Michael DiMercurio Books

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

I loved this book. As a conservative, female, mother of 2, banker, I enjoyed getting lost in this story. The technology is something else. You can either read it word for word and learn a lot, or you can skip some of the technology and not miss a beat. Best of all, if you e-mail DiMercurio, he will respond. This is an excellent book. I look forward to reading his others.

well, let me start by saying that i strongly agree with Mark Bruinekreeft from Gelderland, Holland...As a foreigner, he has made an interesting point, the point which almost NONE of the Americans ever make (or, perhaps, they deliberately ignore it). I had read a lot of reviews and saw the very thing which i will explain in a second going down in virtually ALL books, publications, plays, movies etc. What i mean exactly is the usual theam of the American book / movie /novel / play etc. as follows (assuming that the subject is fiction) : America is ALMOST defeated by someone else's genious plot and then (quote) ...."but the only man who can stop him...."It also could be "the only sub commander who could stop him /them", or, "but one man can save the world" (assuming it to be an American of cause:). I think that THAT approach came from the 70's-early 80's, when it was new and popular. This technique is way too old now. And thats what Mr. DiMercurio had done--in a way he came up with a slightly different storyline. Frankly, in his book called "Threat Vector" i was amazed of his use of Russian names. I am Russian myself, so it makes me sort of an "expert witness" here, hehehe:) It seems like he was consulting with people from Croatia, or, perhaps, Chehoslovakia or Poland, but definately NOT Russians. The russian commander's wife's name is Martinique...????!!!???? I dont know, to me it sounds like French, positively not Russian! Check out this one: his 2 y old son's name is Pavel (like himself), but for some reason he calls the baby Pavlevich..??? Names like that could ONLY exist in Croatian region and not Russia. In Russian it could ONLY sound like a middle name and even not that way, but rather PavlOvich, with the "o" in the middle and with the bit on the first "a". And for the life of me i could not understand the main bad guy's last name--Novskovyy...??? what in the world is that???!!! Thats DEFINATELY not Russian last name at all...and about 90% of these "Russian" last names (Russian sub crew) are surreal...By the way, that pretty much summs all my "whynings" about the book. In the end i just wanted to say that someone here said (approximate quote in part) ..."do we need to know whats goin on in the torpedo's nosecone...". Well, i love these step-by-step details! It makes the read intriguing and unusual in a way:) A friend of mine is Russian ex-sub commander (Captain 1 rank), so he told me a lot of things which happen inside of a subs, its very interesting! Besides, i dont know my next assinment yet, i as well might end up in the sub myself (well, American that is)so, i try to pay close attention to all these little details. Another thing--despite from what someone here said, i dont give a rat's rear end about an accurate and true-looking storyline (that would be greatly appreciated but...). That is why this is called fiction--people come up with whatever they wish:) Great work, Mr. DiMercurio--keep it coming !!! Remember that i own every one of your books !!! (please try to get some REAL Russian names next time, ok? or, better else-dont use Russia as a bad guy-use China, like Patrick Robinson does:) Good luck:)

I have enjoyed all of DiMercurio's submarine action adventures except this one. All you need to know is that it takes place 15 years in the future,(making it more difficult to suspend disbelief), and the bad guys win. While it may set up a great sequel, I don't believe most people who enjoy this genre want to wait till the next book for the good guys to win and the bad guys to be vanquished.

Dimercurio has penned another winner. This time the world faces a potential war in south America and the usual suspects are renting out their battle fleet to the highest bidder. In order to keep the American Navy at Bay, a submarine creeps into waters outside Norfolk and sinks cruise ship carrying most of the Navy's top brass. This is a crippling and devastating blow to the level of readiness.

There are many charcters you have grown used to in previous books and some new ones as well. The sea battles are realistic as Dimercurio moves about twenty years into the future and speculates the type of weaponry available to attack subs: Plasma warheads (a small, focused nuclear weapon, Vortex undersea missles (a super cavitating munition) and a light imaging system (much better than conventional sonar).

He also does something I like to do myself. He brings back a bad guy from the first book and sends him after Patch Pacino's Navy.

Overall a great, great read.

While I enjoyed many aspects of this book, a few left me unsettled. First, DiMercurio did a wonderful job building some of the characters, so you actually care about who dies and who lives. Secondly, the detail about the inner workings of an exploding missle is interesting, but only up to two times. Lastly, he spent waay too much time describing the miserbale deaths of Americans, while only glossing over the deaths of the murdering scumbag bad guys. When you read a book like this, you want to see the bad guy suffer. Well, DiMercurio would rather gloss over it.

Great book, but the end was dissapointing and not in sync with the rest of the story. My guess is that he was late on finishing the end.

This book has a good story line, but it has a few problems:

1. A submersible sneaks up on a high-tech submarine that can later detect submarines miles away.

2. When the Red Chinese start to attack the White Chinese, the U.S. knows everything about their actions, but the White Chinese are taken completely by surprise.

3. A submarine receives a message to get out of an area as fast as possible. They obey and are racing out of there when they are hit by a torpedo. Later, the captain (who escapes) says that they were at "5 knots". That's a big difference from the 40 knots they were really at. Not only that, but the 5 knots story is repeated twice.

4. The author overdoes his desciptions. He puts a lot of detail into not only people's looks, but also things like explosions.

Overall, this book could have been a lot better. I would still recommend it if you are just looking for a military fiction book to read. If you care about details, you probably would not like this book.

