuminates new, and unconventional, light on one of the most well-documented and well-known war episodes in our nation’s history — Sherman’s march to the sea. Subtitled “Sherman’s March and Story of America’s Largest Emancipation,” Parten re-tills well-trodden ground, telling the story of the thousands of enslaved people who followed Sherman and his army, turning a march of destruction into the launch of liberation in this meticulously researched book.

“Cupid on the Loose” (Blackstone) by John J. Jacobson: This timely novel that slipped into best-selling list early in February is nonetheless a timely tale for the ages, and especially for those who love a love story in the vein of Nicholas Sparks, and the romantic mayhem of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — an author who incidentally plays a prominent role of his own in this fun read. Centered on a “kindred kind of romance” that needs a bit of tender to set it ablaze, enter a meddling grandmother whose intentions are as well-conceived as they are misguided.

“Destiny’s Way” (Berkley) by Jack Campbell: In this sequel to Campbell’s “In Our Stars,” the time traveling part-human, part-alien-DNA Selene Genji is thrust 30 years into the past, before the Universal Way destroyed the world, in an attempt to save Earth — excedpt those alive who want her dead after being declared a traitor by the Earth Guard. Assisted by at least one friend from the first part of the “Doomed Earth Duology,” Selene must find a way to save a prejudicial mankind that wants this independent and strong woman dead.

“The Secrets of Flowers” (Blackstone) by Sally Page: A story floating from the depths of the Titanic — and we never get tired of those — Page crafts a unique, heart-healing tale of Emma, who is bereft following her husband’s death. Told through the language of flowers, Emma discovers the lost story of a girl from the ship, one told in the arrangements of the flowers on board during the maiden, and final, voyage, that might just blossom into the healing of her own grief.

“The Memory Ward” (Blackstone) by Jon Bassoff: A seemingly Elysian small town is the scene of bizarre oddities, and postal worker Hank Davies isn’t the first to notice — he comes to realize he’s delivering mail filled with blank pages — but he’s the one whose willing to cry foul. A secreted story discovered beneath the walls of Hank’s bedroom touches off pages of alternate reality as Bassoff delivers a tale of trauma and altered identity, and one questioning the concept of humanity itself.

“American Fever” (Arcade) by Dur e Aziz Amna: This engaging and humorous novel centers on a Pakistani exchange student in rural Oregon who finds herself between worlds — and entrenched in the navigation of first love, racism, Islamophobia and homesickness. When she finds herself quarantined after a diagnosis of tuberculosis, her world shrinks further as themes of religion, family and national identity take on increasingly larger proportions.

“Protecting Jess” (Arcade Crimewise) by Karna Small Bodman: A White House economist and rising star, Jessica Tanner, has both brains and beauty. Sent to Brazil to speak at an international conference on behalf of her boss, a planned exotic dream assignment descends into a dangerous and foreboding nightmare.

“Don’t Tell Me How to Die” (Blackstone) by Marshall Karp: Marshall Karp, of NYPD Red series (aka, co-conspirator of James Patterson) fame, offers a taut, sharp and on-target psychological thriller in “Don’t Tell Me How To Die” (Blackstone). Told in parts, past and present, Karp crafts a evolving storyline centered on 43-year-old Maggie, a woman who is not only diagnosed with the same deadly disease that claimed her mother but vows to not recreate the adolescent hell she endured because of the passing. Seeing firsthand her dying mother’s warning that, once she died, women would flock to 17-year-old Maggie and her sister’s father “like stray cats to an overturned milk truck” and that it would be up to girls to protect him. Which they do, admirably — until one slips through their gatekeeping. … Determined that the same thing won’t happen to her own family, Maggie devises a plan to find a perfect match as wife and mother … before she dies. If this were all to the plot, the storyline would be worth an afternoon, but in succeeding parts of the novel, Karp continuously turns everything upside down, projecting surprise after surprise in a trope-laden, over-blown style that works perfectly for a main course instead of the appetizer it would have been coming from a lesser pen. Karp is a veteran in keeping the cinematic action going and the shocks coming — both of which are abundantly on display in his latest.

