2 Book Lovers Reviews
The initial appeal of Submerged was twofold. A secret Nazi weapon from World War II, and on top of that a horror story that harkened back to Lovecraft. What a wonderful combination! I decided that I needed to dive into Submerged.
Thomas F. Monteleone has written an incredible adventure story based around his protagonist, Dexter McCauley. Dex is a retired Navy diver who makes an incredible discovery deep in the waters of Chesapeake Bay. The ensuing adventure was full of tension and I wanted to keep reading to see where this mystery would go next.
My favorite part of Submerged had to be the back and forth timeline between Dex, in the here and now, and Erich Bruckner, seventy years in the past and a hundred feet below the ocean surface. I loved the voyage with Erich that took me to Dex and his modern day adventure.
I have to admit that there were a few things that threw me off of my normal mojo of what I look for in a book. I would have liked a bit more horror – something happened, some horrible beast was behind it, but what? Dex, what can I say about Dex? He is a great hero, ex-Navy, skilled diver, handy with weapons, loyal friend; but I typically like my hero to have a flaw, his own internal demons that he must overcome. And then there were the bad guys, they were a bit too Spectre-esque for my liking. But here is the real kicker, with my laundry list of issues…it didn’t matter. The pace was so perfect that the issues that I would normally have had simply didn’t exist, I just got in the groove and enjoyed the story.
I, for one, enjoyed Submerged. It was a great story that allowed me to escape under the sea in a WWII German submarine. I think there is more to this story, and Dex is just the guy to take us there, to solve the mystery behind station one eleven.
*4 Stars
Submerged
By Thomas F. Monteleone