... it is a good book - lots of action, gadgets, tension and a bit of romance. BUT - let me ask you this - how the [heck] does a submersible submarine get within cooee of a supposedly state-of-the-art nuclear submarine without being detected, and not only do that, but also dock with and enter it with an armed force, totally surprising the crew?. Considering that later in the book those same submarines are able to detect enemy submarines that are miles away, it makes this premise a mite unbelievable. Some may say a small point, but unfortunately the entire plot revolves round the stealing of the Rising Sun submarines in the first place.
And also - the US command actually believes that ALL SIX Rising Sun submarines sank AT THE SAME TIME. Come on - one sinking, maybe, two possibly, but all six?
So ...yes I agree with the absurdity of a submersible sneaking up on a nuc sub and taking it over (did I mention not once, but six times??).
And ... yes, it is an exciting book etc etc. It's just a bit far fetched in some areas.
So, three stars from this reader...

As a longtime submarine novel fan, and one of DiMercurio's biggest supporters, I am happy to endorse 'Piranha: Firing Point' as easily one of the best adventure/sub novels ever written. DiMercurio rely's upon his previous history as a submariner in this yarn about a broken-in-two China ready to spark World War III. Obviously America cannot stand idly by and allow this to happen, but first we have to understand that it IS happening right under our noses.

Japanese subs are being hijacked and only Pacino's mentor realizes this, but nobody seems to want to accept his theory and ultimately rejects his advice as ramblings of a dying man. Rejected by everyone except Michael 'Patch' Pacino, decorated American Sub Hero. Once this theory has been proven, the race to avert all-out war is on.

I found the SSNX to be DiMercurio's finest creation-under-the-seas to date and very much worthy of a novel such as this. I applaud the storyline that while not necessarily torn from the headlines, certainly COULD become fact any day. If you have read DiMercurio's previous submarine tales, you are in for a treat with this latest offering. A fine sub tale told with style and a great deal of adventure.

111 ships and 20 submarines sunk, numerous aircrafts and choppers downed, plus one surviving sub and another damaged sub. Sunken vessels include three latest version of US aircraft carriers. MiG51s, F-22s, great stuffs. On top of that you have a malfunctioning sub operational software.

In the near future, China has recently had a civil war, thus, Red and White China. The Reds are losing fast, thus, they have managed to obtain stolen subs. Not to be confused with ordinary subs, they are the most advance Japanese model being tested for their seaworthiness. Lots of naval actions.

Michael diMercurio explained the armaments and submarines involved in his plot so deftly, that one might imagine they are real. Submarine and military fiction enthusiasts will be thrilled.

The only thing diMercurio is flailing behind are the Asian pronounciations of the names. He should have done a couple more hours of research on the names.

Overall, an excellent four-star fiction read.

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

I thoroughly enjoyed Terminal Run. The premise that the USS Snarc had been hijacked and war was imminent does not seem so far-fetched as some have said in their reviews. It's a NOVEL, not a documentary! I found the father and son Paccino characters completely likeable--a nice throw-in for an action thriller. If there would be one thing I'd change it would be the wasp-like, man hating disposition of the women in DiMercurio's books! We are not all like that! But really that's a small thing because it is the suspense and battle scenes that make this novel fly. I enjoyed the way he portrays the torpedoes actually "thinking" their way to the target! You can tell this was written by a submarine veteran with a splendid gift for writing. In my opinion, this book is even more enjoyable after first reading Voyage of the Devilfish.

DiMercurio writes an interesting story. I enjoyed the submarine parts of the story but the scenario settings and some of the hi-tech operation descriptions gets rather wordy and boring. Whatis hard to swallow is the females aboard submarines and in the SEALS. This is really far-fetched. Subs are deployed for lengthy periods under water. Aboard are young studs in their early 20s. Horniest at its prime. Putting a few women on a close quarters sub with these sailors is asking for trouble. Where are they berthed? Do they hot-bunk? Separate heads? And, if they get pregnant, a fact convenienly overlooked by the author, they have to be removed from the sub and sent home. This would mean surfacing, something a deployed sub just does not do. Female SEALS just aren't going to happen. Being a SEAL requires tremendous upper body strength and stamina. Women are capable of many things but the SEAL environment is one they are not suited for no matter how much the Libbers cry for equality.

I wish DiMercurio would leave women out of his otherwise rather good stories where they are on subs and in SEALS. This makes the stories less believeable. Terminal Run could well have been written without the women on board and been something that could possibly happen. Women on subs and in SEALS won't.

I read TERMINAL RUN slowly and deliberately. What a treat. Every character was so real, the story line intriguing and the details vivid (you actually "rig for dive"). I fell in love with the new characters and ached for the trusted friends of the 'Pacino' books. Each chapter left me deeply involved and there were times I found myself laughing out loud or actually crying (all this in a sub book). DeMercurio actually shares 'the secret' ... the true lovers in the armed forces are Submariners not 'Fly Boys'. The sex is intense and leaves you aching for more.

I enjoy reading and watching the submarine genre books and movies. Many people write and produce them but only a few do it right. DiMercurio is one of the Masters. The details of each dive, the attention to an actual cruise is amazing. I have never (outside of Disneyland) cruised in a sub however I feel as if I've been around the world underwater with Pacino and his crews. Thank you DiMercurio and keep on writing!

I have read all of this author's work to date, this is by far the worst! I suppose if you'd never been aboard a submarine, and/or were a Women's Rights Advocate, or a techno geek you might like it, but...

Within a few pages we are introduced to "power women", SEALS, Officers aboard submarines, etc., even carrier based air squadron commanders. The hero here, son of the previous hero, is Patch Jr., a midshipman at Annapolis. Within a few minutes of reporting aboard a submarine at New London, he is given the "con" (as in command of the ship) to get her underway by pulling a daredevil driving stunt...this would never, ever happen. Within a few days of being at sea, he is sleeping with the engineering officer (a great argument against women on submarines)...and the techno stuff gets so confusing eventually you simply want to give up trying to follow any of the concurrent plots.

This one is a waste of time, effort and brain cells!

