History books usually feel like dusty artifacts, right? You crack one open and it's all dates, troop movements, and dry political maneuvering that puts you to sleep by page ten. But every so often, a piece of non-fiction hits the shelves that feels more like a noir thriller than a lecture. That’s exactly what happened when Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr. released Ghosts of Honolulu.
If the name Mark Harmon sounds familiar, it’s because he spent years playing Gibbs on NCIS. It turns out his interest in the Naval Investigative Service (the real-life precursor to his TV show) wasn't just for the cameras. He teamed up with Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, to dig into the actual files that built the agency.
The result isn't a book about poltergeists or haunted hotels in Waikiki.
The Real Ghosts are the Spies
People see the title and expect a paranormal tour of the island. Honestly, that’s a fair mistake. But the "ghosts" in this narrative are the undercover agents living in the shadows of Hawaii in the months leading up to December 7, 1941. It focuses heavily on Douglas Wada, a Japanese-American who became the first Nisei (second-generation Japanese) to serve in what was then the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Wada’s story is incredible. He was caught between two worlds. On one hand, he was a loyal American officer. On the other, he was living in a community that the U.S. government deeply distrusted.
The book details how Wada had to navigate the tension of a pre-war Honolulu that was vibrating with anxiety. You've got the Japanese Consulate—literally just down the street from where American sailors were grabbing drinks—serving as a hub for espionage. The "ghosts" were the people you'd pass on the street who were secretly reporting ship movements back to Tokyo. It’s a wild, true story about how the US was desperately trying to catch up to a sophisticated spy ring right in its backyard.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Plot
A lot of readers go in thinking this is a broad history of Pearl Harbor. It’s not. It is a very tight, character-driven look at the counter-intelligence battle.
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Take Takeo Yoshikawa, for example. He’s the "villain" of the piece, though history is always more nuanced than that. He arrived in Honolulu under a fake name, posing as a junior diplomat. He’d spend his days wandering around the hills overlooking the harbor, sketching the positions of the battleships. He wasn't some high-tech operative with gadgets; he was just a guy with a sharp eye and a lot of patience.
The Ghosts of Honolulu book does a stellar job of contrasting Wada and Yoshikawa. It shows how the American side was basically building their intelligence capabilities on the fly. Before this, the US didn't really have a centralized spy agency. They were learning the hard way that signals intelligence wasn't enough; you needed "human intelligence." People on the ground. People like Wada who understood the culture and the language.
Why the Nisei Story Matters Now
One of the most powerful things about the book is how it handles the treatment of Japanese-Americans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the "ghosts" weren't just the spies anymore. They were the thousands of innocent citizens who suddenly became invisible—or worse, targets of suspicion—in their own homes.
Wada’s position was precarious. He was helping the US Navy identify actual threats, all while knowing that his own community was being rounded up for internment. The book doesn't shy away from that irony. It paints a picture of a man who was essential to the war effort but lived in a society that didn't fully trust him because of his face and his heritage.
It’s a heavy theme.
But it’s handled with a lot of respect. Harmon and Carroll used actual case files from the National Archives to piece this together. They didn't have to invent drama. The reality of 1940s Hawaii was dramatic enough. The tension in the air was thick. Everyone knew something was coming, but nobody knew exactly when or how.
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A Different Kind of True Crime
If you're a fan of NCIS or Mindhunter, you’ll recognize the procedural rhythm here. Because Leon Carroll Jr. was a real investigator, the book focuses on the "how" of the investigation.
- How did they tail suspects without being seen?
- How did they break codes without computers?
- How did they interview witnesses who were terrified to talk?
The prose is straightforward. It’s not flowery. It reads like a briefing, but one with a lot of heart. You get the sense that Harmon and Carroll really care about the legacy of these agents. They want to make sure the "ONIs" (the guys who came before NCIS) get their due. These were men working in basement offices with zero budget, trying to prevent a catastrophe that they could see looming on the horizon.
The Book’s Place in Modern History
There are hundreds of books about Pearl Harbor. Why do we need this one?
Basically, because it fills a gap. Most Pearl Harbor books focus on the pilots in the sky or the sailors on the decks of the USS Arizona. This one stays on the streets of Honolulu. It’s about the bars, the barbershops, and the tea houses where the real war of information was being fought.
It also highlights the birth of modern naval investigation. Before the events in Ghosts of Honolulu, the Navy’s investigative arm was sort of an afterthought. This book shows how the failures and successes of 1941 forced the military to professionalize their intelligence gathering. It’s the origin story of a major government agency, disguised as a spy thriller.
The research is meticulous. The authors dug into records that had been declassified for years but never really synthesized into a narrative like this. They spoke with descendants. They walked the streets. You can feel the humidity and the smell of the pineapple fields in the writing. It’s immersive.
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Actionable Steps for Readers and History Buffs
If you’re planning on picking up the book or you’ve just finished it, there are a few ways to really dive deeper into this specific slice of history.
1. Visit the actual sites in Honolulu.
If you ever find yourself on Oahu, skip the tourist traps for an afternoon. Go to the Japanese Consulate in Nuʻuanu. It’s still there. Stand in the hills of Alewa Heights where Yoshikawa did his scouting. Seeing the vantage point he had over the harbor makes the book’s descriptions chillingly real.
2. Explore the National Archives online.
The authors mention the "Declassified ONI Case Files." You can actually look some of these up. The National Archives has a digital portal where you can see the types of reports Wada and his colleagues were filing. It’s one thing to read about a report in a book; it’s another to see the typewritten pages from 1941.
3. Read the companion perspectives.
To get a full 360-degree view, pair this book with Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen for the earlier history of the islands, or Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown, which covers the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It rounds out the experience of the Nisei soldiers and agents during the war.
4. Watch the documentaries on the real ONI.
The Naval History and Heritage Command has incredible resources. They’ve released short films and articles about the evolution of the agency that provide the visual context the book sets up.
Ghosts of Honolulu is more than just a tie-in for fans of a TV show. It’s a grounded, factual look at a group of people who were forgotten by history but played a massive role in the Pacific Theater. It’s about identity, loyalty, and the high cost of being a "ghost" in your own country. Whether you're a history nerd or just someone who likes a good spy yarn, it’s a rare look at the war before the war started.