Don Keith

I enjoy a good submarine thriller and hadn't read anything by these authors before. I picked this title at random.

From a sub ops/strategy perspective, this is a top-notch read. The diversity and depth of technical and maneuvering aspects are excellent. You can certainly tell this was informed by a very experienced operator (Wallace). I enjoyed being taken on various submarines from three navies in this book. Some of the underwater gameplay was quite innovative, and not beyond the bounds of realism.

The special forces ops drama was quite good too, although I found the stereotypical 'hero' worship of the soldiers and officers a bit over the top. Do special forces people really spend much of their time 'grabbing coffees' and making lame dad jokes? Hope not.

I think the writing could do with a good edit too. Some of the prose was sloppy, and there was a general overuse of grandiose adjectives and adverbs.

I found the American world view in the story a bit irritating. Does EVERYONE who opposes Uncle Sam have to be a 'madman' and 'demented'? The antagonist in the story is clearly very talented and highly intelligent, but the authors label him as a crazed nut. Was he really all these things? Or is this what any anti-American is automatically labelled?

I found the characterization of American enemies to be melodramatic and one-dimensional. It's like the good 'ol USA is scared witless of anything that comes out of the Middle East, Pakistan/Afghanistan, or China. In some parts they are even described as the 'bad guys'. Really?

I might be wrong, but I don't recall a single female character in this whole book! Hmm.

In summary, a pretty good read if you're happy with a USA-centric, back-slapping, boys-own-adventure kind of story. The book doesn't pretend to be anything more than that.… (meer)