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

Attack of the Seawolf is possibly the best of Michael DiMercurio's series of submarine novels. The USS Tampa is caught on a special spying mission in Chinese waters with NSA spooks on board and the crew is taken prisoner by the communists. The Seawolf, under the command of series character Captain Pacino, with a team of Navy SEALs on board, is sent to free the crew. My only complaint is that the author does not really describe the ordeal the captured Tampa crew goes through, aside from one major scene. This is a fast paced and action packed book with some very well written battle scenes. Far superior to Patrick Robinson's USS Seawolf, which follows an almost exact storyline.

I enjoyed this book considerably when I first read it. It was my beginning in submarine novels, producing a desire to further explore the reaches of submarine novelism, in particular the works of Michael DiMercurio.
I liked the allusions to the old Devilfish, the expression of Michael Pacino's feelings as the son of the Devilfish returns to a profession long buried within the radioactive remains of his former command. I also enjoyed the technical diagrams that are displayed at the beginning of the book, helping the reader to get somewhat of an inside glimpse of the vessels as Captain Pacino and his fellow submariners take to the dark depths. The book has something for the technical reader, even describing the weapons' functionality and processes of action. Mr. DiMercurio also adds something of a personality to the weapons themselves, providing a torpedo-camera/ bird's eye view from launch to impact. Although the descriptions can become a bit combersome, perhaps even wearying to some, they do add a bit more flavor to the story, making it far more in-depth than simply rattling off one weapon launch after another. The losses are also real, emphasising the fact that the good guy does not always get away unscathed, that the situations are often frought with danger and serious consequences, and the fact that a submarine commander is often faced with decisions that may send men to terrible deaths for the sake of their country. The scenery is very vivid in this book, from launch to detonation, beginning to end, as the commander of SSN-21 Seawolf attempts to keep his friend's own boat from becoming a grave itself.
If you are something of a subhunter as I, one who enjoys immensely the action and danger that the mysterious submarine entails, then raise your scope to this thriller. If your interest is peaked, you may find yourself hungering to go to sea with Captain Pacino again. And by the end of it, you may feel that, instead of having read a book, you have stepped off of the deck of a submarine.

UNDOWNPUTABLE> Rivals Clancy and the best from Larry Bond. Don't let this one pass you by. UNDOWNPUTABLE!

While in the search for a new sub-thriller I picked up this book. I did not put it down! The charcters are believable, the story is feasable. Action packed and intense. This book takes you on a wild ride aboard a Seawolf Class sub. A page turner that leads up to a nail-biting end.

After reading this book I purchased the following novel Phoenix Sub Zero. If it lives up to the excellent reviews I am in for a wild ride!

Read only the rather crude Taiwanese Chinese translation (way too much literal translation and a very difficult read) of this, but since I'm not nitpicking small differences it should be more than adequate.

The story begins with an US sub commanded by Pacino's (protagonist) dad being their usual nosy American selves. Unfortunately for them, they run into Novskoyy's then brand-new Victor-III. Novskoyy, deciding to sink the Americans (an at least understandable thought considering how annoying Americans subs can be!) motivates his crew by coming up with a tale about the Americans ramming and sinking a Soviet sub known to be lost, kills the American (where is the political officer for days like this), and (we learn later) files a report to Northern Fleet claiming the American shot first. The Americans SOSUS net is apparently so good it detects the truth of the attack despite the whole thing happening in the very acoustically noisy Ice zone.

Anyway, 30 years later, the Russians outdid themselves and produced the 60000 ton Kaliningrad SSGN. It really sucks to be a Russian weapon in an American technothriller. You are either born inferior in all respects (if you are a line weapon), or you are a one off superweapon that nevertheless gets killed by "American ingenuity". Pacino is sent to track it. He was reluctant at first, but his admiral motivates him by telling him the truth about his dad.

Around that time, Novskoyy deploys his fleet to attack the United States, choosing to command in his Kaliningrad. I understand the idea of getting away from shore and all considering what he's plotting, but any person that tries to exercise command from a sub is setting himself up for defeat.

Anyway, Pacino receives a message along the way regarding suspicious Russian submarine movement. Pacino decides he must reconnoiter on his own the Russian fleet's intentions, and he decides to do so by attacking. He decides that using torps is a definite violation, so he chooses to ram the Russian submarine. The theory is that if the Russian shoots back after being rammed, it is hostile! If it chokes down the humiliation, it is friendly.

This absurdity and hypocrisy is the defining moment of the book. It does not matter whether DiMercurio wrote this as a realistic tactic - what matters is that a former American naval officer attributed this tactic (an act-of-war) not to his Enemy, but to his own side, and his Protagonist at that. Remember that Pacino has no hard proof that the commander of the Russian submarine killed his dad (he never actually listened to the SOSUS tape or anything like that).

One can only wonder whether Novskoyy was telling the truth (in his world) about an American submarine ramming and sinking a Soviet. Considering Pacino's actions, he may not have made that up.

I shudder to think what this implies about American submariner mentality. We all knew American submariners can get aggressive (Blind Man's Bluff, Hostile Waters ... etc), but this is truly over the top! One hopes that DiMercurio does not represent the views of most American submariners, and if it does, we should be thankful to RUSSIAN restraint that the Cold War never turned Hot...