“Cold Iron Task” (Berkley) by James J. Butcher: In this Book 3 of 3 in Butcher’s “The Unorthodox Chronicles,” Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby — one of the most notable names in literary history — has solved at least one case, but he’s still a beginner in Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. As he joins an unlikely partner in the heist of of an otherworldly vault, Grimsby touches off past and closely guarded secrets, freeing demons and monsters, Usual and Unorthodox, that could be his demise in this series finisher.

“The Gate of the Feral Gods” (Ace Hardcovers) by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl series): Welcome, Crawler, to the fifth floor of the dungeon in Book 4 of Dinniman’s quest series, and one filled with warrior gnomes, malfunctioning machines and a deadly, haunted crypt. On the eve of utter failure, Carl and his team find they must rely on the untrustworthy crawlers trapped in the bubble with them.

“The Summer Guests” (Thomas & Mercer) by Tess Gerritsen: In Book 2 of The Martini Club, retired covert agent Maggie Bird has “retired” to the seaside. In Purity, life is quiet, but it’s not without murder as a friendly neighbor of Maggies becomes embroiled in double homicide charges. It’s up to the Martini Club, a circle of ex-CIA friends book club, to find the truth behind the secrets that portend more murder on the horizon.

“Gothictown” (Kensington) by Emily Carpenter: What if you could purchase a Victorian home for $100 in a small Georgia town eager to spur its pandemic-riddled economy? So begins this story of Billie Hope’s dream of fleeing cramped and crimped New York City with her husband and daughter. Dreams, as they often do in the offerings from Carpenter — a Birmingham, Alabama, native now living in Georgia — descend from opportunities to devilish bargains, and “Gothictown” is part and parcel of the oeuvre. More than genteel charms lurks beneath the facade of Southern hospitality in this town. View a free 66-page teaser of the novel (“Gothictown: A Sneak Peek”) at online booksellers.

“Home Is Where the Bodies Are” (Blackstone) by Jeneva Rose: Questions and secrets arise when three estranged siblings begin to sort their mother’s estate — and discover a VHS recording of their blood-soaked father involved in a death of which none of them have any recollection. Revive the past or leave it buried with their mother? That becomes the question … with no easy, or safe, answers.

Reach Tom Mayer at tmayer@cullmantimes.com.

A deeply moving and richly poignant look at the war against Japan during WWII. We start with Sam and Sarah growing up in small town MN as childhood sweethearts set during the Great Depression. Sam’s way out is to join the military in the National Guard to have food and help out his family through his pay. He gets shipped out as Sarah is one of the few girls that makes it into college. They promise to return to each other. What follows is the journey that they both take - both filled with challenges and the hope that one day they return to each other. It’s the tale of little known contributions and often not covered pieces of the “lesser known” aspect of WWII. Fantastic read. Thanks to NetGalley for this powerful book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Press for an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

4.5/5 stars - rounded up to a 5. Please check trigger warnings before reading this book.

Hold Strong, the most recent novel from Robert Dugoni (author of The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell) with co-authors Jeff Langholz and Chris Crabtree, is based on real events which occurred during WWII in the Asian theater and particularly the Phillipines. This book is tragic, harrowing, thought-provoking, brutal and triumphant. It ultimately demonstrates both the unfathomable horrors of war and the amazing resiliency of the human spirit.

Sam Carlson and Sarah Haber were high school sweethearts. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Sam was sent to the Philippines and captured as a POW. Sam is brutalized and beaten by his captors, yet survives the Bataan Death March and becomes one of the men who became prisoners on the Japanese ship Arisan Maru. We witness Sam’s journey through unbelievable brutality, unbearable loss and desperation to hold on to humanity.

Meanwhile Sarah is recruited to work for the military as part of the WAVES. She is chosen for her superior math skills to become a code breaker and must come to grips with the reality that her actions may save many, but may also have grave implications for thousands of POWs, including the man that she loves.

This novel was very well-researched, and the Afterword is a must read for further insight into the actual events. I have very little knowledge about the history of WWII in the Pacific and I am always grateful to writers of historical fiction who can bring parts of history (even such brutal history) to life in a book. I also enjoyed learning more about the role women played in our military during this war.

