In 1983 the navy covered up the near Armageddon of a falsely issued launch order to a nuclear submarine. In 2019 a historian working on unearthing this nuclear incident is brutally murdered, is the cover up continuing or is this something else?
The threat of nuclear holocaust was locked into the fears of the public conscious in the 80’s, the characters in this book raise a lot of questions which we should be asking today, although the fear may be less, the threat is not.
This is a well-constructed novel, each chapter leading on the other nicely, it's easy to keep track of things. Set in present day, when there is a plot demand for it, we travel back to 1983 to learn how a ballistic submarine nearly launched its weapons and what happened after. All of the details are there to guess who did it and why, this is all supported by an epilogue to satisfy any questions.
The launch procedure of nuclear missiles on board the submarine was excellent, good use of terminology with some explanations to help us navy novices, this crafted a believable environment on board the sub. It could have been improved with more of a sense of claustrophobia rather than describing the miniscule living space. The local area and near-by city of New York all fits together, you can see the submarines on google maps if you want to!
Unique characters bring their own personalities to the story. Ex-submariners Bill Guff and his mate Lars feature much in the 80s portions, Bills daughters and especially son-in-law Toby featured heavily in the present day. Behaviours were largely consistent; I liked the parts when Toby walked the dog with his Lars, which resembled a seaside dog walk perfectly.
With a serious demeanour, Alice is close to her husband Toby, but only displays emotion when they’re alone, Toby appears to need her more than she him, in many ways he chose the wrong sister. There were some inconsistencies with the level of intelligence displayed by a few characters, such as Megan, considering her intelligence, some thought processes were poor. Also, Toby often took the lead, even when his nature didn’t really lean that way, it was a bit disappointing that the sisters did not contribute a bit more in some scenes where they would have been better than Toby just banging on again. This novel was over-Toby-ed for sure.
Alice did show some leadership, she acted as a mothering character to everyone, however this was not too believable, she mainly tells people what to do with her sharp-edged tongue, it would have been more believable had she found a kinder way. I understand that part of this is plot related, but I found it hard to consolidate with the other characters perception of her strength and warmth.
The complexity of the family unit was captured well. Interesting and immersive, this is a good read for thriller fans.
The threat of nuclear holocaust was locked into the fears of the public conscious in the 80’s, the characters in this book raise a lot of questions which we should be asking today, although the fear may be less, the threat is not.
This is a well-constructed novel, each chapter leading on the other nicely, it's easy to keep track of things. Set in present day, when there is a plot demand for it, we travel back to 1983 to learn how a ballistic submarine nearly launched its weapons and what happened after. All of the details are there to guess who did it and why, this is all supported by an epilogue to satisfy any questions.
The launch procedure of nuclear missiles on board the submarine was excellent, good use of terminology with some explanations to help us navy novices, this crafted a believable environment on board the sub. It could have been improved with more of a sense of claustrophobia rather than describing the miniscule living space. The local area and near-by city of New York all fits together, you can see the submarines on google maps if you want to!
Unique characters bring their own personalities to the story. Ex-submariners Bill Guff and his mate Lars feature much in the 80s portions, Bills daughters and especially son-in-law Toby featured heavily in the present day. Behaviours were largely consistent; I liked the parts when Toby walked the dog with his Lars, which resembled a seaside dog walk perfectly.
With a serious demeanour, Alice is close to her husband Toby, but only displays emotion when they’re alone, Toby appears to need her more than she him, in many ways he chose the wrong sister. There were some inconsistencies with the level of intelligence displayed by a few characters, such as Megan, considering her intelligence, some thought processes were poor. Also, Toby often took the lead, even when his nature didn’t really lean that way, it was a bit disappointing that the sisters did not contribute a bit more in some scenes where they would have been better than Toby just banging on again. This novel was over-Toby-ed for sure.
Alice did show some leadership, she acted as a mothering character to everyone, however this was not too believable, she mainly tells people what to do with her sharp-edged tongue, it would have been more believable had she found a kinder way. I understand that part of this is plot related, but I found it hard to consolidate with the other characters perception of her strength and warmth.
The complexity of the family unit was captured well. Interesting and immersive, this is a good read for thriller fans.