KCR: Deep Sound Channel (novel, submarine)

Image via WikipediaJoe Buff's submarine novels have an interesting premise, but somehow doesn't quite delivers the same punch as novels by Michael DiMercurio or even Charles D. Taylor. The characters are flat, and the battles tend to go hyper-technical. They are fine if you dig the genre.

Premise: Extremists in both South Africa and Germany have staged simultaneous coup and created this unholy alliance... the new Axis Powers known as the Berlin-Boer Axis. With a bit of help from a "neutral" Russia in the form of nukes, the sea is now the hunting grounds of the latest submarines... ceramic-hulled undersea invisible monsters armed with tactical nuclear torpedoes and cruise missiles. No warships can survive, not even the vaunted American carrier battle group. New Axis powers wielded several such supersubs, and the Americans and the Brits have a few as well. In this world of ultimate hide-and-seek, one mistake will be your last...

USS Challenger, America's supersub, and its captain LtCmdr Fuller, has a special assignment: Apparently South Africa is about to make a breakthrough to tap some very rare undersea lifeform that is nearly the ideal biological weapon. Fuller must take his ship and a team of Navy SEALS, along with a South African scientist, and take out the research lab before the research can be completed. In their way is the South African supersub, the Vooertrekker... and some very formidable South African defenses...

As explained before, the characters are almost cliche. Fuller was a former SEAL, really? And he's going to accompany the team going in? Then the battle gets hypertechnical... ever heard of sonal lensing? About how certain events BEND soundwaves?

Still, the battles can get exciting once the action picks up, and this nightmare scenario can work a bit... if you really leave your brain turned off a bit. Read one and see if you like it. Joe Buff have a whole series of these novels starring the same crew.

KCR: The Intruders (novel) by Stephen Coonts

Cover of The INTRUDERSThe Intruders continues the career of Stephen Coonts' favorite character, Jake "Cool Hands" Grafton. After end of Vietnam War, Grafton was assigned to a carrier mainly training jarheads (US Marines) flying Intruders, and he's paired up with a marine, and together, they have all sorts of adventures on and off the carrier. It ends with an encounter against a bunch of pirates.

This is more of an adventure novel than a military novel, as there isn't much fighting. However, Coonts knows his carrier ops, and this has more stories about carrier ops, shore leave, and stuff, plus the jokes, the friendly joshing between Navy and Marines, and more.

If you read Flight of the Intruder, you should also read The Intruders.

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• KCR: Flight of the Intruder (novel) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: Jump Pay / The Lucky 13th (novel, scifi, war, Rick Shelley)

Rick Shelley has quite a few books out, concentrating on three series: the Mercenary series, the Lucky 13th series, and Special Ops Squad series. This is a part of the "Lucky 13th" series.

The premise: 13th Spaceborne Assault Team, i.e. the Lucky 13th, was called upon to spearhead a huge invasion of the enemy arsenal planet. The enemy is building up troops and equipment for an assault and a Pearl-Harbor-style pre-emptive strike will be needed to destroy most of the arsenal. The action flicks from airborne assault using newly deployed grav belts, to recon squads doing hit and fade on enemy positions, to assault howitzer crews pumping out shells on enemy positions, and aerial fighter "Wasps" dogfighting and performing close-support on the troops, and the commander trying to make sense of the chaos, the war jumps from perspective to perspective, almost too fast to keep up.

Indeed, that is the main problem I have with the series: the action just keep flicking so fast that you have a hard time keeping up. As a result, you don't really get attached to any of the characters. They feel like cliches: the hard sergeant, the dumb rookie, the contemplative lieutenant, the colonel who have to choose between duty and not spending his soldiers needlessly. The enemy have no faces, no motivation. They are simply the bad guy. The weapons described makes little sense even though they sound quite futuristic. What happened to grenades? Or tanks? Or light armor?

Or as someone else puts it, this is like Hammer's Slammers, except it makes much less sense.