Although very difficult to read at times, I would highly recommend this book. Learning about these historical events is so important as we (hopefully) strive to learn from them and move forward in our global humanity. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Extraordinary untold story of American POWs in Japan during WW2. Also interesting history about the female codebreakers working for the government. A book that grabs you from the start and you don't want to put it down until you get to the end. This was a joint effort, but Robert Dugong's writing, especially his stand alone books are great writing. This will be at the top of my list of recommendations.

Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni is impressive.

Will Sam and Sarah find happiness after years apart?
Hold Strong is a biographical fiction set during the Great Depression and World War II. This genre isn't typically seen on Baroness' Book Trove, as neither Karen nor I read biographies. However, when the opportunity arose to read something Mr. Dugoni wrote, I was swayed to discover why he stepped out of the mystery genre.

Sarah Haber
When we first meet Sarah, she has just graduated from high school. Sarah is practical and thinks logically. I see her as true to herself. Sarah is the top student in her small town, and she has plans to graduate from college and return to teach math. Perhaps she will marry her boyfriend and first love, Sam.

I like Sarah and believe that she was always destined to be more than a small town teacher. Although, that is what she would have become if a war hadn't stepped in to guide her in a different direction. No matter what Sarah does, she always remains true to herself.

The other thing about Sarah is she finds the positive side of things. She is the glass-is-half-full type of person.

Sam Carlson
Sam isn't as book smart as Sarah, but don't let that set your mind about him. He is popular, a nice guy, and on the football team. The thing about Sam is he has courage in spades, and he keeps his head in a crisis. Well, for the most part, anyway. He can also be a bit cocky, at least at the beginning of our saga.

Sam joins the National Guard because there are no jobs in his hometown, and he needs money to ask Sarah to marry him. Once in the Guard, Sam advances because he is fair and has good leadership skills. When his enlistment is almost over, his unit is called up to the federal level. Now, he is in the Army, whether he wants to be or not.

Sam masters the training and advances in the Army as well. Soon, his unit is sent overseas to the Philippines. Sam is caught up in some big battles and becomes one of the men left behind when MacArthur pulls out of Manilla. This is where things get dicey for Sam. The things that happen are horrible and completely inhumane.

Five Stars
My rating for Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni is five stars. Mr. Dugoni doesn't disappoint. The story is fantastic, and I felt like I was there with both Sam and Sarah. The research is complete, and all of it is included at the back of the book. If you like biographies with some fiction, I recommend this story. If you don't like biographies, give it a chance. It may surprise you.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

Sam Carlson and his girl friend Sarah Haber live in a small town in Minnesota. Sam doesn't have much in the way of prospects. He works several jobs, and runs the films for the local theatre. He and his parents are just getting by, and college is out of the question. His girlfriend Sarah is brilliant, and she is going to college. Sam fears for their future as he doesn't see any way for him to advance.

There were already rumblings of war in Europe and the Pacific. Sam along with many others joined the National Guard in hopes of staying stateside, but President Roosevelt changed their National Guard status to the Army. Sam by that time had been promoted to Staff Sergeant. He and his men were stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines, when the Japanese bombed it and took the survivors captive. What followed for the survivors was unimaginable suffering.

Sarah, in the meantime, had been recruited by the government to work in deciphering coded texts from the enemy, something she was forbidden to tell anyone, even her parents. She faced her own trial by fire when she deciphered a communication that could mean Sam's death - if she reported it.

This is a book I won't soon forget. It is about war, love, sacrifice, and the men and women who were subjected to atrocities after being captured by the Japanese, who claimed that they did not fall under the protections of the Geneva convention. It is also about the work done at home to help the war effort. I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. OH WOW- I just finished this book and will be thinking about it for quite some time! Sam and Sarah are caught up in the events of WWII. The atrocities of war and the glimmer of hope we all hold on to in desperate times. Sam signed up for the national guard and ended up in a POW camp in the Philippines. Sarah is drawn to helping the country with her keen math skills and intelligent solve a problem. I learned a lot from this book and it is heartbreaking to know how historically accurate the story was. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!!!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