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

I first learned about DiMercurio after reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Submarines which is a very good treatise of the subject. The author surely knows a lot about nuclear submarines and has a fine grasp of technical details. The story is built upon a rather unrealistic scenario where Soviet Admiral Alexei Novskoyy plans to blakmail both superpowers to disarm from their nuclear ballistic missiles, but in order to achieve this he sends 80 Soviet submarines near the US East Coast, while himself remains onboard the last marvel of nuclear submersible colossus, the "Kaliningrad" of 60.000 tons, whisch sails under the protection of the polar ice cap. The problem is that Novskoyy has destroyed an American submarine some years ago, and so the son of the fallen US captain, Commander Michael Pacino who is now CO of the nuclear attack submarine "Devilfish" is on the way to intercept "Kaliningrad" and take her SPL (Sound Pressure Level) map. The second main defect of the book is that Pacino finds "Kaliningrad" rather easily and bumps her in order to provoke Novskoyy to fire first. The battle which ensues is an interesting one, mainly because the Soviets use a 100 cm nuclear tipped torpedo of 60 knots speed. The method of avoiding this super-weapon and return fire is excellently described as well as the cataclysmic results of an underwater nuclear explosion (better than Patrick Robinson did in his fine book "Nimitz Class"). The strong point of the author is his knowledge of nuclear reactor workings and not tactics, and he goes in multi-page details analyzing the procedures of reactor re-activation and damage control. Probably DiMercurio likes to keep the rare tactical tips as a reserve for use in future novels. The finale is surprisingly realistic and the book wins many points because of this, but the particular climax dereved a better seek-and-hide game before the torpedo firing. I have already purchased two more books of DiMercurio and I'm eager to find out his next stories.

For once, thank you very much to the Amazon.com recommendations for if it weren't for that I might never have heard of this incredible author and his work. "Voyage of the Devilfish," as stated above, is a high speed, low drag submarine thriller that will have you voraciously turning the pages, hungry for more! This being his first novel, I found his writing to be quite thorough but sticking to the plot without going into too much detail, well paced and quite fluid. Being a former submariner himself, you could discern the authenticity of his knowledge of that world that so few "actually" know about.

Of all of the writers in this particular genre of fiction, I found Michael DiMercurio's style to be among the best and am quite happy to have discovered his novels. So few authors in this genre can actually say that "they've been there and done that" which, paired with his superb writing style makes for an excellent read! It is interesting to see that the author decided to use the Sturgeon class American submarine but for the purposes of the novel he renamed it the Piranha class. There's that and his obvious disdain for the earliest Los Angeles class submarines which weren't nearly as capable of the many roles it is today or of those of the Sturgeon class submarine.

The premise:

Prologue -

Several years prior to the main events of this outstanding novel, the USS Stingray, captained by Commander "Patch" Pacino is under the polar icecap trailing a brand new Soviet submarine, NATO codenamed the Akula class. This Soviet Akula class submarine, the Leningrad is captained by Captain 1st Rank Alexi Novskoyy. Captain Novskoyy has decided that he is going to avenge the loss of the Kiev which collided with an American submarine four months earlier and it went to the bottom with all hands lost and he orders a warshot torpedo on the USS Stingray. The Stingray and its commanding officer, "Patch" Pacino is sunk! Back at the Naval Academy, Pacino's son Michael is attending his first year as a plebe and has no idea what has happened to his father.

Over two decades later -

Commander Michael Pacino is now in command of the USS Devilfish, still dealing with the demons from the mysterious loss of his father and his ship and struggling to maintain his marriage while at the same time commanding a nuclear attack submarine. At the same time, Captain Novskoyy is now Admiral Novskoyy, Supreme Commander, Russian Republic Northern Fleet. He's been working for several years on the design and construction of a super submarine known as the Kaliningrad and it is prepared to take its maiden voyage. A treaty between the Russians and the United States in which all submarine launched nuclear weapons are to be destroyed has been carried out. He doesn't believe the Americans are going to do this so he puts into place a plan that he believes will force them to do so...

Before you know it, the Kaliningrad is heading for the polar icecap, the USS Devilfish is headed for the Kaliningrad while at the same time, some eighty different Russian submarines are headed for the eastern coast of the United States, rushing to achieve cruise missile launching points.

What follows from there is one of the most captivating, intriguing and compelling underwater and political thrillers that I've ever read! I highly recommend this novel to any and all fans of this genre! {ssintrepid}

This book does so many things right, itis hard to know where to begin.

The story centers on an agreement between America and Russia to dismantle Russia's remaining land attack cruise missiles which can be launched from AKULA II class fast attack subs. But not everyone is onboard, including one Admiral Alexi Novskoyy who plots to preemptively strike. He sets sail aboard the Kaliningrad (best described as an underwater battleship), and orders 80 AKULA II subs to take up station along the eastern seaboard.

Commander Mike Pacino stand between the Kaliningrad and nuclear war. In a desperate race to battle beneath the arctic icecap where Pacino's sub is out gunned and out matched. But there is a personal side to this as well. Novskoyy is the man who killed Pacinoo's father 20 years earlier, and the tenseion regarding Pacino's true motives continues through out the book.

This is a great great read.

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

Besides the Japanese sub commander? Boy, he really had it in for us. Reminds me of the hatred of some fundamentalist Muslims toward the U.S.

But hey, how about those computer-controlled subs of the Japanese? Pretty good idea? There were a lot of good ideas here, and much to learn for novices like me. The story line does jump around a lot, making it a little hard to keep up with who's who in the sub world, but I've read much worse. For the most part, this author keeps things together, at least by segregating the crews by their respective subs.

One thing that bothered me, and also scared me, was how much further advanced the Japanese subs were than ours. And, that considered, why would Pacino literally sacrifice most of his sub force, and some carriers, knowing that the Japanese could deflect our torpedoes and even take a few hits without going down? That part seemed a little far-fetched.

I really liked the idea of a female president. It seems like a gimmick now but it's coming, and the sooner the better. Diximus.

"Barracuda" is a great story idea horribly told. USS Barracuda is one of two surviving Seawolf class subs - Seawolf itself was destroyed in DiMercurio's "Phoenix Sub Zero" - and both `Cuda & Piranha (the other Seawolf) are deployed against the Japanese in an emergency blockade. A newly aggressive Japan has just attacked the suddenly independent nation of Manchuria - specifically a bunker housing ex-Soviet nucs mistakenly left behind when the Soviets left - and a vigilante America demands that Japan completely demilitarize itself.

