The attack on Pearl Harbor began from the Japanese Carrier Task Force 300 miles to the north. The attack began at 0755 hours with the other groups attacking afterward. The attack was successful. Most of the United States Pacific feet was destroyed and the United States entered World War II.

Counterattack: The Corps, by W.E.B. Griffin, is the story of the war in the Pacific from the attack on Pearl Harbor until the invasion of Guadalcanal. The book focuses on the Marine Corps and the various men and women who were involved in the war in the Pacific. The novel opens with the attack on Pearl Harbor and describes where some of the characters were and what they did. Many of the characters in the book have known one another for years, having served together in different parts of the world. The book follows them from assignment to assignment as America prepared for the invasion of Guadalcanal. Many of the book's major characters came together as different parts of the invasion force.

Griffin does a good job of showing the characters as human, from the wealthy Fleming Pickering who went to work for the Secretary of the Navy, to Joe Howard, who was afraid during the Pearl Harbor attack and then volunteers for a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Each of the characters dealt with the war in his own way, and contributed to the war effort. Pickering, a wealthy shipping magnate, sold his ocean liners to the Navy and made the rest of his Pacific fleet available to the government. He had been a Marine in the First World War and wanted to serve again but accepts a position as an adviser to the Secretary of the Navy, obtaining intelligence. He was one of the first to learn of the Australian Coastwatchers and helped to form an American team to work with them. Pickering held this advisory position until the end of the book.

Most of the characters were not wealthy and powerful. Steve Koffler was from East Orange, New Jersey and the Marines never knew he was an amateur radio operator until he became a member of Special Detachment 14, right before the invasion. He volunteered for parachute school because he didn't like his assignment as a draftsman. He wasn't happy as a parachutist and had problems with this superiors, so he volunteered for Banning's Special Detachment 14, and was dropped behind enemy lines with Joe Howard right before the invasions.

Counterattack The Corps is basically a story of the people. The reader watches how operation PESTILENCE was put together in terms of the characters and the assignment they had. The reader sees how the different special units came into being, from the idea stage through the procurement and training stages. The men, like Koffler, would volunteer for various assignments not knowing what was involved, because of secrecy.

The novel, which is historically based, is easy reading and well worth the reader's time. Although it is a little slow in the beginning as the characters are being introduced, it quickly gains momentum and holds the reader's interest. As the momentum builds, it becomes hard and harder to put the novel down.