AGAINST ALL ENEMIES: NOVEL DEPICTS WAR SPARKED BY TARIFFS
Book by Thomas Wing
Review by Pennell Paugh
August 10, 2025 (San Diego) -- San Diego author Thomas Wing, releases Against All Enemies. This gripping thriller ominously shows us a violent but possible reaction to America’s tariff war — China launches a full-scale surprise attack on the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon, military bases, and communication satellites.
With weakened communications and a destroyed Congress, disorder descends upon Washington, DC.
Bill Wilkins, captain of the naval destroyer U.S.S. Nautilus, strikes back at the enemy in the South China Sea with surprising success. Thomas Wing, a retired Navy Surface Warfare officer, creates realistic interchanges while Wilkins attacks China’s naval fleet in three battles.
Meanwhile, Russia launches full-scale invasions on Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states, and NATO is left in shambles. While U.S. attention is elsewhere, Russia sends nukes to England, which then returns arms in kind.
Against All Enemies is gripping and enlightening about the U.S. military’s weaknesses and strengths. It provides an eerie depiction of the contemporary world sliding from our current military conflagration to global wars that destroy civilians in unimaginable numbers.
Below is an excerpt from the novel:
A familiar yet out-of-place sound intruded. John Wilkins looked up from his Mongolian barbecue.
He and Russ met for lunch twice a week. The cafeteria on the fourth floor of the main building at the lab atop Point Loma provided a commanding view of the San Diego harbor below the hill and the city skyline beyond.
It was one of those beautiful fall days, the kind most San Diegans took for granted, just a hint of cool in the air. A slight haze obscured the distant mountains, the sky above crystalline blue. He’d been appreciating the one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view from Old Town to Tijuana and the Coronado Islands of Mexico. The blue awning stretched over the veranda ruffled slightly in the breeze.
The low-pitched buzzing rapidly increased in volume and pitch, then dropped as a low-flying object shot past overhead.
A cruise missile? His unbelieving brain rejected the idea. He blinked several times as he looked over at Russ. “What the hell was that?”
Russ shook his head. “Somebody really messed up big time. Looked like a Tomahawk.”
Both were former naval officers, surface warfare qualified in destroyers. John’s brother, still active duty, commanded a destroyer deployed to the Western Pacific.
“Man, I’d hate to be the CO of a ship that accidentally flew a T-bird over the city,” John said.
They stood to look down the hill to where the missile had disappeared. More noise sources cropped up. Trails barely visible, dozens of small dots stormed in from the sea across the harbor channel that separated Point Loma from North Island.
Half a mile away on the other side of the channel, explosions rippled across North Island Naval Air Station. The day turned dark and ugly. Pillars of black smoke climbed across the panorama.
John’s heart raced.
As waves of missiles swept in, they blasted hangars, squadron buildings, the Fleet Air Control Facility, then the aircraft themselves. His stomach heaved as a taxiing helicopter vanished. Its rotor emerged from the flames, shedding pieces as it spun madly across the runway.
John’s hands curled into fists and his jaw locked. An enormous ball of angry dark orange flame and black smoke rose just a hundred yards in front of him, blocking his sight. The thunderous boom that accompanied it dwarfed every other sound. His skin prickled from the heat. The acrid smell of burning marine fuel assaulted his nostrils. He gagged.
The fuel farm.
Thomas M. Wing is a retired thirty-two-year Surface Warfare Officer, and Naval Academy and Naval War College graduate who served more than ten years at sea in destroyers and frigates.
Wing has two published two novels, Against All Enemies and In Harm’s Way, both of which have earned awards. Accurate history and authentic settings are his obsession. The reviews he is most proud of come from Navy veterans, who said of Against All Enemies that they could “smell the stale coffee and cigarette smoke in CIC.”
His website is https://www.thomasmwing.com.