John Birmingham - Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1

Read a very positive review of this a while ago - in a 'good clean escapist fun' type of way - and, looking for something escapist in the library over the weekend, remembered the review and borrowed the book. (I've been quite off my game for the last fortnight or so, and wanted something in which to lose myself, at least temporarily.) So the premise is this: in the near future, a multi-state military force is sailing into Indonesian waters to restore order, the country's government having been overthrown by a radical Islamic force, when a scientific experiment being conducted by the inhabitants of a ship which has been caught up in their wake tears a hole in the fabric of space and time and sends nearly the whole lot of them slap-bang into the middle of the US fleet sailing to war in 1942. Alarums ensue, and after the frenetic initial engagement, things continue at a cracking pace - the book's obviously been written with page-turnin' in mind - with much focus on the cultural clash which results when the people constituting the two forces meet face to face and are forced to work together against the common threat of the Axis, and more on the ACTION (also has fun with writing the future - Hillary as President, for one - and peopling its pages with famous historical figures). Lots of loose ends notwithstanding (I think there's a sequel, too, which may explain it), succeeded admirably in keeping me reading.