Though Admiral Pacino (DiMercurio's perennial hero) suggests direct action - namely destroying Japan's advanced Destiny class nuclear subs before they leave port, his craven superiors over-rule him. Instead, he's to lead a blockade which will give the Japanese time to deploy their killer subs. The Destiny subs are quieter than anything in the sea, carry gear making them immune to enemy torpedoes, and fire Nagasaki torpedoes which never miss and cannot be outrun. In little time, the Destiny subs wipe the seas clean of American subs and surface ships - leaving Pacino to hit back with his two Seawolf ships. Even with his Seawolves, Pacino is still forced to rely on the Vortex missile, an underwater rocket that's equally deadly to its target and launcher (the force of launch ruptures the launch tube, and floods the front of the sub.) With no way to launch a Vortex from a torpedo tube, but desperate for any weapon against the Destiny ships, Pacino hits on a (barely) workable solution: external mounts for the torpedoes. Unable to command a ship, Pacino tags a maverick sub commander named Bruce Phillips with the unenviable task of taking `Cuda to war.

So why does this fish story sink? "Barracuda", a slim book, spends its time poorly, giving too little attention to the subs that DiMercurio handles so well. DiMercurio takes about half the book to get to the parts where subs actually fight. Until then, we have Japanese politicians and Generals, Manchurian strongmen, Japanese spies - all agonizing over whether newly independent Manchuria has nukes, and what Japan will do should they learn of that fact. The problem is, we know that Manchuria has nukes, and that the Japanese are going to taken `em out, so the extended lead-in is completely superfluous. We then get American politicians and generals arguing over whether there's going to be an armed response, but we know that that's a done deal as well. DiMercurio then takes forever getting Pacino to sea - it's an interesting sequence, but when he then completely glances over the utter devastation wrought by the Japanese on the Americans, you've got to ask yourself, was this trip worthwhile? (We learn after the fact that large numbers of American ships have been sunk - a bit of horrible news that generates barely a ripple here.) The submarine scenes are annoyingly brief - attacking ships detect their targets and shoot them; targeted subs hear torpedoes in the water, and are sunk. DiMercurio plumps up the scenes with submarine dialog ("open outer doors, shoot on generated bearings") but never fleshes out the story. Even the travails of sailors trying to save their battle-damaged ships (which made "Phoenix" a better than average story) are missing. It's like DiMercurio wrote a submarine technothriller with as little about submarines as possible. DiMercurio crafts a great team - Bruce Phillips as the maverick Skipper, and Hornick, a button-down genius akin to Mr. Scott of "Trek", but uses them sparingly. These two guys should have had their own book.

"Barracuda" also suffers from some plot gaps: DiMercurio hypes Japanese subs with completely computerized crews - but they prove utterly incapable of handling American subs, or much of anything besides large surface ships. (Though taking a toll, once they've committed their attacks, the robot subs remain helpless on the surface where they're captured by Americans.) The premise relies on the Japanese taking action against Manchuria that seems unnecessary - there being no animosity between Japan and Manchuria prior to the attack, why should Japan take the rap? (Japan could also have saved itself a lot of trouble had they equipped their spy with a small nuclear bomb - nobody would have known that Japan was behind the attack or, once Manchuria fessed up to its nukes, that there had even been an attack.) Japan's preemptive action against WMD's seems sadly more plausible in 2003 than in 1996 when "Barracuda" was written (I had to check the date). The world response, largely vilifying Japan and demanding total demilitarization, also seems out of proportion given an attack confined to an illegal nuclear bunker. While bad, I doubt that the real world would require reenacting "Surrender on the Missouri" as punishment. The Manchurians themselves and most of the Japanese and American figures simply vanish from the story. It's impossible to read this and not think "hack job". The best thing I can think of is that this is unusually poor for DiMercurio, and shouldn't reflect on his better books.

My only complaint about this book was that I lost sleep because I couldn't put it down! DiMercurio almost literally lifts you off the pages and drops you on the Conn. He gets very in depth technically, without losing the reader. If you're like me and you enjoy authors like Tom Clancy and Larry Bond... Pick up this book!

The absolute unchallenged King of the underwater submarine adventure has DONE IT AGAIN! I almost want to join the Navy after reading his exciting stories (...ALMOST...). Trying to avert WWIII...a daunting task, but thank heavens our Sub force is up to the task. I echo another reviewers praise of Mr. DiMercurio's talent for getting TO the point without unnecessary literary mumbo-jumbo that serves no purpose other than to make the book bigger and ultimately less entertaining (a trap that Clancy has been falling into since 'The Sum of All Fears'). Always a few years ahead, DiMercurio's stories give us descriptions of weapons that just MIGHT be invented and implemented on subs in the near future (if they actually haven't already). I also appreciate the insight into the minds of those manning these incredible weapons of war, very interesting to say the least.

On a side note, recently I visited Portland, Oregon and floating on the Willammette River at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry is the decommissioned sub, USS Bluefish (remember the sub that came shooting out of the water in 'The Hunt For Red October' the movie? Well THAT is the same sub). I took a tour on this, the smallest American sub on active duty for many many years, and it was absolutely thrilling and amazing to walk the decks of a ship that had actually trailed Russian subs during the Cold War. It reminded me very much of reading Mr. DiMercurio's novels (ALL of which are awesome). If you ever get the chance to tour a sub, I suggest you do NOT pass it up--it was an incredible adventure to see first hand a little of what life was like on board one of these ships. 'Barracuda Final Bearing' is easily one of the best sub stories available in print today. A MUST read for any submariner or anyone interested IN subs.

This book has the requisite basic stuff - a bit of sub history, sub basics, with a heavy bias towards US stuff. I think I saw the Surcouf (French sub) being mentioned once, but. If you see mentions of Russian subs, you get much the same jibe as Tom Clancy - Russian subs are noisy, deaf and leaky, which is not particularly informative.

Except for the basics, the material is heavily biased towards the reactor. The 2nd most detailed section is about TMA. Navigation, tactics ... etc get kind of snuffed.