Having read so much historical fiction on Germany and France during World War II, I was excited to jump into this one, which focused more on the United States' involvement with Japan. I have long enjoyed Dugoni's books - both some of his stand alone novels and his series (Tracy Crosswhite, Charles Jenkins, and Keera Duggan in particular). This book is a standout. It's a riveting tale of the atrocities committed by the Japanese agains the POWs they took in the Philippines, and of the heroism of the women of the Navy's WAVE unit. I've read much about Bletchley Park, but knew little of these women and their contributions in the United States. This book had me from start to finish, and the length of Author's Note at the end is a tribute to the author's understanding and reverence for the history and historical figures that inspired this beautiful story. Have a box of tissues at the ready, as this book is an emotional roller coaster.

I finished this book way into the night, last night. It is about WWII. But it’s also a love story about two courageous people from a very poor part of our country. They live in a small town in Minnesota during the depression with their parents. Sam and Sarah fall in love. Sarah is super smart- especially in math and gets a full scholarship. Sam is not as smart and his family falls on bad hardships. The characters are very believable and the story kept me turning pages. Good book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy for my honest review.

WOW! This book is so good. I was hooked from the small town in Minnesota, to Brainerd Minnesota. I loved the characters. Especially Sam.

Sam's family is struggling with the Great Depression. He knows that he needs to help out and joins the National Guard. he ends up being sent to the Philippines right when the Japanese invades.

The story isn't focused on the terrible conditions of the POW camps that the Japanese had, its more about comradre and the ships. The ships. oh my! I can't even imagine what that smell must of been like.

Plus I learned more about the WAVES and code breaking for women during World War II.

This is an engaging, thoughtful, well researched historical novel and I absolutely love it.

Read this book if you want to know more about the "hell ships', WAVES, code breakers, and enduring beyond all human comprehension.

Tracy Crosswhite never fails to bring suspense and drama front and center. Robert Dugoni has put together an intense investigation with a past history withing her family and hometown. A cold case that has defiantly warmed up, I enjoyed this complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Robert Dugoni at his finest!! I loved this book! I read many books in this genre, but the descriptions here were amazing. Very emotional read. Don't miss this one!!

A powerful novel of the horrors of war. The power of love threads through this book with the two main characters which are well drawn. I would thoroughly recommend this book, one of the best reads in a while. Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for this review ARC

Wow. This took a while to read. Not because I wasn’t interested. Not because the writing wasn’t good. It was because the writing is so good and so real and so raw. It takes a book this well written for me to actually cry, to physically cringe. Knowing how much research these authors put into the book (as demonstrated by the extensive notes they shared in the last 25% of the book), I applaud them for giving their all to tell this story. I’ve read many WWII historical fiction books, with the majority taking place in Europe. This one, instead, takes place in the U.S. as well as Asia. It reminds me of Unbroken. However, I didn’t fully love that book as I loved this one. Stay Strong tells the story of a young man, Sam as well as his sweetheart Sarah. It starts during the Great Depression when Sam, whose family cannot afford to send him to college, joins the National Guard. Sarah is fortunate enough to be able to go to college. As the world starts to fall apart, Sam is shipped off to the Philippines where he eventually ends up as a POW of the Japanese. Sarah decides she needs to do something to help the soldiers and being a very bright young woman, is invited to join the government as a code breaker. The book is very detailed and descriptive about what Sam and his fellow soldiers endure. Be prepared to become very emotional. The story is based on actual events and I truly cannot begin to imagine what they went through. It also shares what it was like to work as a code breaker and we see this through Sarah’s eyes. I really can’t say enough about this book. I highly recommend it!! As a side note, I recently read another book from Robert Dugoni, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, which I also really enjoyed!
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

An intriguing piece of historical fiction. The tension and heartbreak of war hit me harder in this one than others. I don’t know if I was in the right place, in my head or in my reality, for war.

Hold Strong is an historical fiction novel which provides insight into the horrors of war during WWII. The story interweaves the lives of two sweethearts and their experiences during the war. The story is captivating and well written, leaving the reader with a strong sense of the atrocities of war and its effects on people.