Rating: borrow it from a library and see if you like the style. I don't.

EDIT: apparently Mr. Shelley died in 2001

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KCR: Attack of the Seawolf (novel, submarine)

Cover of Attack of the SeawolfMichael DiMercurio is a former submariner who manage to combine his intimate knowledge of the systems in a sub and submarine warfare, along with a sense of geopolitics, into a series of novels that rivals Tom Clancy on excitement (but not the spy stuff). In Attack of the Seawolf, US have a submarine showdown with China.

The premise: China had fallen into civil war, and US decided to gather some intelligence by sending in USS Tampa, a 688-class submarine, and listen to the radio traffic. Unfortunately, they had been discovered, attacked, and captured by the Red Chinese Navy (i.e. not the rebels). US response is to send in USS Seawolf, commanded by Admiral Michael Pacino, with one squad of US Navy SEALs, was sent in as a rescue mission. They will go in, liberate the crew, recover the officers, and escape Chinese Waters. Or at least, that was the plan. In between them is the entire Chinese Eastern Fleet, plus the PLA Naval Air Arm and the PLA Naval Infantry. But Pacino is used to doing the impossible and the suicidal...

The plot is a little bit cliche, with the Chinese being sadistic commies (with orders to execute prisoners if rescuers come), and Americans handicapped by a lousy rules of engagement. However, the combat is fast and furious, and in the end Seawolf really *does* sank most of the Chinese Eastern Fleet, albeit in a far more logical manner than in Tom Clancy's SSN (see below for review). The ending is a major surprise.

All in all, if you like submarine novels, Attack of the Seawolf is probably one of the better Michael DiMercurio novels. His other novels are a bit too much on the fanciful side, IMHO. This one is about the most realistic, and thus, the most enjoyable for the military buff.

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• KCR: SSN by Tom Clancy (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)
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KCR: Storm from the Shadows, a Honorverse novel (scifi, Honor Harrington)

Image via WikipediaStorm From the Shadows is another novel set in the "Honorverse", David Weber's world of Honor Harrington and Star Kingdom of Manticore. This novel reads somewhat differently from the other novels, as this is a shift in direction for the series. Previously, most of the action is centered directly on Honor Harrington herself. This book basically features Honor's friend Michelle Henke, a fellow starship commander, and the stakes are raised by adding additional players that had previously been relegated to background status. Honor Harrington herself plays only a peripheral role in this book. The result is a book that reads familiar, yet quite different, and manages to setup the stage for later books in the series.

The premise: Michelle Henke's task force was ambushed by Havenite forces and her ship was damaged and left behind (on her orders). She ordered the ship self-destructed and became prisoner, only to be paroled back to Manticore with a proposal for summit and peace talks. She was sent to a different area (away from the Havenite war) as part of her parole, but stumbles into Manpower / Mesa's plan to destroy the Star Kingdom of Manticore... and the action also threatens to wake up the sleeping giant of Solarian League...

The problem with David Weber's writing, as I've explained before, is the universe is so large now there's dozens of characters, and they tend to get VERY talky as they spend PAGES talking about every angle of their thought process, violating the "show, not tell" rule. There are so many characters, you need a "cast of characters" to keep them straight! It also makes the characters too much of bit players, and the scene switching is fast and furious: a little here, a little there... It's equivalent of flash cuts in movies. If you like this style, you'll love this book. if you don't, you'll hate it even more.

This book also ends on a cliffhanger to setup the other books in the series and parallel plots, so it's not quite satisfying that way.

Rating: read it (if you're a fan of Honorverse)

KCR: Aggressor Six (novel, scifi)

Aggressor Six is an interesting twist on "know your enemy" novel on a sci-fi stage when the humans encountered the "waisters"... aliens that seem to bent on extermination of human species. Their technology is centuries ahead of the humans. Humans convened "Aggressor Six", a group of humans ordered to learn, act, speak, and ultimately, think like the Waisters, in order to give humans an edge in combat... if such a thing is possible. As colony after colony are exterminated, and the waisters are approaching the Sol System (the scouts were destroyed or driven off at TREMENDOUS casualties), will Aggressor Six find enough enough about the aliens to save humanity?

