Conger Eel

Rating:
Summary: Conger Eel, A Trip To Dreamsville
Review: "After retiring from a successful career in the Coast Guard, it has long been my Husband's dream of sailing the Caribbean indefinitely, Some dreams are not capable of becoming a reality, but CONGER EEL has recaptured the feeling of that dream.. Throw in some espionage peppered with the love of sailing and seasoned with romance and feelings of love once thought to have died and you have an exciting and heartwarming story that has rekindled that dream.

Having visited many of the islands mentioned in the book, it feels like I've returned to remember the wonderful sunshine, white sandy beaches and the island folk. The desire to learn how the intrigue and the relationship will play out , has made CONGER EEL a real page turner that my husban

To me, a sailboat cruising the Caribbean Seas has to be an ideal platform for fostering relationships and becoming one with nature. In the novel Conger Eel, the author has added the dimension of submarine hunter to an aging Alden schooner and spins a Navy yarn as to finding and neutralizing a pioneering Soviet nuclear missile "boomer" boat. The year is 1977, a year of détente in the Cold Wa; itself a misnomer that really yielded 50 years of peace.

All the descriptive words are there; page-turner, sexy, credible fiction laced with history, conflicts with storms and sharks and intelligent introspection bordering on philosophy. And finally, a novel wherein a Navy WAVE Lieutenant proves and is accorded equality of sexes aboard two ships, one American and one Soviet!

I loved every minute of it!"

/S/ Marylyn Randell, R.N. Wife of John A. Randell, Captain, USCG, (Ret)

Rating:
Summary: About Conger Eel
Review: About the Book

This is a synopsis of a novel entitled "Conger Eel". Conger Eel was written for the same audience that made best sellers of "The Hunt For Red October" and "Blind Man's Bluff". Readers are beginning to appreciate that the Cold War gave the world over 50 years of international peace, once the Cuban missile crisis was resolved. A dramatic idea has emerged, that a beneficent international organization, solely vested with the power to wage nuclear war, can extend peace indefinitely. My task was to instill this thought painlessly in an exciting but credible story.
The story opens with a 1997 meeting in the Kremlin, Brezhnev presiding. Commander Petroff explains to Andropov and others the concept of towed, nuclear missile submersibles to be deployed on Caribbean sea mounts, there to threaten America. The reader is introduced to the book's key Russians, their mission and the prototype vessel Yuri which the US Navy must neutralize.
Succeeding chapters tell why and how the Navy covertly contracts for Farewell, a charter sailboat, to oppose Yuri. Lance, a retired Navy captain and distraught widower will skipper the boat; Odette, a lovely WAVE Lieutenant divorcée is detailed to serve as Exec. Their initial mutual dislike gradually turns to romance and marriage.
Each chapter is packed with action. How Farewell is upgraded to an anti-submarine warfare vessel will challenge technical buffs, sailboat enthusiasts will share her joust with a hurricane and romantics will fantasize in the first consummation of Lance's and Odette's passion in the short calm of the hurricane's eye.
After a search using technology and deductive wits, Yuri is found sitting atop a sea mount on Saba Bank and kept under close surveillance by scuba diving and intercepting secret communications with Moscow. Odette is captured and pressured to become a double agent. Meanwhile Lance calls for help from Marine commandos. They arrive via helicopters, capture a cadre of Russians returning from shore leave and free Odette by an exchange of hostages.
Brezhnev is troubled at this setback and approves a public display of force wherein Yuri launches cruise missiles to destroy a target ship in the Mona Passage. The power-hungry Karl Petroff, now Yuri's skipper, exaggerates the resulting political tension and dupes his isolated crew into preparing to launch nuclear missiles at American cities in the northeast. He justifies the looming holocaust as the only way to ensure victory for the USSR and, incidentally, making him a national hero.
This plot is leaked to Odette by a friendly enlisted man who cleverly swims to her robot mini-sub and attaches copies of fake messages for the return trip. These convince President Carter to send a special amphibious task force to neutralize Yuri. He gets support from Brezhnev.
A ship-borne task force of Navy Seals arrives in the nick of time, parachutes into the sea and "buttons up" the missile silo doors with shaped charges. Yuri is ignominiously towed by a Russian sub to Sevastopol for repairs. Lance and Odette, now married, return to Washington for another Navy assignment and the prospect of raising a family.
Most of the story's action emerges from Lance and Odette, their friendly black crewman, project manager Navy Captain Perry and their Russian counterparts. Each has a unique personality and agenda and some surprises inevitably occur.
Converting this novel into a movie can provide a script writer and director with graphic action and character portrayal opportunities similar to those of The Hunt For Red October, especially with scuba diving and airborne parachute attack scenarios. There are interludes of introspection, word pictures of Caribbean natural beauty and anecdotes rooted in native culture.