Reading it with the heavy reactor emphasis, I couldn't help but remember the less pleasant stereotypes of American submariners, as in "Rickoverized".

I gave this book to my husband who worked on nuclear submarines. He said the book was ok for someone that knew nothing about nuclear submarines, otherwise for someone like him it had nothing of real interest. I cannot understand why the price of this book was so high, over $80, it was nothing special.

I was searching for a book that would explain the basics of just what a submarine is and how it works. This book is not it. I was extremely disappointed that there were next to none pictures or diagrams of the workings of a sumarines innards. I wanted to learn how a submarine is designed, the mechanics of it. This offered little tidbits, and some interesting first person experiences, but nothing that would have made me purchase this book had I the chance to have a look at it in a store before purchasing it.
I often felt that it skirted the real subject because of security issues as it spends most of its explinations on nuclear submarines. But what I really wanted to know was nowhere to be found within the pages of this book.
After one read through I am donating to my College Library. Maybe somebody else will find solace in it.

As a career surface Sailor, I know quite a bit about what goes on above the water. When I want to write about what happens below the water, this is my first resource. Fun, fascinating, and extremely well written.

Jeff Edwards
Author of "Torpedo"

For anyone who fondly remembers first seeing classic sub movies like Run Silent, Run Deep, Torpedo Alley, The Enemy Below, Das Boot, and the Hunt for Red October, and who's always wanted to understand in more detail how a real submarine operates, this is the book for you. It covers in fascinating detail many aspects of nuclear subs and pre-nuclear age subs.

The author compares WWII era subs to modern subs, explaining how WWII subs were really surface boats in tems of hull and prow design that could submerge, while modern nuclear subs are really true underwater boats. WWII era subs were faster on the surface and usually travelled that way, only diving to attack or avoid detection. Nuclear subs were the first boats designed from the ground up for underwater running and they are faster underwater as a result than on the surface.

The author gives detailed accounts of many of the main systems and operational details of subs, including design and construction of the hull to withstand the pressures of dives, seawater and freshwater safety and shutdown systems, especially for the nuclear reactors, navigation and steerage, electrical and hydraulic systems, and especially those related to compensating for leaks at depth and "scramming" or emergency shutdown of the reactor, a lot of discussion about the nuclear reactor and related systems itself, and even on living quarters, the galley, food, and even creature comforts.

For example, there is an interesting account of Admiral Rickover's development of the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus. Although state of the art technologically in many ways and the first nuclear ship ever, and the one that ushered in the nuclear navy, the boat was in many ways a product of the 50s in having an old-fashioned brass tube internal commmunication system, vending machines, a nickle-operated jukebox, and a movie room. It also had good air-conditioning.

The author worked for the legendary, brilliant and eccentric Rickover and tells many stories about him, and about the development of the Nautilus, as well as the Albacore, the research sub that contained no armament but which tested and pioneered dozens of important concepts and innovations that were implemented on later boats, such as the Skipjack, the first sub designed from the ground up to be faster underwater than on the surface. Rickover's nuclear program became the most elite area of the Navy and recruits often found that Rickover was assigning them 20-40 hours of extra study and homework outside of normal duties to bring them up to speed on the systems and technology if he didn't think they were already good enough.

The author even discussed Rickover's high-pressure interviews and idiosyncracies about accepting or rejecting candidates, which are interesting and entertaining by themselves, although they probably weren't to the poor, beleaguered candidates, who Rickover would glower at, ask them difficult engineering questions in rapid-fire style, rail at them if they couldn't measure up, lock them up in a cubicle all by themselves to try to rattle them if they didn't answer fast enough and so they could resonsider their answers, then tell them to get the hell out of his office. The author recounts his harrowing experience of being interviewed by Rickover. He was accepted although Rickover decided he didn't know enough about Shakespeare (the questions weren't limited to science and engineering) and to write him a book report every month on a play.

Another interesting section is the one on the Thresher incident. There has never been an official report released on the accident but the author discussed the one that he heard that was passed on by word of mouth. It appears to have been the result of a pressure leak that damaged the reactor when the sub went down to test depth and could not withstand the pressure. There are several other accounts of the disasters that befell Russian nuclear submarines, such as the Komsomolets and others, that often sank as a result of electrical and other fires (electrical fires being more common on Russian than U.S. boats, where they were almost unheard of).

One thing I liked about the book is the author discusses how much knowledge it really takes to operate a nuclear submarine, and what the many hazards and dangers are. For example, the engineering officer of the watch must know exactly which section of the hydraulic piping to shut down during a serious pressure leak or the sub could be lost right then if he makes a wrong decision. Some of the nuclear reactor disasters and incidents that illustrate the problems and dangers of operating a nuclear reactor are discussed also, such as the Chernobyl incident.

Overall, a very fun, interesting, and detailed book on many aspects of submarine operations, history, technology, including many details on the dangers and hazards of submarine operations from the pre-nuclear to the nuclear era. You'll also learn a lot of submarine style slang, and not all of it related to the technology of submarines. (For example, "sliders" are the hamburgers from the galley that slide down your throat as a result of the grease they're cooked in :-)).

First, what's this thriller - copyrighted in 1994 - about?

Islam has raised a huge army with all sorts of conventional and advanced weapon and has set out to conquer everything and establish a world-wide Caliphate, under the leadership of a fanatical central ruler. They are aiming an especially nasty blow at 'Merica by sending a super-advanced nuclear sub to deliver a super-nasty type of radiation knockout blow to Washington. The valiant submariners of the US get after them under the seas...well, I think you know how it turns out, but there's many a tough loss along the way.