While the theme is hardly new, the execution is quite good, as this goes into the concept of war, on demonstration of superiority, and what constitutes sanity, and stubbornness. There's a surprising amount of actual science behind the sci-fi narrative, combined with enough action to satisfy those with shorter attention spans.

The book's old, and I encountered this in a used bookstore, but it's very good read. This is Will MacCarthy's first novel (dated 1996!)

KCR: Dead Shot (sniper, war, novel)

Dead Shot is a very good "shooter" novel, with a great premise, and a great showdown at the end. My only problem is it is too much of a spy thriller, with the bad guy moving almost at will, little if any tension until when the "hero" gets on his tail.

Premise: Juba sniper, a true Al Qaeda assassin, managed to assassinate an informant in the middle of allied Green Zone in Iraq, in order to silence him from revealing Saddam's WMD cache location. The now-declared-dead Kyle Swanson, part of Task Force Trident, is asked to hunt down this guy, since clearly someone knows enough to access that WMD, and someone will be accessing it. Soon, a horrific attack in London (that made the bus bombings look like a picnic) proved him right, and Swanson tracked Juba down to a rural village in Iraq, where sniper meets sniper in an ultimate showdown, shot to shot...

The problem with this novel is the bad guys are just too good at their job. SWAT team at the door? Booby trap. More SWAT? Blow up the whole block. There was no "close calls". There is no tension... the bad guys always get away. EVERYTHING falls within their plan, EXCEPT the hero. This is often a problem when the plotting is a bit too clever. Why would the good guys be the only ones making mistakes? Still, the duel is neat, though not that satisfying, as there are two more novels after this in the series.

Rating: worth reading at least once

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KCR: Alternate Generals (anthology, fiction, alternate history)

Image via WikipediaEver wonder how things may have happened differently? Here are 16 tales of alternate generals fighting battles that they just MIGHT have fought...

• Colonel Robert E. Lee leading cavalry charge in the War of Crimea as a part of Royal North American Army
• Cardinal Napoleon Bonaparte inspiring troops in continuation of the Crusades
• Sun-Tzu made his way to Europe instead of one of warring factions in China

and much more

If you like "what if" scenarios, you should try this book. There's 16 tales here, and this has inspired two more volumes of similar anthologies.

KCR: Strikemasters (novel, military)

Strikemasters ranks among the worst books I've read. It is formulaic, presents military in impossible terms, is a blatant copy of already existing plots, and is basically a joke all around. I've read most technothrillers, from Harold Coyle to Tom Clancy to Dale Brown and plenty of people in between. Bill Kellan, in his "Strikemasters" attempts to emulate the style, but came up miles short.

Premise: US have a secret of secrets base, hidden even more than Area 51... called Area 153 (three times ore secret than Area 51, get it? 51x3? Ha-ha). Test pilot "Gunn" was sent on secret orders to join this group of misfits... flying three modified C-17's, which is so stealthed, it's even SOUND-stealthed (think Blue Thunder) and visually stealthed (smart-skin). One's the gunship, one's a dropship (paratroopers) and one's a tank landing ship. When Al Qaeda offshoot kidnapped 5 USAID workers in Pakistan and want to execute them on TV, Strikemasters are called in to deal with them... by the program's leader, because one of the hostages was his daughter.

Do you see the problem? I don't mind a bit of tech. I am a BIG fan of science fiction. However, putting super-stealth technology on a TRANSPORT PLANE? AND technology that just WORKS without ANY sort of explanation? It's impossible to sound-stealth a jet, even with active sound cancelling. You certain't can't quiet the rush of air. Smartskin is possible but a plane is impossible to keep absolutely clean, and any dirt will make the smartskin active camo useless. The premise of the leader of the program sending in the group as a private army is even MORE ridiculous. This guy is even more reckless than Rambo.

