For overall help and encouragement along this pilgrimage, I owe recognition to the Surface Navy Association, Hampton Roads Chapter; Charle Ricci and Stacia Childers of the Eastern Shore Public Library; the ESO Writers’ Workshop; with bows to Bill Doughty, James W. Neuman, Alan Smith, John T. Fusselman, Richard Enderly, and others (they know who they are), both retired and still on active duty, who put in many hours adding perspective and leading me down the path of righteousness. If I left anyone out, apologies!
Once more: these sources were consulted for the purposes of fiction. The specifics of tactics, units, and locales are employed as the materials of story, not reportage. Some details have been altered to protect classified capabilities and procedures.
My deepest gratitude goes to George Witte, editor and friend of over three decades, without whom this series would not exist. And Sally Richardson, Young Jin Lim, Ken Silver, Janna Dokos, Martin Quinn, Paul Hochman, Naia Poyer, Adam Goldberger, Sarah Schoof, Amelie Littell, and Kevin Reilly at St. Martin’s/Macmillan.
And finally to Lenore Hart, anchor on lee shores, and my North Star when skies are clear.
As always, all errors and deficiencies are my own.
ALSO BY DAVID POYER
Tales of the Modern Navy
Overthrow
Deep War
Hunter Killer
Onslaught
Tipping Point
The Cruiser
The Towers
The Crisis
The Weapon
Korea Strait
The Threat
The Command
Black Storm
China Sea
Tomahawk
The Passage
The Circle
The Gulf
The Med
Tiller Galloway
Down to a Sunless Sea Bahamas Blue
Louisiana Blue Hatteras Blue
The Civil War at Sea
That Anvil of Our Souls
A Country of Our Own
Fire on the Waters
Hemlock County
Thunder on the Mountain Winter in the heart
As the Wolf Loves Winter The Dead of Winter
Other Books
Heroes of Annapolis
On War and Politics (with Arnold Punaro)
The Whiteness of the Whale
Happier Than This Day and Time
Ghosting
The Only Thing to Fear
Stepfather Bank
The Return of Philo T. McGiffin
Star Seed
The Shiloh Project
White Continent
About the Author
DAVID POYER’s military career included service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, Pacific, Middle East, and the Pentagon. Violent Peace is the twentieth in his widely popular series of novels featuring Daniel V. Lenson. Poyer’s work has been required reading at the U.S. Naval Academy, along with that of Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville. He lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
I: Bomblight
1. Beijing
2. California
3. USS Savo Island Wakkanai Bay, Japan
4. USNS Mercy, T-AH-19 The South China Sea
5. Xinjiang Province, Western China
II: Chaos Rising
6. Beijing
7. 35°17′02″ N, 130°34′55″ E: The Sea of Japan
8. Headed East
9. The Tian Shan Mountains, Western China
10. Camp Pendleton, California
III: Spent Assets
11. Chadron, Nebraska
12. The Sea of Japan
13. McLean, Virginia
14. Singapore
15. The Eastern Shore, Maryland
IV: The Judgment of the Fates
16. Washington, DC
17. Nagano, Japan
18. Republic of the Covenant, Missouri
19. The Pentagon, Washington, DC
20. Xinjiang, Western China
21. The Eastern Shore, Maryland
The Afterimage: Arlington, Virginia
Acknowledgments
Also by David Poyer
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
VIOLENT PEACE. Copyright © 2020 by David Poyer. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Young Jin Lim
Cover illustration by Steve Gardner/ Pixelworks Studios, Inc.; photographs of buildings, rubbles, debris, cars, and flames © Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-22058-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-22059-2 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250220592
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First Edition: 2020