Good and bad (or, as Bob Heinlein used to say, "Orchids and Onions"):

The good:
DiMercurio is a skilful writer and knows a LOT about submarines (though a naval officer reviewer found some glitches). The book is a guaranteed page-turner. The undersea battles will keep you on the edge of your seat. Also - given that he wrote this in 1993 or 1994 - his perception of lots more trouble coming with the world of Islam was accurate. I doubt that at that time he had identified Osama as the prime threat - more likely the sheik who did the first WTC bombing. But he saw the extended rise of fanaticism and a mastermind.

The bad (missed targets):
Contrast this with today's world-view, such as Michael Scheuer's "Marching Toward Hell" which I'm currently reading. Scheuer points out that what the fanatics have been able to demonstrate is that modern high-tech, high-powered weaponry is absolutely not necessary to tie a "superpower" in knots. The insurgents in Iraq use AK47s, IEDs and RPGs and seem to have no need of anything bigger. Osama bin Laden is rumored to favor sending critical messages by donkey runner - so much for satellite intercepts.

DiMercurio also falls into the George Bush fallacy that for some inexplicable reason, the Arabs have taken such a dislike to Western society that they want to exterminate our freedoms and take us over, converting the US to Sharia law. As Scheuer clearly explains, the "freedom " thing is irrelevant: worse, it is a denial of the real reasons for Islamic hostility: addressing them might defuse a lot of the current hatred. The actual reasons, as Osama and others have clearly explained, are to do with stationing foreign troops on Islamic soil, supporting tyrannical regimes like Saudi Arabia, and being 100% for Israel in all conflicts.

So - if you want a thriller that will respond to a certain "suspension of disbelief" this could fill the bill...but caveat emptor.

While it may not have been a super accurate flood of minutia, it is a credit to his writing style. Its a tense book that had just enough action to keep me on the edge of my seat. It was the first submarine book I read while i was deployed in iraq. Due to Dimercurio's skill it got me started on a very long string of Sumbarine books that I have yet to stop reading.
Great place to start.

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

DiMercurio has unequalled knowledge of submarines and undersea warfare and the encounters between the islamic super-sublarine "Hegira" and its US opponents are very enthralling. Unfortunately the good story loses much of its interest when the reader is introduced to "Nagasaki" torpedoes making 70 knots of speed with a range of 140 miles. These fictional weapons unravel the whole submarine thriller and make it look Hollywood-like.

"Phoenix" is sort of like a submarine version of a story that combines "Sink the Bismark" and the story behind the 9-11 attacks. Though it brings back Captain Pacino, commander of the cutting edge nuclear sub "Seawolf" amd hero of other Michael DiMercurio novels, the plot sets the book apart from his other books, and also keeps Pacino on the sidelines for most of the story.

The Plot: The Islamic world has united and formed a massive powerful union (UIF) that wars against the west. The war itself is already old news when "Phoenix" starts. The UIF, led by the enigmatic General Sihoud and slowly realizing that the tide has turned against them, crafts a deadly weapon - a "dirty" radiological bomb that can coat a major american city with a sticky film of plutonium. Unfortunately (for them) the UIF have only figured out how to mount these bombs on short-range cruise missiles, and the UIF has no territory or assets anywhere near mainland America. When a US strike at Sihoud's command narrowly fails to kill Sihoud himself, the general escapes and rendezvous at sea with the "Hegira", a high-tech UIF submarine supplied (like most of the UIF's cutting edge weaponry) by Japan, and already armed with the deadly missiles. Knowing the situation desperate, Sihoud presses the sub to break out of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic, where they will launch atleast one of their missiles on Washington. Complicating things is the experience and numerical superiority of the Americans, the fact that none of Hegira's torpedo tubes are designed to be re-loaded at sea (like the VLS tubes on latter models of the Los Angeles Class SSN), and that Hegira's hi-tech makes the sub's capabilities almost as mysterious to its crew as it does its enemies. On the other side, 3 of the USN's nuclear subs stand between Hegira and the US - Seawolf, Augusta and Phoenix. Seawolf begins the book in dry-dock, where the Navy had been working feverishly to install tubes for the "Vortex", a revolutionary type of torpedo. When a test for the new torp (a rocket-propelled wonder obviously influenced by the real-life Soviet "Shkval") goes disastrously wrong (both the test target and shooter are destroyed), the USN works feverishly to remove the tubes. The hunt for the Hegira puts a crimp on those plans as well, and Pacino is forced to go to sea with the hated Vortex. Augusta is a latter model Los Angeles Class SSN, almost a match for Seawolf, and commanded by a fearless master of submarine warfare. Between the two subs is Phoenix, an aging "Flight I" Los Angeles Class boat, commanded by the very competent if less-than-stellar commander Kane.

This was a very good submarine thriller (considering "Shark Mutiny" was my last one) which, like the vortex missile packs a punch and a misfire in the same shot. What goes wrong is the basic premise - a pitched war with the UIF (and even the UIF idea) seem pretty far-fetched. Dimercurio goes to a lot of trouble creating Sihoud and getting him to Hegira - but since he doesn't do anything once he's on board (not being experienced or even informed on the dynamics of sub-war), there's no real reason for him to be there at all. The idea that the US will give in after it's been hit by one of the UIF's dirty bombs (in an attack they know can't really be repeated) is also a big stretch. Isn't there an at least as strong possibility that we'd just hit back harder? Other stretches are the Vortex torpedoes - it's clear that they're hazardous from day-one (the Navy test fires them from unmanned drone subs) - but the Navy still guts their top attack sub just to install the unproven weapon aboard. (That Pacinio works up a solution to the problem that otherwise eludes its designers doesn't make that twist any more acceptable) The UIF are largely generic bad guys and (outside of the war situation) they're not really that bad (Dimercurio gives the Islamic crewmen a conscience that's reviled by the suffering they're about to unleash). The book is pretty short on surprises (including an ocean map that charts the course of all subs in the book). The biggest flaw of the book is that it's not really about anybody, so with all of the action going on, we never really know who we're supposed to pay attention to or care about. Though Pacino is supposed to be the hero, the guy Dimercurio really should have headlined was Kane. With his less than stellar credentials and his creaky old submarine, Kane's life expectancy is excitingly low, and the story does place a lot of emphasis on him, without ever showing it cares about what's going through his mind. Dimercurio introduces his characters with a fairly detailed description (unlike Dale Brown, he manages to keep this from interrupting the action) that never otherwise affects how they act or interrlate throughout the rest of the book (Kane's insecurity allows his XO to become a rival figure on the boat, an intriguing idea that disappears once they confront Hegira).