Let me describe a scene, and you tell me if it makes any sense. The tank-carrier plane intercepted a corp jet and through some sort of impossible eavesdropping tech, determined that UBG (ultimate bad guy) is onboard, but this jet doesn't have weapons. So what they did was... the stealth plane overtook the jet, still stealthed, then opened the rear ramp, so the tank use the main cannon to shoot the other plane out of the sky.

WTF?! Haven't this guy heard of wingtip vortex turbulence? You can't fly in front of the other plane without the other plane knowing it, even if you are positively CLOAKED! And haven't this guy heard of COAX machine gun? WTF?!

This guy reads like someone who wrote a technothriller without doing ANY research except what he *think* the military ought to operate like, then proceed to throw laws of physics out the window. There's a ton more impossible situations in the book that defies logic.

All being said, this is one of the most idiotic books I've read. Good thing I only paid a buck for it, and even then I felt it's sorta wasted.

Rating: Avoid it like the plague

KCR: The Lost Fleet #2: Courageous (novel)

The lost fleet series is about a man who does what he can to keep a fleet together, so he can see home again. However, much of the "action" consists of verbal byplays between John "Black Jack" Geary, the main character, with his officers and other people such as Co-President Victoria Rione, who's Geary's lover. This is the third book in the series, so it's hard to explain this book without explaining the background..

Background info: The Alliance has been at war with the Syndicate (Syndics) for over 100 years. A major alliance fleet on the way to attack Syndic homeworld was repulsed by an ambush and superior numbers. The battered fleet also recovered John "Black Jack" Geary, lost in space in cryo-sleep for 100 years from a previous action. During that time, Geary became a legend. Now that he'd came back in the flesh, fleet regulations made him the most senior officer in the fleet, Geary takes over as the new fleet commander, trying to take the battered and bruised fleet with its marines back to the Alliance. But many in the fleet are afraid of Geary, or want to protect their own powerbase...

This book is just a continuation of the previous action, as nothing was really resolved. Instead, a few bits of information have been revealed. The hyperspace gates have given the Syndics a strategic advantage, but Geary's fleet is also sensing that the Syndic civilian populace may not be fully behind the war effort as it seems. However, there seem to be hidden menace hiding in the background. What is this menace?

While each book adds a bit to the story, there's also no sense of completion. If you prefer serial fiction, give it a try, as this book will drag into 7-10 books easily.

Rating: read one and see if you like it to keep reading

KCR: Kill Zone (sniper, war, novel)

Sgt. Jack Coughlin is the best shooter in Iraq, and now, he has turned to novel writing. The problem is this conspiracy stuff doesn't quite work, and the plot later makes even less sense. It's too contrived.

Premise: the top general in Iraq was kidnapped. He was scheduled to testify against a congressional act to privatize a lot of the military (i.e. mercenaries). A rescue mission sent in met with severe mishap... the chopper crashed. One sniper survive the crash: gunnery sergeant Kyle Swanson. He had received a secret order from the Whitehouse... Terminate the general if he cannot be rescued. Swanson, however, rescues the general, with help of a highly advanced sniper scope called Excaliber. However, there are a few secrets in that scope as well. There is also a conspiracy up to silence Swanson, and anybody related to him by the backer of mercenary bill. Can Swanson accomplish his mission, and expose the conspiracy?

Frankly, the conspiracy is so ****ing large it boggles the mind. We're talking about conspiracy that has mercenary units that is perfectly willing to shoot down military planes, all around the US AND the world, kidnap and assassinate VIPs in and out of the US, connections in various other Middle East countries, and more. It's **** crazy. Why would a company with this much power bother with a simple bill through US congress?

Sort of worth reading, but not worth buying.

