Hold Strong: A Novel

Hold Strong is a novel by Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree based on true events from World War II. It follows Sam Carlson, a projectionist in small-town Minnesota, and Sarah Haber, a college-bound math whiz. When Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Sam is sent to the Philippines and captured as a prisoner of war. He endures the Bataan Death March and is among eighteen hundred starved and weakened prisoners packed into the cargo hold of the Arisan Maru, a Japanese transport ship. Meanwhile, Sarah uses her math skills on the home front, recruited to Washington, DC, for code breaking work. When she intercepts a message about a Japanese convoy, the US Navy orders an attack on the Arisan Maru to sink it in the South China Sea. The lives of the two young lovers collide inadvertently in one of World War II's most shocking events. The novel explores faith, courage, survival, and coming home against overwhelming odds.