On the plus side, "Phoenix" survives its implausible premise, and the action guarantees that you won't put it down half-finished. The technology of military subs is too complex to be satisfyingly synthesized for landlubbers like us, so Dimercurio does a bang-up job making it as clear as he does and further by conveying the tension each crew faces despite the techno-speak. The compact plot keeps your attentions even if it makes clear why we won't have a sub-thriller as enjoyable as "Red October" or "Sink the Potemkin".

EMERGENCY DEEP is the start of a new series (at least that's what I understand) as such it is a very interesting start.

Let's start out with the positives:

1) Michael Dimercurio is the best submarine writer (apologies to my friend Joe Buff) today.
2) He draws on his experience at the Naval Academy and his service in the submarine force.
3) I liked how he established his characters Dillinger and Vornado. Having known a few other guys to come out of Anapolis, I wonder how much of the Whitehead story is made up. Again the level of detail could only come from some familiar with life as a midshipman.

The only real weakness in this book is the CIA. They just aren't that bright or ruthless. We might like to think differently, but current events suggests otherwise.

I liked what he did with the Alfa at the end of the book, but the Agency subterfuge was pretty obvious.

Of course, I read Michael Dimercurio books for the underwater action and these are second to none.

As this was the last book of my summer vacation, I was greatly entertained.

Dimercurio badmouths Clancy for not being a real sub guy. At least Clancy can tell a story. Emergency Deep does a crash dive into boredom and never recovers.

This book kept my attention from beginning to the end. The plot twist in the middle was unexpected and made a good book even better. I loved it-if you're into military suspense novels, specifically those dealing with the Navy, buy this book!

I got given this piece of garbage by a buddy who now seriously owes me a beer to make up for it. I read it on a flight to LA and it put me to sleep. Hack crap. Forget it.

When reading other peoples reviews people have either said this book is great or terrible so i thought i should say what i thought of the book. First the good, this book offers two excellent sub battles that are just as good as anything others have offered, and the characters are farely well done don't expect ground breaking characters but they aren't just names and faces either. Now onto the bad, first of the plot has a major whole in it the size of an elephant but only people really into realism will spot it, the writer really goes deep into the inner workings of machines that while i was able to keep up with others might get lost in, so there it is what i feal is the best and worst of this book.

I like war and action books. I am a former submariner, so I was looking forward to reading my first book from this author.

I only read the first 1/3 of it and put it away. I am not a prude, but the graphic (I mean REALLY graphic, unecesary sex scenes, and unnecesarily sick torture scenes were so blatantly offensive that I will probably never read another book by this author again! It should be restricted to a shelf in an Adult Bookstore.

Aside from that, the book is cluttered with too much procedural detail. It might have gotten better, but I couldn't wade through the garbage long enough to see.

I'm no expert, but I think Mr. DiMercurio should run, not walk to the nearest therapist before he attempts to write again.

I do not know the author or his personal life but I have read all his books up to this point. This was by far the worst and I move on to Emergency Deep with trepidation.

I was first put off by the overly extensive descriptive narrative. It even surpassed Herman Melville! Everyone was described in excruciating detail, even those that were soon dispatched. The love(?) scene between a French officer and his wife went on for many pages (too long) and was virtually pornographic in its detail. This was unnecessary and really did not add to the story line. The graphic and sickening detail, that also went on for pages and was brought up again, on the torture and mutilation of terrorist victims made me wonder about the author's own level of anger. It was simply gruesome. More than once the disintegration of body parts was described in every detail using the device of time dilation to extend the narrative. In previous books this happened but not nearly to this morbid extent.

While I recommend all prior DiMercurio novels, I cannot do so for this one.

I was actually quite intrigued by this novel. I had never really read anything in the genre with the things in it that everyone else seems to dislike. I normally stay away from the "terrorists steal the ship" dynamic because they seem so implausible. This version however, seemed the only logical way that it could actually happen. I plan to read more by this author.

Not really much to say, I have read all his other books, but by far his worst. I'm not really into ghosts in subs, the rest of the plot was not too bad. But I have to agree with a previous reviewer, a billion dollar sub sent out on an exercise in a hurricane and his dead wife telling him what to do?

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Let's first start with - I am a fan of Michael DiMercurio and I have read all of his books!

However, when I purchased "Vertical Dive" in Dec 2005, it has taken me 5-months to push through and read the book.

Usually, I finish Mr. DiMercurio's books in 2 or 3 days. Regretfully, with "Vertical Dive," I kept putting it down every few pages.

This book was a miss and I know Mr. DiMercurio has an amazing talent and gift for writing. I do not know if the downturn in the book was due to problems in his personal life, but I am positive his next book will hopefully be back on track.

While I usually find the technical jargon interesting, well defined and compelling to read, "Vertical Dive" seem to just be stuffed with an over abundance of Navy manual material. Enough already. Did the story really need almost six pages of manual dialog on the French sub pulling out of the dock? Or, could the book have gotten by with simply, the French sub just pulled out of port and not go into such depth of details to cause the reader to zone-out?

"Vertical Dive" seems to be an amazing collection of abstracts from Navy manuals and the storyline was lost with all the filler information. I want to read a story, not a manual. In the past, Mr. DiMercurio did not allow the technical information to be so overwhelming as to overpower the storyline.