Rating:
Summary: About Conger Eel
Review: About the Book

This is a synopsis of a novel entitled "Conger Eel". Conger Eel was written for the same audience that made best sellers of "The Hunt For Red October" and "Blind Man's Bluff". Readers are beginning to appreciate that the Cold War gave the world over 50 years of international peace, once the Cuban missile crisis was resolved. A dramatic idea has emerged, that a beneficent international organization, solely vested with the power to wage nuclear war, can extend peace indefinitely. My task was to instill this thought painlessly in an exciting but credible story.
The story opens with a 1997 meeting in the Kremlin, Brezhnev presiding. Commander Petroff explains to Andropov and others the concept of towed, nuclear missile submersibles to be deployed on Caribbean sea mounts, there to threaten America. The reader is introduced to the book's key Russians, their mission and the prototype vessel Yuri which the US Navy must neutralize.
Succeeding chapters tell why and how the Navy covertly contracts for Farewell, a charter sailboat, to oppose Yuri. Lance, a retired Navy captain and distraught widower will skipper the boat; Odette, a lovely WAVE Lieutenant divorcée is detailed to serve as Exec. Their initial mutual dislike gradually turns to romance and marriage.
Each chapter is packed with action. How Farewell is upgraded to an anti-submarine warfare vessel will challenge technical buffs, sailboat enthusiasts will share her joust with a hurricane and romantics will fantasize in the first consummation of Lance's and Odette's passion in the short calm of the hurricane's eye.
After a search using technology and deductive wits, Yuri is found sitting atop a sea mount on Saba Bank and kept under close surveillance by scuba diving and intercepting secret communications with Moscow. Odette is captured and pressured to become a double agent. Meanwhile Lance calls for help from Marine commandos. They arrive via helicopters, capture a cadre of Russians returning from shore leave and free Odette by an exchange of hostages.
Brezhnev is troubled at this setback and approves a public display of force wherein Yuri launches cruise missiles to destroy a target ship in the Mona Passage. The power-hungry Karl Petroff, now Yuri's skipper, exaggerates the resulting political tension and dupes his isolated crew into preparing to launch nuclear missiles at American cities in the northeast. He justifies the looming holocaust as the only way to ensure victory for the USSR and, incidentally, making him a national hero.
This plot is leaked to Odette by a friendly enlisted man who cleverly swims to her robot mini-sub and attaches copies of fake messages for the return trip. These convince President Carter to send a special amphibious task force to neutralize Yuri. He gets support from Brezhnev.
A ship-borne task force of Navy Seals arrives in the nick of time, parachutes into the sea and "buttons up" the missile silo doors with shaped charges. Yuri is ignominiously towed by a Russian sub to Sevastopol for repairs. Lance and Odette, now married, return to Washington for another Navy assignment and the prospect of raising a family.
Most of the story's action emerges from Lance and Odette, their friendly black crewman, project manager Navy Captain Perry and their Russian counterparts. Each has a unique personality and agenda and some surprises inevitably occur.
Converting this novel into a movie can provide a script writer and director with graphic action and character portrayal opportunities similar to those of The Hunt For Red October, especially with scuba diving and airborne parachute attack scenarios. There are interludes of introspection, word pictures of Caribbean natural beauty and anecdotes rooted in native culture.

Rating:
Summary: Conger Eel
Review: The pace is relentless...suspenseful, engrossing, and a bit romantic too! I loved every minute of it !