The first chapters of Launch Code by Michael Ridpath immediately takes the reader on a journey filled with suspense and mystery starting with the introduction in the prologue to the characters and events based in a nuclear submarine in 1983, a time when the world seemed to be on the brink of nuclear power with America and Russia as the main protagonists. The book is written from the perspective of Bill Guth, a lieutenant on the USS Alexander Hamilton, a nuclear submarine on patrol at that time in the seas around Norway. The author then takes us forward to the present day with Bill Guth, now a widower, residing in Norfolk in England with two of his daughters and the husband of one daughter on their way to join him for Thanksgiving. Not long after they arrive a journalist also arrives having made an appointment with Bill to ask him about the events of that day back in 1983 when the crew of the nuclear submarine received an order to launch a nuclear attack. The author builds up the tension and readers, as well as the journalist, will be eager to read the rest of this book and get to the bottom of the mystery. I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of this book from a master storyteller who has already written many great books