To Kill the Potemkin

I bought this entirely because of how much I enjoyed Mark Joseph's 'Typhoon' (also exceptional) and it seems as though I made the right choice. Anyone who enjoys a good submarine story and wants it to be as realistic as it gets--as well as incredibly entertaining--this novel certainly fills the bill. Tom Clancy can be credited for making submarine's popular, but he is by NO MEANS the king of the underwater adventure. There are a large variety of sub stories out there to read, but very few are actually any good (Michael DiMercurio is one of the great one's) but I can say in total honesty that 'To Kill The Potempkin' is as solid a techno-thriller as I have had the luxury to read. This one took me by surprise by taking place at the very height of the Cold War in the 60's, when the art of submarine warfare was being written and re-written daily. The game of cat & mouse under the sea was as dramatic as ANY fictional story, and although this IS fiction, it reads almost like an on-sight account of what actually happened. America, while far superior in sub design and nuclear technology to the Russians, was behind in one crucial area: subs made out of titanium. It is SO expensive that the Navy never actually made use of it...but the Soviet's made many subs that could dive amazingly deep BECAUSE of their titanium hull-design. The undersea game of kill or be killed takes on a new dimension when a Russian sub is thought to have imploded after having gone too deep...but did she really go down...or did they 'fake it' by playing sound efx that only sounded like a sub breaking up at extreme depths--places that no U.S. sub could go...this is what we get to enjoy on this very exciting and realistic portrayal of naval life on a Skipjack class sub in the 60's. Mr. Joseph is to be commended by giving us a top-notch techno-thriller which succeeds on EVERY level. Simply wonderful. Highly Recommended.

If you like Tom Clancy, you must read this book. This is truly the best of the techno-thrillers/military-thrillers I have ever read. Believeable, detailed (but not bogged down by details) and exciting. Great characters. If anything, this book is better than anything Clancy has written.

Anyone who enjoys Tom Clancy or technothrillers needs to read this book. It was the most exciting, best written and with the best ending of any book of this kind. If you like military thrillers read this book. It is the best!

Excellent book, one of my favorites.

Joseph takes you into the heart and mind of the operator. As a twenty year cold-warrior in the occupation of Airborne ASW, I can only say that this book tells the true story. Tom Clancey could learn a thing or two from this one........