Moving with impressive detail and believable characters who ring true, this is one of those adventure/thrillers just feels real--Joseph brings his readers into a surveillance sub, and pits them against the fears, uncertainties, and triumphs felt from moment to moment, in both war games and war reality. Early on, it had me hooked to the point where I didn't want to walk away to finish it later, and yet it managed to surprise me quite a bit, right through to the end. ( )

Set during the height of the Cold and Vietnam Wars when nuclear tensions were at their peak, it tells the very realistic and frightening story of a collision between the Barracuda, an American nuclear attack submarine, and a super secret Russian nuclear sub that has very new and sophisticated capabilities.

The Barracuda has been assigned the task of hunting an American aircraft carrier during war game exercises. The Russian sub has been shadowing the task force pretending to be another American sub by masking her own noises by simulating those of a known sub. The Russian sub driver, after realizing he has been "outed" by the Barracuda wants to leave the area before more can be learned about his sub's secret capabilities. The political officer disagrees and takes over command He reverses the prop grazing the Barracuda, which had been following in the Russian sub's baffles. The Barracuda is forced to surface but not before its sonar operator hears sounds of the Russian sub descending way past nominal test depth and breaking up. At least that's what they think.
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