Voyage of the Devilfish

Rating:
Summary: Sub-vs.-Sub under the polar icecap, the world in the balance
Review: "Voyage of the Devilfish" was the first in the series of submarine novels I've written. It proposed the question, what would happen if an older 637-class nuclear submarine went head-to-head with a top-of-the-line Soviet attack boat, under the polar icecap, with the most modern weapons available to each. There is some artistic license taken (Sturgeon class becomes Piranha class, Mark 48 becomes Mark 50) but otherwise it is dead on. From the positions of the Low Pressure Cutout Switch to the torpedo's snake active search to the "SHARKTOOTH" underice sonar system, you'll feel like you've been at sea in a nuclear attack sub. Written by a 637-class fast attack officer, the sights, smells and sensations are all authentic. Read it yourself, and if you enjoyed it, take on "Attack of the Seawolf," "Phoenix Sub Zero," and "Barracuda: Final Bearing," and the soon-to-be published (Feb. '99) "Piranha: Firing Point." All of them the best submarine action novels written. Don't believe me, check the Associated Press or Publisher's Weekly. And please visit USSDevilfish.com and Email me at [e-mail]!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book.
Review: Dimercurio rivals Tom Clancy. I highly recommend this boo

Rating:
Summary: Voyage of the Devilfish - A high speed, low drag thriller!
Review: 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}

Rating:
Summary: Voyage of the Devilfish - A high speed, low drag thriller!
Review: 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}

Rating:
Summary: Very Good!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking reading
Review: I was not able to put the book down before I finished it. There is no point in a book, where you can put it down even to get something to eat. Non-stop action, which gets better with every page!

Rating:
Summary: I'd recommend this book to anyone! A great miltary thriller!
Review: I'll admit -- when I first saw the book I have no idea who Micheal Dimercurio was. The only thing that drew my attention was my love for military-type thrillers. I fully expected to end up saying, "Yeah.... OK. Nice Book. But Tom Clancy still kicks butt." Well.... after reading the book. I couldn't wait for the next to come out. A serious Tom Clancy rival. If you like military-type thrillers (especially when it involves the Navy), You'll love this book.

Basically, Michael Pacino, the main character, is a hot-shot submarine commander with the Navy in his blood. His father was a sub commander who died "on patrol" in the '70s -- his father's best friend happens to be Pacino's godfather & commanding officer.

When the "whole god-damn Russian Atlantic fleet" goes to sea, Pacino is sent to investigate and "it just so happens" that the Russian sub commander that he goes up against is the same one who is believed to have sunk Pacino's father in the 70s. As you can imagine, this makes Micheal Pacino all the more determined in his task. There are several parts where you will not be able to put the book down -- even for a minute.

There are a few things where it's "a bit of a stretch of the imagination" but very, very few. It's a very good book & I'd recommend it -- along with the rest of Micheal Dimercurio's books to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: I'd recommend this book to anyone! A great miltary thriller!
Review: I'll admit -- when I first saw the book I have no idea who Micheal Dimercurio was. The only thing that drew my attention was my love for military-type thrillers. I fully expected to end up saying, "Yeah.... OK. Nice Book. But Tom Clancy still kicks butt." Well.... after reading the book. I couldn't wait for the next to come out. A serious Tom Clancy rival. If you like military-type thrillers (especially when it involves the Navy), You'll love this book.

Basically, Michael Pacino, the main character, is a hot-shot submarine commander with the Navy in his blood. His father was a sub commander who died "on patrol" in the '70s -- his father's best friend happens to be Pacino's godfather & commanding officer.

When the "whole god-damn Russian Atlantic fleet" goes to sea, Pacino is sent to investigate and "it just so happens" that the Russian sub commander that he goes up against is the same one who is believed to have sunk Pacino's father in the 70s. As you can imagine, this makes Micheal Pacino all the more determined in his task. There are several parts where you will not be able to put the book down -- even for a minute.

There are a few things where it's "a bit of a stretch of the imagination" but very, very few. It's a very good book & I'd recommend it -- along with the rest of Micheal Dimercurio's books to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Great books
Review: I've read all the books by this autor (and awaiting his newest) and love the type of action he weaves. At times the lead character tends to be a little abused, but that can be overlooked. DiMercurio rivals Clancy...worth the read!

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: It must be me, I like technothrillers which are technically accurate. The story is really hard to believe and it is hard to imagine that everything from a nuclear torpedo to a kamikaze vs. a cruise missile would really happen

Perhaps the worst part though for someone who likes their technothrillers accurate are all the misstatements. It says there's a Mark 49 and Mark 50 heavyweight torpedo. Mark 50 is already the name of a lightweight one.

then, there is this piranha class submarine. Why say this as though it were really a class of US submarine? Also, the note that US submarines don't use anechoic tiles. How could this be. Read jane's. The list goes on. From plot to accuracy, it's awfu