Rating: 
Summary: Another great Submarine Story
Review: Amazing how P. Robinson is able to paint the image of play by play action. After USS Seawolf my favorite P. Robinson book.
Rating: 
Summary: Unrealistic!
Review: I was mildly entertained reading the book, but the number one problem I have with the story is that mutiny on one sub is the biggest news story, never mind the fact that China invaded Taiwan. If that actually happened, mutiny on a sub would be about number 99 on the list.Next, I think, I hope that the our American military is not stupid enough to leave Taiwan unprotected, and if we did, we certainly would not allow China to get away with the attack, just blowing up one measley Naval base as punishment. And why, after China attacks Taiwan, couldn't we have just taken out the base using air strikes rather than sneaking in there with SEALS and trying to keep it a secret? By the time I finished the book, I was very disappointed. This was the first and last book I will read by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy this book!
Review: I only read a few books per year and, for whatever reason, decided to make this the first of the year. What a waste of time! After reading roughly 350 pages of the 400+ page book I put it down. I had had enough! I kept asking myself, "How did the author/character come to that conclusion?", "Why in the world would the character do that?", "China attacks Taiwan to get their art back?", "WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING??" Surely Richardson would explain in a wonderful denoument (-sp), but nooooo. Perhaps I gave up too soon, but I doubt it. I simply think this novel is just that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Robinson latest book...The Reader's Mutiny
Review: I know the genre is fiction but some fiction has to have at the very least some plausible ideas. This was the second book I've read by the author and by most account it may be my last. The plot was bad, the politcal views were unwelcomed and the author needs to research his information more. He knows nothing of the the US Military whether by AirForce or Army. I don't know what type of information his advisor to his novels is giving but something is amiss here and its obvious in his writings. From the overall concensus his readership isn't happy either hopefully his next novel is planned and researched carefully otherwise he may have readers mutiny on hand to deal with.
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY AWFUL.
Review: The plot starts off great, but quickly becomes random and uninteresting. The author seems obsessed with the Navy Seals and their operations. He really misses the mark. I felt like I was reading a detailed account of how SEALS operate, not a novel about a global crisis and a Mutiny on a US Sub. He spends hundreds of pages describing inch by inch of two seal missions. I littereally flipped ahead ten pages at a time and felt I had not missed a significant portion of the plot. The title, "The Shark Mutiny" suggest a novel about a mutiny. There was no hint of a mutiny until the last 30 pages. Even then, it was a weak a story line for a mutiny. 400 pages were dedicated to irrelevant stories about SEALS running around destroying things. The title of the book should have been "The SEALS, and oh by the way, a Mutiny." The SEALS missions and the mutiny were not tied together very well. And for extra credit, the author tries to create a court room drama... in 10 pages or less! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Worst Novel Ever!
Review: If I could assign negative stars I would do so. This novel is trite, predictable, and poorly written. The British author has no ear for US dialogue. His characterizations are cliches. Save your money. Do not buy this terrible book.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Mediocre...
Review: I too was perturbed by the deference paid to Sen. Ted Kennedy. Ted may be many things, but "Unwavering Patriot" & "Natural Born Leader"? Mr. Robinson when you take the time to write a book about the U.S. military, maybe you ought to learn who your potential audience is & where their political affiliations lie! I also have a hard time believing the whole Lt. Ramshawe character. The son of an Australian Naval Attache that is born in the United States & therefore keeps his American Citizenship. He went to school in Connecticut & the Naval Academy, but speaks with a strong Australian accent & even though he is dating the Australian Ambassador's daughter, he is in Naval Intelligence assigned to the NSA? Gee, I don't know, there's not a potential conflict of interest there? The Commander of the Submarine makes a serious Command Decision error after the first SEAL team mission, and neither the SEAL team commander nor the XO of the ship report this to higher authorities upon their return to Diego Garcia, IMO, highly unlikely!
I also find it improbable that the U.S. would ever be fooled by China & send their whole fleet to the Straits of Hormuz, knowing that reunification with Taiwan is always at the forefront in the minds of the Chinese. I figured out the ploy at the beginning of the book.
In addition, as others have pointed out, somehow the rest of the U.S. Military is paralyzed because of all of the Carrier Battle Groups being in the Gulf, get real! What about the 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, or Air Force assets in Japan & Korea?
Another thing that bothers me about this book is having his American characters using English slang, like "Bloody" & "Cheek", As in "what a cheek." If you are going to write a book with the characters using English slang, write a book about the Royal Navy or the Navy of a Commonwealth nation!
The ending of the book is unbelievable. If this ending occurred in real life, you would find any SEAL hard-pressed to be transported on a submarine to a mission ever again. I addition, the SEAL community would leave the U.S. Navy en masse.
If you insist on reading this book, buy it used, or check it out from the library!
Rating:
Summary: An exercise in bad writing and bad politics
Review: My wife started to read this book first and quit after only getting through the first chapter. It was the author's extreme left wing politics that turned her off. Anxious to see what she was complaining about, I started in trying to keep an open mind. The first thing I noticed wasn't the politics -- it was the incredibly bad writing. From Robinson's annoying habit of starting every other sentence with the word "And" to his run-on sentences with endless commas, this has to be one of the most difficult reads I've ever come across. The character dialog is stilted, artificial and poorly regionalized while many of the descriptive phrases are so overwrought they turn silly. And what about the politics my wife complained about? Well this should give you some idea. The story is set in the year 2007. A meeting is taking place between a number of top ranking military leaders including the SecDef. As Robinson describes it, the meeting also includes "the vastly experienced Senator Ted Kennedy, whose unwavering patriotism and endless concern for his country made him a natural leader among such men." On top of this, Robinson's throws out numerous hamfisted digs at President Bush including "the (Republican) President had demonstrated such shocking self-interest and lack of judgment that he could no longer be trusted to act in the strict interests of the USA." Regardless of one's own politics or what one may think of GW, this sort of garbage has no place in any serious work about the modern military. It's distracting, amateurish and clearly does nothing for the story, plot or scene. I made it through 2 chapters before relegating this book to the trash bin.
Rating:
Summary: Gene
Review: Wow! This book is a stinker! How did this get published? The plot is silly. The writer doesn't know anything about the U.S. military. And, he has this fixation on the Navy Seals -- unhealthy, filled with Seal recruiting poster stuff. Yo! Today's U.S. military also has long-range planes, missiles, fast deploying Army troops, and doesn't take orders from the National Security Advisor. But, his story forgets about these logical responses to story situations. The behavior and criminal stupidity of the author's protagonists insults all vets. These characters would have been fragged.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Air Force?
Review: The invasion of Taiwan is a hoot. Even if the U.S. Navy was unable to support the island, where is the Air Force? The author goes in to great detail about the beach landings, capture of ports and cities. But, he knows nothing about how the U.S. could / would respond with forces other than the Navy. For example, The US would have the option to outfit B1, B2 and B52 bombers with air to surface Harpoons. One or two good long range raids would have broken the back of the invading navy. Also, where are the US Subs? There would be subs deployed in the area outside of the Carrier battle groups. And the US could have reinforced the Tia airforce with pilots and replacement aircraft. Finally when does a LT in Navy Intel at NSA report directly to an ADM? What an insult to the intelligence of the informed reader.
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