First-time novelist Pat Johnson brings an alternative-history story in his short novel, Desperate Times. Published by iUniverse.com, a print-on-demand Internet publisher, the story follows the common theme of World War II history with a "what if?" scenario.

Continental Europe was firmly in Hitler's control, and in Desperate Times, Great Britain has lost all its forces at Dunkirk (they in fact completed a successful evacuation) and considers surrender to Germany. War-weary Britains seek peace with the Germans and quickly oust Winston Churchill. Peaceful surrender to Germany seems the only way out.

The text includes no explanatory notes comparing actual history to this alternative world, as to what things changed. Presumably the readers are familiar with early World War II details such as the Battle of Dunkirk. In this world, the German surface fleet controls the English Channel; yet no mention is made of history prior to this point: that the German surface fleet was demolished in the Norwegian campaign. The alternative history includes other, if subtle, differences from our own history as well. For example, in Desperate Times, Nazi Germany has already embarked on their Jewish genocide program (which they did not in fact begin until 1942). Canada is still considered part of the British Empire apparently under British control, when in fact Canada was recognized as having its own rule and government long before this time (such as in documents from 1931).

The plot itself is decent, a basic adventure story evolving around Harry Lloyd, a British diplomat to the U.S. With Britain about to surrender to Germany, British and U.S. officials meet, deciding to steal Britain's "Enigma" spy decoder machine and safely bring it to America. Harry is quickly given this assignment, after meeting with no less than President Roosevelt, and dispatched to England. Once there, Harry finds people to help him, including Anthony Eden (an actual historical figure), Bill Donovan, and a former bodyguard named George, and they set about the task of delivering the Enigma, a typewriter-sized machine, to the U.S. The new British government will not allow Churchill to leave the country, somehow fearing he will rally the British people while in exile and cause more wrath from the Nazis. So along the way, Harry determines to also rescue Churchill.

Great dialogue and action adventure keeps the story moving. A simple adventure, Desperate Times features no subplots, romantic or otherwise. Women characters are few and in minor roles, and none of the characters have romantic interests. For a short novel (Desperate Times is only 160 pages) this is fine; the single-plot story would likely have been expanded to include subplots for a standard-length novel (about 300 pages or more). Historical figures enter into the action, with great dialog and involvement from many World War II names, including Mosley, Churchill, Hitler, President Roosevelt, (then-colonel) Eisenhower, Eden, and Halifax.

Detracting greatly from the story itself, Desperate Times is plagued with basic spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Every few pages bring out a sentence with an extra "a" inserted, a connecting word "the" or "an" missing, or "he" where "the" is meant. Other places show basic grammar problems such as singular noun / plural verb disagreement, as well as improper use of contractions (its versus it's or your versus you're). Even proper names, such as "Ribbontrop" and "Donovan," are spelled inconsistently. Incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, and improper placement of quotation marks cause further annoyance. A good copyeditor would have substantially improved the overall reading experience of this book.

Desperate Times is an adequate entry for a first-time novelist, a book that shows promise with its good adventure-plot story and interesting "What If?" look at World War II. As mentioned above, a reprinting of this book, cleaned up by an editor, would improve it greatly; the same would be advised for future books by the author.