By all of the usual standards of measurement, the captain and crew of the ship Vulkan, which serve as protagonists of Douglas Reeman's World War I novel, The Last Raider, should be the villains of the story. They are, after all, Germans in a war in which Germany is always portrayed as the antagonist, and their mission is to seek out and destroy enemy merchant ships in what largely equates to acts of brutal piracy.

And yet, the story manages to make sympathetic characters out of men whose primary incentive is to serve their country and win the war so they can go home.

Yes, they do terrible things, some of which are inexcusable even in wartime. They also at times show mercy, even compassion, to the officers and crew members of the ships they take, as well as the passengers who are taken prisoner.

Reeman manages to make some of the Germans into likable people, although others are, without question, bad men. But it's interesting to see the war through their eyes, given that it's usually presented from the perspective of the other side.

The novel begins in December 1917, and Captain Felix von Steiger -- a decorated naval officer who has just suffered a tragic personal loss -- is given command of the Vulkan, a former merchant ship converted into a heavily armed raider. His mission is to slip through the British naval blockade and wreak havoc among the enemy's shipping.

Initially, they have a great deal of success, although word quickly spreads among the ships of the British Royal Navy and England's allies, and the ship's work grows harder; although powerful against lightly armed commerce ships, the Vulkan is no match for a navy warship, so speed and stealth are necessary components of its mission. So, too, is the acquisition of coal, which keeps the ship moving -- resupplying at a German port, after all, is out of the question.

The book is not Reeman's best, admittedly, but it's still an absorbing story that's told from a problematic point of view. It's hard to know, at times, who we should be rooting for! Reeman makes his German seamen very real people, and it's difficult not to sympathize with their very real struggles or mourn their losses.

Probably the greatest flaw in the book is Reeman's seeming inability to write a book without some element of romance. The love affair that blossoms in The Last Raider is highly improbable and, although sweetly written, never feels even slightly realistic -- given that it grows between a German officer and an English prisoner who witnessed atrocities committed by his hand. Fortunately, the romance never dominates the book and is easy to ignore.

Otherwise, Reeman has written another excellent novel for naval enthusiasts. The German perspective and the World War I setting both make The Last Raider an interesting and unusual book.