Four American boys. One Japanese naval officer. A collision of duty.

With the full weight of World War II on their doorstep, four teenage boys from a small lumber town on the Oregon coastline are determined to defend their country. Too young to join the military, they start their own coastal patrol. Little do they know their patrol will put their lives and reputations on the line.

On the other side of the world, Kenji Kosoki, a young man from a fishing family in Japan, dreams of a bigger life. When he joins the Japanese Navy, he expects adventure but instead finds himself assigned to a cramped submarine in a faraway place. When he's sent on a covert mission to infiltrate the lumber mills on the Oregon coast, he runs into an obstacle he doesn't see coming, and his entire operation--and future--are threatened.

A fictional tale of subterfuge along the West Coast, Slack's debut novel, Lost in the Surf, illustrates the lengths one will go to fight for their country, no matter what stands in the way.