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)
Image via Wikipedia"Thunder In the Deep" is a sequel to "Deep Sound Channel" which was reviewed earlier. It describe a nightmare scenario... a resurgent Nazi Germany, working with a new Apartheid South Africa, and their super ceramic hulled subs, armed with nuclear torpedoes. No surface ship can survive in the ocean. It is up to the American supersub, and its captain, crew, and SEAL commandos, to deal with the latest German attempt to turn the tide... another secret weapon. Except this time, the Germans know the Americans are coming...
