John J. Gobbell Books In Order

Publication Order of Todd Ingram Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

John J. Gobbell
John J. Gobbell, born in San Diego on August 28, 1937, was a Navy Lieutenant that saw duty as a destroyer weapons officer. His ship served in the South China Sea, which granted him membership in the exclusive Atonkin Gulf Yacht Club.

After graduating from the University of Southern California, he was commissioned an ensign in the US Navy. He served as an ASW and deck officer on the USS Tingey. He did a WESTPAC cruise and fought in the battle of YANKEE STATION forming a protective destroyer screen around the USS Hancock in the South China Sea.

While an executive recruiter, his clients include military and commercial aerospace companies that gives him insight into character development under a historical thriller format.

John, in civilian life, sails in Southern California yacht racing regattas. In his younger years, he skippered in the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Congressional Cup, which is one of the most prestigious match-racing regattas that features skippers from all around the world, including America’s cup stand-outs.

John’s debut novel, called “The Brutus Lie”, was released in the year 1991. His work is from the historical genre.

“The Last Lieutenant” is the first novel in the “Todd Ingram” series and was released in the year 1995. Outgunned and outnumbered, but not outsmarted.

Under one unstoppable barrage of artillery, intelligent U. S. cryptographers crack the Japanese top-secret code, revealing their chilling plans for one doomsday attack on Midway Island.

Navy’s high command responds fast, mobilizing all that they have in order to counter attack the massive Japanese firepower. However, there’s a mole among this code-cracking team. One cold-blooded and merciless Nazi spy with orders to stop at nothing to help the Japanese.

Enter Todd Ingram, a Navy Lieutenant, the guy the mole wasn’t counting on. While the Japanese ravage the South Pacific, Ingram has to escape from the onslaught and stop one traitor that’s got the power to turn the tide of this war to the land of the rising sun.

Fans of the book found this to be tense and exciting, and for some, they became new fans of Gobbell’s upon completing it. This is based closely on actual events and brings this time in history to life with vigor and you don’t need to be any kind of history buff to understand this story line.

“A Code for Tomorrow” is the second novel in the “Todd Ingram” series and was released in the year 1999. While the war heats up in the South Pacific, Todd Ingram gets a new assignment off to the destroyer U.S. Howell, which he’s going to serve on as executive officer. Thrown into a couple of epic naval battles during early World War II, the Battle of Cape Esperance and the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

Young yet battle-weary Todd is also caught in a personal nightmare: Helen Durand, an Army nurse and his sweetheart, is trapped behind enemy lines, fighting for the resistance on Mindanao. His rescue of Helen’s being hindered by Soviet espionage activity, leaving him at an impasse. In danger of losing both the woman he loves and this war that he fought so valiantly in, he puts his life on the line for the world right on the cusp of destruction.

This is a thrilling book with outstanding adventure and action. Todd is a bold and adventurous character, ready for anything. The novel is entertaining, keeping you on the edge of your seat the entire time.

“When Duty Whispers Low” is the third novel in the “Todd Ingram” series and was released in the year 2002. The year is 1943, and the US Navy is in a fierce battle in the South Pacific against the Japanese. The Allies’ newly won Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands is at stake. But the admiral of the Combined Fleet and architect of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Isoroku Yamamoto, desperately wants Guadalcanal back and preps to launch a series of bombing raids out in the Solomons.

The Allies, as a response, introduce the proximity fuse into the fleet, a top secret antiaircraft detonator that is able to greatly assist the US Navy in their fight against Japanese torpedo planes and dive-bombers. However, during the heat of battle, Commander Jerry Landa refuses to use this fuse, and the USS Howell gets torn in two. Todd confronts Landa and questions his authority.

While the pair become foes during war, Yamamoto directs the raids that are going to get him back to the glory of December 7, 1941. These are raids that are going to facilitate the Japanese’s recapture of Guadalcanal and is going to cripple the US Navy for always.

This book has real characters that have real problems, and the battle scenes are realistic, frequent, and straightforward. The novel is dramatic with convincing historical detail that really distinguishes this book from the rest of the competition.

“A Call to Colors” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2006. General Douglas MacArthur made a promise to the Filipinos that he will return. It is going to take seven hundred ships and 165,000 troops in the bloody battle of Leyte Gulf to do so.

Among these is the USS Matthew, a destroyer, and Commander Mike Donovan, its skipper and a veteran that’s haunted by some earlier brutal battles. What Donovan isn’t aware of is that Vice Admiral Takao Kurita from Japan has set an ingenious trap while the Matthew heads for the Leyte Gulf.

However, Donovan faces something even more lethal than Kurita’s battleships: Explosives that are secretly slipped aboard US ships by some saboteurs are set to blow at any time. Now Matthew’s survival hinges on Donovan and his men’s abilities to dismantle a bomb in the middle of the chaos and panic of history’s greatest naval battle.

Readers enjoyed the novel for its well done plot and the three dimensional characters in it. It is a real page turner with a great cast characters that are on both sides of this war and skillfully keeps the reader in suspense about what’s coming next in the story.

5 Responses to “John J. Gobbell”

1. Marilyn Giroux: 1 year ago

   Anything close to release after “Somewhere In The South Pacific”?
   Everybody is waiting with bated breath.

   Reply
2. marilyn giroux: 3 years ago

   Is the next Todd Ingram book coming out soon?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 3 years ago

     Scheduled currently for June 7, 2022

     Reply
3. Marcia Trom: 3 years ago

   I was wondering why such a long space of time between the 4th and 5th book of the Todd Ingram series .. I have never asked this question previously…. Thank you

   Reply
4. Marcia Trombino: 3 years ago

   Why ten years between forth and fifth books

   Reply