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KCR: The Quantum Connection (fiction, scifi)

Best described as a geek fantasy, Quantum Connection is a semi-sequel to "Warp Speed", where humans gained faster-than-light drive through some luck tapping vacuum energy. In this book, the stakes are higher. While the characterization is one-dimensional, the plot keeps things moving at a great clip.

Premise: geek Steve Montana have violent mood swings, but he thought he got it under control and got a great government job studying some mind-numbing technology that is clearly not of this world. Then he woke up on a flying saucer about to be dissected by the alien Greys... So he somehow broke loose through his geeky knowledge, saved fellow captive Tania, learned how to control the nano-machines, remade themselves into super-humans, then raced back to the moon to join a human program already underway to combat the Grey menace...

The action is fun, and sci-fi just believable enough to keep you grounded yet fantastic enough to be a good read. Don't expect characterization here. It's action almost all the way.

KCR: Vortex by Larry Bond (novel, war)

Cover of VortexVortex is a techno-war thriller from Larry Bond in the vein of Red Storm Rising, and this one has an interesting scenario. The war is brutal, and the opponents are unusual enough to intrigue.

Premise: An assassination of South African government allowed hardliner Boers to restore apartheid. In order to distract the population and grab the diamond mines, the new government invades the neighbor Namibia. The local government picks an unlikely ally: the Cubans, and Castro sent his expeditionary forces to help defend Namibia (in exchange for lots of $$$). The Boers have to also fight internal dissent and external threat. When Boer escalate to tactical nukes, Cubans respond with nerve gas, which forces the Americans and the British forces to get involved...

The plot by now is almost formulaic... A tiny incident sets in motion great events that few can predict, like a tiny snowball rolling downhill, and soon huge swath of destruction lies in its wake. There's even a bit about some courageous reporters, good old American derring-do of special operation forces, and more.

If you like thrillers of this vein you should love this book.

Rating: worth reading, esp. if you like this genre

KCR: Torch of Freedom (scifi, novel)

Torch of Freedom is a novel set in the "Honorverse", i.e. the world of "Honor Harrington" series by David Weber. This book only peripherally involved Honor Harrington herself, but rather concentrated on the characters Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat, and Queen Berry of Torch.

To describe the novel would be rather difficult, as the Honorverse, with a dozen novels and several short story anthologies, is almost huge beyond description, but here's a tiny summary, just to set the stage:

The planet "Torch" was a slave planet held by "Mesa Corporation", which manufacturers genetic slaves. In a previous book, a slave revolt, with a little help from the outside, threw off Mesa, and with some outside help, the ex-slaves kept their freedom. The ex-slaves elected Berry, adopted daughter of Anton Zilwicki, to be their queen (yes, I know it sounds weird), because Zilwicki had a part in revolution, and Zilwicki's wife, Lady Montagne, was a Manticoran noblewoman who gave up her title to get a seat in House of Commons in order to fight for more help genetic slaves. When Queen Berry was almost assassinated, and similar strange assassinations were reported in other star systems as well, Anton Zilwicki (ex-Manticoran Navy Intelligence specialist), and Victor Cachat, his counterpart in the Haven Republic (both have a love for Torch), went off to look for clues on who may really be behind this...

The world is rich, and characters varied, but each is unique. You may have problem keeping the characters straight, but David Weber's novel reads like Tom Clancy writing science fiction, with a dash of Horatio Hornblower's derring-do.

My main problem with Weber is sometimes his characters goes into lecture mode, as the two characters have to say out loud every thought where they explain all the angles verbally, even when the two are like-minded. That's more of a nitpick though, not a fault.

If you read any of Honorverse novels, you should pick this one up.

KCR: Rambo III (movie)

Image via WikipediaRambo III is logical extension of Rambo 2... what war is there to fight besides Vietnam? In that time, the obvious answer is Afghanistan. Rather ironic isn't it that decades later, the American army is fighting in Afghanistan?

