U.S.S. Seawolf

Rating:
Summary: An "F" for effort.
Review: I listened to the unabridged audio version. Robinson knows a lot about submarines and naval hardware, but he doesn't know jack about creating interesting characters or plotlines. The plot itself is ripped from the headlines; substituting a submarine for a plane. To the rescue comes the infallible and irascible Arnold Morgan, the President's National Security Advisor. On a side note I think Rip Torn would be excellent in the movie role of Arnold Morgan. The problem is that even the main characters are somewhat 1 dimensional. Sure there is some background history provided on each character but that is about it. Everybody is a stereotype. The Chinese are all evil, the American's all righteous, it's terrible. I know this is a novel about sailors and sailors curse a lot but the volume of anti-Chinese expletives uttered by some of the characters is a little over the top. The other thing is that Robinson himself seems to sometimes get confused between Chinese and Japanese, for example once referring once to the Chinese Yen. But the most unforgiviable thing was the ending. I won't spoil it by revealing what happens but it made no sense and seemed forced. Seawolf was my 1st foray into this author's work and I might have been my last, but for some confounded reason I am giving him another chance. I'm listening to Kilo Class right now but that is another review.

Rating:
Summary: Light Read with Weak Spots
Review: The Navy's top submarine, the U.S.S. Seawolf, is patrolling in shallow water in the Yellow Sea, trying to get information regarding a new communist Chinese nuclear ballistic missile submarine. The biggest questions the crew of the Seawolf are trying to answer are the size of the missiles the new submarine will carry and how many it will carry, the goal being to understand the strategic offensive capability of the submarine.

The Seawolf's crew evades several attempts by the Chinese to sink her, providing several tense moments in the early part of the book. However, due to an error in navigation, and more than a bit of arrogance on the part of the executive officer, the Seawolf finds herself in relatively shallow water with little more than auxiliary motive power. Soon the Chinese cleverly capture the Seawolf and her crew.

The United States can ill afford to have the Seawolf remain the property of the Chinese, knowing they will steal every piece of technology they possibly can. Further, after detailed consideration of communist Chinese motives and past record, high-level decision makers determine that it is unlikely that the Chinese will release the crew of the Seawolf. After pages of consideration, it's decided that the Seawolf must not remain in Chinese hands, and her crew must be freed. It's at this point that the setup for the bulk of the book ends and the real action begins. The remainder of the book details how the last two tasks are accomplished and how well they are accomplished, details which will remain for the reader to discover.

I enjoyed reading the book. I thought portions of the book were filled with suspense and reasonably believable action. However, I suspect that readers with significant knowledge of the military will likely find some plot holes and several discrepancies. My knowledge of Navy related equipment and techniques is cursory, at best, so I'm sure I missed plot holes that would be obvious to more knowledgeable readers. I did have several problems with the story. Not all the problems I had can be detailed here as a discussion would give away portions of the story. However, let me provide a couple of examples. First, the executive officer makes a critical and fundamental error in operation of the periscope. I know mistakes can happen, but improper operation of a periscope by the executive officer of a submarine would seem to me to be the equivalent of a pilot not knowing how to operate flaps properly. In another situation a fighter is expected to drop a bomb undetected in a heavily defended area. The explanation of how the fighter penetrated Chinese air space to drop the bomb without being detected, and further, getting away without being detected, was shaky.

I could point out several other details that were a bit of a stretch, but I should also point out that this book should be considered a military thriller, and as such some assumptions should be allowed to be made. I think the author made more than he should have made, which is why I gave the book only three stars, but during the action portions I was interested in what was going to happen next. I am also tempted to rate the book lower because of the somewhat banal ending, with which I disagreed. However, it was the author's prerogative to end the book as he did, regardless of whether I thought the actions of at least one character were inconsistent with that character's personality.

Military fiction can be difficult to write. The author spun an interesting tale that held me well enough to the end, with minimal distraction due to extraneous details. A light read as military fiction goes, I would recommend this book to those who enjoy military fiction unless you require exacting and accurate detail.

Rating:
Summary: Great Adventure Story, weak ending
Review: The story is gripping, a sub captured, the crew being tortured, the SEAL's being sent in to rescue them. The whole concept is a bit farfetched but fun.

The first section details the mission up to the capture of the sub, its exciting as we follow the sub around sneaking in and out of Chinese waters, evading capture, etc. The actual capture seemed a bit goofy, why didn't the sub just sink when they attached the cables? but you have to give some leeway to get the story rolling.

Then there is the in-between section where the crew is being moved to their jail, being tortured, the SEAL team is being formed, etc.

The big story is the mission to rescue the captives, its all written with exact detail and seemed very believable to me (an armchair quarterback with zero practical experience)

Finally the weakest part of the book is the wrap up. I really feel that the book should have ended at the "fist pumping in the air - rah rah" moment, instead we are treated to a series of bad things and the whole book ends with a whimper - I'm trying not to give it away here, but for me the ending was really depressing.

The characters are perfect in their own way, the chinese are perfectly bad, no redeeming qualities, the US forces are perfectly good, no bad decisions are ever made, no mistakes happen, no hidden agendas, nothing. This is a straightforward action book, your not reading it because you want a complex CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) your reading it because you want the US to kick some serious booty.

And it does, the action sequences are great and very realistic. As with all of Patrick Robinsons books you follow along like a travelogue, there isn't any "oh my god" sequences of sudden understanding or of a secret plot revealed - you know the one, where suddenly all those unexplained things that have been happening now make sense, in these books each step of the process is methodically layed out and followed.

If I had stopped 50 pages from the end I would have given this a 5 star rating, but the ending so turned me off that I would have dropped it 2 stars except for the excellent middle. The ending just doesn't work, throughout the book the characters are all fairly simplistically handled and we are all used to them being that way, then suddenly a "deep psychological" twist happens and everything starts to unravel. If that was planned to happen why were the characters not given more time to develop? and the lack of closure for several key characters makes it difficult as well, the Chinese C-and-C, the XO - both of these characters are just dropped with their lives and futures hanging...

Buy the book for the exciting action sequences and to read about the SEAL's kicking tail - my recommendation is to read up through the end of chapter 12 and stop there - you'll finish with a big smile.