Cold Choices

Post Cold War Sub story

Basically, a story of two nuclear submarine captains playing chicken, at least on is. The results are what one would expect. The remainder of the story deals with the rescue attempt to save one of the subs, on the bottom in the Barrents Sea in an area Russia thinks of as its back yard.

I am awarding 4.5 stars because I though there was too much extraneous dialogue in relation to the action.

Political conflict between Russia and the U.S. and internal politics provides a major part of the story. While bureaucrats maneuver for advantage, the crew of one of the subs faces a slow death, while the crew of the other realizes the conflict is over and now it is their moral obligation to assist mariners in trouble. A good, technically sound, well thought out story, but not a page turning thriller. Too much political maneuvering and interplay between support characters.

The reader will learn a lot about life on a nuclear submarine, and how the crew relates. I found this very interesting.

The character "Jerry" is both a minor character and the omnipotent observer. Jerry didn't work for me.

Based upon my limited knowledge of submarines, author appears to knows his subject. I look for technical errors or technical fantasy and judge a novel accordingly. On page 62 the young ensign, "taking the boat out" says, "Captain, the ship is on course . . . all ahead flank, making two four knots. The ship is rigged to dive." The periscope is up. Now, I don't know if you would dive a submarine at flank speed unless you were under attack, but I do know what would happen to the periscope if you did. Error number one, or so I though. On the following page, a senior officer whispered, "We nee to slow down . . . It won't do to bend the periscope ... ." After crossing out "error number one," I decided that the author knew what he was doing, and had plotted the scene well. When I completed the book, there was no error number one on my note sheet, a rare occurrence.

I recommend this novel for readers who are interested in the navy (Russian an U.S.), and who enjoy a well plotted submarine disaster story.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anonymous

This is an excellent book. The author did an outstanding job in his research and details in order to write this book. One of the best research jobs I have seen. I would like to see this book made into a movie. I was sorry when I finished reading this book, it was that good. I found the ending a little abrupt, only because I would have liked to have seen the Russian ship commander Pavlov take responsibility for the collision, in front of an inquiry board.

Great read Great read!

I loved this book

great

One of the best books I've read in a long time, and I read a LOT. Loved the psychology of it, and very suspenseful.

Enjoyed but misses...

Long and doesnt catch ya...

cold war novel

good back ground infomaion on navel conflixs

Great Book

Larry Bond hit the nail on the head again. This is one of those books that's hard to put down. I thought it was an easy read, good storie line and well written.

Great Underwater Storie

Larry Bond hit the nail on the head again. This is one of those books that's hard to put down. I thought it was an easy read, good storie line and well written.

Exciting

Great story. Keeps you reading and reading.

Cold Choices

This was the first time that I have read this author. I enjoyed the book so much that I found more of his books to read.
The book is adventure from the first page to the last. I enjoyed it very much.
Anyone who likes to read about submarines will like this book.

Excitng but...

Good story of submarine action. Former foes (or are they?) go head-to-head in rescue mission after accident. A bit heavy on sub teminology, but this can be skipped over. Strong characters...except one: Jerry Mitchell, navigator, seems to be more of a filler than having any real role in the story. He's more of a distraction. A carry over from author's first sub novel. That's not enough to use him again. Other characters convincingly real. Mitchell is a zero. Skip his appearances...nothing lost in the story if you do.

Didn't Make the Grade

As techno-thrillers go this book wasn't even close to the top level of today's choices. There are so many good, even great, authors in this genre now that buying this book is a mistake. Bond is stuck in an earlier time, the book is a drag.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great book and story

Very much enjoyed the first book and could not wait to read the second ( Cold Choices). I hope the Mr Bond writes another in ther series.

fine thriller

Nuclear Sub Captain First Rank Aleksey Petrov is ordered to drive out of the Barents Sea any American naval vessel; even those observing the Russian military exercise from international waters. However, due to a human error, the ambitious and overly zealous Petrov watches in horror as his state of the art vessel the Severodvinsk collides with the USS Seawolf, whose mission was to map the seabed below the Russian naval training maneuvers.

While the American vessel can somewhat move on, the Russian sub sinks to the bottom of the sea. Seawolf Commander Jerry Mitchell, (see DANGEROUS GROUND) assumes the Russians gleefully left to gloat at a nearby submarine port. However, he quickly realizes the Severodvinsk has sunk. The brass from both countries want the incident to stay sunk, but Mitchell feels strongly a rescue of his naval comrades is a must regardless of the Pentagon or the Russian equivalent proclaiming otherwise, however he also worries his damaged ship might not be up to the task and could result in the deaths of his crew.

Readers will feel a bit claustrophobic as Larry Bond provides an insightful look at life on a submarine especially during a crisis. The story line is loaded with action and overloaded with gizmos. Although the brass in both capitals act in their usual political expedient manners that have become too common in literature, fans will enjoy the dilemmas of the two captains. Mitchell could not care less what the fat cats several thousand miles away demand, as he must decide between the risks to his crew vs. a rescue. On the other hand Petrov does care what Moscow thinks so he must decide whether to accept help that will end his career but save some of his crew or die with them; the choice is not as easy as it sounds because he does not trust the Americans to rescue them if they collect what they came for.

Harriet Klausner

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