Emergency Deep

Rating:
Summary: Depth and Richness of Description Compels Readers
Review:
Having read all of Michael DiMercurio's books within days of publication, I couldn't wait until EMERGENCY DEEP hit the stores! I was not disappointed and on page 183 of the book, he won my heart! As a woman midshipman in 1975, I wanted to serve aboard submarines and while 20 years later, women were allowed aboard ships and serve as fighter pilots, today women are still excluded from the deep.

However, hopefully one day, DiMercurio's fiction will be fact as the XO of one of the subs in EMERGENCY DEEP is a capable officer who happens to be a woman. I'm sure Adm. Rickover, father of the Navy's nuclear submarine program, is turning in his grave at Arlington National Cemetery with the mere hint and suggestion of women serving aboard submarines.

EMERGENCY DEEP begins with the takeover of an American submarine by "terrorists" who later turnout to be Navy personnel. Missing from the story is what happened to the captain and crew of that sub? In the real Navy, a captain loosing his ship or sub to a hostile takeover just signed his life away to court-martial, disgrace and forced retirement. But there is no clue in the story about the aftermath of this "terrorist" takeover and is the only small omission in the book.

Having followed all DiMercurio's previous books, I enjoyed the new characters in EMERGENCY DEEP and, as a reader, I could not put the book down in fear of not learning what happened next to the sub crews. The two main characters in the story, Peter Vornado and Burke Kinnaird "B.K." Dillinger, begin as Annapolis midshipmen who build a life-long friendship while overcoming an abusive upper classman. The yarn continues with the two men and their rise to the top of the Navy submarine service as both officers set a high standard of leadership for our men and women in today's military service.

I consumed EMERGENCY DEEP in less than two-days. Yes, I know, but sleep could wait, the story with its depth and richness of description compels the reader to keep reading. The next edition in this new series of books is complete and is currently being edited and I can't wait for the next installment in the Vornado and Dillinger story.

Without any doubt, DiMercurio is one of today's best fiction action writers and has the background to back-up his writing as being one of the few who served in the deep protecting our great nation during the closing days of the Cold War. He is an honors graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and has served as a paratrooper, Navy diver, and as a lieutenant and Chief Propulsion Officer aboard the U.S.S. Hammerhead. He is the author of several other submarine thrillers.


Rating:
Summary: Another home run
Review: DiMercurio does it again. He is starting into a new direction with a new set of characters, but the setting is once again high-tech, high-intrigue, and high-pressure, at the bottom of the ocean. No one, NO one, paints characters as vividly as MD.
I got this on Tuesday and could not put it down, reading it almost straight thru.

If you love techy sub thrillers, this is the stocking stuffer for you.

Remain undetected, but get to Borders ASAP.

Rating:
Summary: the best submarine novel.
Review: i have read all of michael dimercurio's books, joe buff, tom clancy most submarine books out there. this by far is the best, both story wise and action wise. Vornado and Dillinger are both great replacements for Pacino. I really cannot wait for the next book with either of these characters. fantastic book!

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: I have read all of the author's books and this is the best by far, and all the others were super as well. In this book the author takes his usual submarine warfare story up a notch by doing an excellent job with character development. The author gives the characters real feelings and makes them human beings and not just people reacting as Clancey has done so frequently. I was never in the military and still had no problem keeping up with all the submarine jargon. The other reviewer had a problem with the Whitehead character as to why he did what he did, but who really cares.....it would be impossible to do a psychoanalysis of every character unless you wanted to simply fill pages. This author does not fill pages, he gives the reader all he needs to know and keeps the readers interest at a frantic pitch. This is a book you cannot put down, it is a fast read and one you will love. Hopefully the submariner community will like it as much as they did all his previous novels.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I was wondering what the next book from the guy who brough us all the great Devilfish books, and if another Captain Pacino type of character would arise. I can honestly say that the author has anther hit. As a big fan of submarine fiction, I'd rank this one right up there towards the top!

Rating:
Summary: Michael has a wonderful knack for compelling writing!
Review: Invest your time and money in this author and particularly in this story. There is a nice sized segment of readers that love good submarine-centric stories. I tend to think it has something to do with "Hunt for Red October" (which incidently I've never read, but seen many times). But, for whatever the reason subs are cool platforms for warfare and fiction alike! Michael Dimercurio's resume was taylor made to either command a nuclear sub or write extremely accurate convincing fiction about nuclear subs. His writing will pull you into his character's lives quickly and firmly. His hyper-accurate sub-speak will set your imagination in motion and before you know it - you'll be inside a nuclear submarine and in peril! Buy this book and pick a nice quiet spot to read and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Emergency Shallow
Review: The writing is shallow and so is the story. Sort of like Jerry Bruckheimer in a book. If you like Bruckheimer movies, you might like this book. Otherwise it isn't worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy on a bad day??? Frenetic action, but that's it.
Review: This book started out terrific. We see Vornado and Dillinger as midshipmen and what they have to deal with. Unfortunately this is where the character development starts to break down. We never really find out why a first class midshipman has it out for the two of them, just some half developed stuff about not trading on daddy. A missed opportunity for character development there.

I won't go into a spoiler, as the other reviewers did, about the taking of a nuke submarine, I'll just say that it seemed less than plausible. However another opportunity was missed here too. A chance to show why terrorists were going to do what they planned to do later in the book was missed.

The Arab terrorists were generic to say the least, and there was no background to what they were trying to do. Without giving away too much of the plot, the plan to launch nuclear cruise missiles at Israel, while a nice twist, left me wondering about several things. The USA knows about the plot, but yet they wait until the terrorists have the means, and are underway before attempting to stop them???

Some mention was made about this being post 9/11. That being said, it absolutely blows credibility out of the water to think that extraordinary measures were not taken to find and stop the terrorists before they had the submarine that is central to the story. We are to believe that the Russian Federation would sit idly by while a submarine is being assembled under their noses. No protests, no attempts to destroy the sub, whose location is well known. Nothing but sitting by and waiting for the thing to put to sea and then hope to stop it there. Hard to believe, and harder to read.

As far as the female/male character interaction aboard the various submarines involved, sophmoric is the word that came to mind to describe the actions of the characters. We are supposed to believe that in a submarine looking for a rogue nuke sub the captain would take time to engage in a dalliance with another crew member. If Clancy had written this, it would've been laughed out of the book stores.

I'm sure someone will note that people on warships have feelings too. And to them I say, of course they do, but during a search for a submarine that they know is going to launch missiles is hardly the time to play Untersee Love Boat.

There was plenty of action, unfortunately it all adds up to a sum that is much less than the whole of its parts. If this is the start of a new series, then I expect disappointment if it continues in this vein.

As far as technical research, there may be much that is accurate in the book. However there is one point where a fire is being fought. Halon is used, so as to make it possible to continue to breathe. I have dealt with Halon, it displaces the oxygen in an atmosphere, thereby removing a requirement for combustion. It does NOT, regardless of what the author states, damage electronic equipment. In point of fact, it was specifically designed so that it would not harm electronic equipment. But it does make it impossible to breathe, contrary to what the author says. This makes me wonder what other technical aspects were fudged or just plain wrong. Plausibility was a big casaulty here.

Cartoon cardboard characters, a plot that is ridiculous, and poor technical research. A waste. Don't bother. Or check it out of a library.

Tom Clancy has nothing to fear here.