Premise: Colonel Trautman and a team was trying to sneak in some supplies for the mujahadeen (Afghani freedom fighters) when their convoy was intercepted by Soviet forces and taken prisoner. Rambo felt responsible because he had turned down Trautman earlier, so he is going in alone. On the way, Rambo befriends Afghani fighters, infiltrate the fortress held by the sadistic commander, steals and chopper, rescues a bunch of prisoners, plays hide and seek with Spetnatz commandos, rescues Trautman, fight their way out, and have a big fight at the end against the camp commander.

What's REALLY hilarious is the movie's actually filmed in Israel. However, it's not important. The idea is the action is better than ever. Rambo will of course, get wounded a bit, kill lots and lots of bad guys, get bombed almost by napalm (just like the previous movie!) do some arrow hunting, and so on and so forth. It's formulaic, but it works.

You may as well complete the collection. Available in combo packs.

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KCR: Flight of the Intruder (novel)

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts is the novel he had written, but can't find a publisher for years. When Tom Clancy managed to get his "Hunt for Red October" published, suddenly Coont's novel found an outpet.

Coonts is not a bad writer, but you can tell this is his first novel. A lot about "Jake Grafton" is almost autobiographical, describing Coonst, and characterization is a bit lacking. You don't really get a sense of what exactly drives Jake Grafton. it is as if he's just floating through life, not sure of what he wants, while doing some of the most dangerous activities on earth: being a naval aviator on a US Navy Carrier, and he's good at it.

The flying scenes are very good, but the plot is a bit of contrived high concept: what if we really bombed Hanoi... once?

It is worth reading, if you want to learn about life as naval aviator.

And skip the movie. It's a rather lousy adaptation.

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KCR: Red Phoenix by Larry Bond (novel, war)

Cover of Red PhoenixLarry Bond helped Tom Clancy plot "Red Storm Rising" and basically help make Tom Clancy a household name after "Hunt for Red October" (when that book launched, it was only read by navy fans). Red Storm Rising is about a theoretical war between NATO and Warsaw Pact when USSR decided he needs to neutralize Europe in order to invade Iran for its oil. Somehow Larry Bond's name did not end up on the cover of that book. Larry Bond actually have military experience (in the Navy). So he wrote his own books.

Red Phoenix is about a theoretical invasion of South Korea by North Korea. Russia supports North Korea, and China decided to stay neutral. US have to ship in forces and fight alongside South Koreans. The action is great as it is in the same style of Red Storm Rising, that pioneered the rapid jump among various viewpoints at the local level. You get to experience the tank platoons fighting across the hills of Korea, the guards trying to repel the enemy commando attacks, the fighter pilots trying to wrestle air superiority, and the political intrigue behind the scenes in the Kremlin and in the Whitehouse.

If you like the style, it is a very good read.

KCR: SSN by Tom Clancy

USS Cheyenne, Image via WikipediaThis is the worst ever book by Tom Clancy (though mostly written by Greenberg, based on the GAME of the same name), no kidding. Even the Amazon reviews bear this out: majority of the review is 1 out of 5. Average is barely 2 out of 5.

The Setup: USS Cheyenne, the last of the Los Angeles-class SSN, is called into action when the Chinese People's Army Navy invaded the Spratly Islands, to grab the oil there. However, they's also captured a US flagged exploration ship there, which is an act of war. When Chinese submarines and ships started engaging civilian US-flagged ships, the US navy retaliated by declaring total war on Chinese Navy, and Cheyenne is leading the way. When the Russians decided to sell a lot of their subs to the Chinese, the game of cat-and-mouse turns ever deadlier.

While there's nothing wrong with such a premise, the book basically turned Cheyenne into a supersub that can't be touched, does everything right in 15 different missions, sinking the Chinese Navy twice over (including all the fancy subs and ships sold by the Russians). And the rest of the US Navy? Didn't do much of anything, apparently. Cheyenne got all the action to herself.

WTF?!

