Submerged

I love Gansky's books, especially this one, because he has unique ideas and plots, twists and turns. I think this is one of the most creative fiction books in a long time--from anyone. It's not only a page turner because of the suspense but there's no way you can guess what's going to happen. It kept my attention, like as in I wanted to find every available moment to get back to reading it. I loved the creativity, the out of the box thinking. I really recommend it highly.

This story follows Perry Sachs in his final adventure. He seeks to uncover the cause of a mysteious illness that claims the lives of his friends. It is an imaginative twist of the Gov. Conspiracy plot with the Supernatural Thriller plot. What highlights the tale is how unique and vivid the imagery is, from the strange demon inhabited caves to the surface of a toxic lake, Gansky captures the reader with wave after wave of exotic possibilities. He never quite answers all the "what if's" he brings up, but this only serves to allow the reader to speculate further...

Submerged is the last of a stand-alone trilogy of books with stories about character Perry Sachs, a senior project manager for his father's construction firm whose expertise lies in building super-secret military installations. One day, Perry's father is stricken with a mysterious illness and two of his coworkers from a long ago project also become ill and die. Perry's father gasps out an incomplete sentence and in trying to unravel the mystery, Perry uncovers a secret base under a man-made lake in Nevada that exists on no map. The mystery is, nobody knows who built the base there in the first place and whoever did was probably not human. The result is a rather exciting tale of suspense and mystery with all the tropes: a mysterious, underground base, evil government officials, a growing mystery, an urgent deadline and others we have come to expect from the genre, but Submerged is published by Barbour Publishing whose mission statement is: Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses. Submerged is, in other words, an offering in the growing field of Christian fiction. But the question is as there is no in-depth explanation of the gospel, there is no conversion scene, no opportunities to use the book to expound detailed Christian dogma, is the book worthy of the title, Christian fiction? Agreed, there are characters in the story who are Christian and unashamedly so. They make it evident that prayer and faith is what keeps them going. However, it is wisdom that allows them to make good choices and no dues ex machina intervention of miracles that solves the ultimate problem. (In Gansky's A Ship Possessed, the ultimate problem was not solved with prayer, but with a bullet and that from the main Christian character!). So is Submerged to be considered Christian fiction? I posit it is. Christian fiction in the past has had to go through a difficult growing period and most early Christian fiction had to have a Bible verse on every page and at least several conversion scenes as well as miracles to bring the storyline to its unsatisfying conclusion. But take away its science fiction storyline and Submerged becomes a story sunk deep into the Christian worldview showing how Christians actually act in reality: plugging ahead with simple faith and a prayer that ultimately everything will be alright even if we don't live to see the next sunrise because there is ultimate order in the cosmos, and though we have no direct intervention from God in the tale, he is there as a quiet and subtle presence in the story because of the main character`s relationship with him. All of this with no contrived or artificial interventions in the story to make it "Christian." Alton Gansky and his fellow Christian writers just may preserve the genre.

This is my 3rd Gansky novel and so far, my favorite. (Although, I've got lots more left in the running). Half-way through the book, he creates for the reader, a wild world that my mind had a tough time wrapping itself around. Absolutely fascinating. I kept reading on, wondering how he was going to save the day against such impossibility. Gansky pulls it off. What an imagination!

After drifting away from the adventure type story in his last novel, it's glad to see Alton has returned to it--and with a great story idea in the process! Perry Sachs (from two previous novels "Beneath the Ice" and "A Treasure Deep") returns, this time seeing his father collapse with a mystery ailment. As his father lay dying, his whispered words to Perry send him on an adventure to a hidden government base his father worked at in the 70's. Unfortunately for Perry, the base is now submerged under water! Alton writes some of the best Christian adventure stories out there, and this one flows nicely from his others. Perry Sachs remains one of my favorite characters in Christian fiction today, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him back in action again in the future. The ending to this novel will set you thinking long after you've turned the last page. Gansky has a gift, and I'm glad he's using it! I highly recommend this book!