Don't consider this a Tom Clancy book. Consider this a game tie-in that has Tom Clancy's name on it.

Rating: Skip it, unless you must have everything that has Tom Clancy name on it

And yes, there's a VERY old game upon which the book is based.

KCR: Missing in Action / Delta Force 2 double pack (movie, military)

This Chuck Norris combo is from his much earlier days. Missing in Action was dated 1984, and Delta Force 2 dated 1990. The action holds up, though the lack of special effects is quite, meh, at least by today's standards.

Missing in Action was actually the 2nd movie made, though this movie was released first. Plot is simple: Col  Braddock (Chuck Norris) was a part of team investigating possible MIAs and POWs in Vietnam after the war's over. With some intelligence that was not enough to convince any one, Braddock went to see how old friend in Thailand and mount an expedition into Vietnam, highly illegal, to break the Vietnamese lie.

This movie was released JUST before Rambo: First Blood Part II, and I must say, was worse in almost every aspect. The spy stuff is forced and stiff, and action pretty stale compared to the exciting stuff in Rambo. Still, it was first. If you need some classic Chuck Norris action, this one is okay, as this is one of the first movies that featured the cliche... hero hides underwater, bad guys looking, looking, then hero bursts out of water, machine gun blasting, mowing down the bad guys.

Worth watching... once.

Delta Force 2 is basically Delta Force vs. Columbian drug lords. When DEA agents were captured and held captive by Ramon Cota, infamous drug lord, Delta Force is called into action to deal some American justice!

You are not supposed to treat the story seriously, as these guys are not acting like Delta at all. They are acting like Chuck Norris and his disciples, all wearing black... much like his other movie: Good Guys Wear Black.

Keep in mind that these movies also reflect the times. In the 1980's, it's "winning Vietnam and make up for the 70's". In the 1990's, it's "war on drugs", so you have various movies about that (even 007 had a movie about that).

I honestly would not pay more than $5 for these two movies nowadays. Though if you are a Chuck Norris fan it may be worth it to add these to your collection.

KCR: Dangerous Ground (novel, military, submarine)

Dangerous Ground by Larry Bond is not quite his usual fare. Larry Bond is probably best known for collaboration with Tom Clancy for "Red Storm Rising" (even though Larry Bond's name was not on the front cover), and later his own novels "Vortex" (South Africa) and "Red Phoenix" (Korea), both of which are in similar vein to Red Storm Rising... large regional conflict.

Dangerous Ground takes us to a much different scenario... about one sub, one special mission. The USS Memphis, 688 (Los Angeles) class sub is about to be decommissioned, but just before she did, she was sent to do one last special mission... Infiltrate the "backyard" of Russian waters, and find out what sort of nasty nuclear waste was dumped there. The crew is tired and expected to go home when this dropped in their lap. The captain is a stern taskmaster who sees this mission as impossible. The two civilian contractors are not getting along with the crew because they're civilians. Then the sub found something that they are never supposed to find, and thus may be hunted by the Russian navy...

The book is told through the viewpoint of Jerry Mitchell, former naval aviator, now a submariner. He's new enough that he's not accepted, and in fact, some are working at cross-purposes to him. The problem is noen of this feel like much of a conflict, but rather, like a slow adventure novel where nothing really happens for much of the book, and even then it's more of a complication instead of an outright conflict. The mission isn't until 2/3rds into the book, and even then the actual "big threat" didn't appear until almost to the very end. You just don't get this "collision course" feel that good techno-thrillers give you.

What this book will give you is a very good sense what it takes to be a submariner in the US Navy, like how the boat is run, who's in what department, how the rooms are organized, how drills are done, how to deal with emergencies, how to "qual" for the dolphins (i.e. get formally qualified as a submariner by passing tests in almost every department), and some underwater unmanned vehicle control stuff.

Somehow, this book just doesn't work for me, you may have better luck, esp. if you like the subject.

Rating: Try it (but it's a bit of "meh" for me)