Black Wind By Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler - Book Report #292

A Dirk Pitt Adventure

World War II was a pivotal event that formed our present reality.  I find the period fascinating.

In this novel, during the war, the Japanese created a biological weapon and were en route to launch an attack before the submarine was lost sending the toxin to the bottom of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The present-day bad guy now wants the weapon for his own nasty plans.

Sometimes the plot of a Cussler novel doesn't grab me as much as the part of history he dug up to start the story.  In this one, the Japanese submarine also had a launcher for an aircraft.  This was the first time I've heard of this combination.

All kinds of questions came to me; how do you travel underwater with a plane attached?  Once in flight, how does the plane return? Or does it?


Cussler did me a favour by opening a part of WWII history I had never know.

I'm sorry to say, but it was the history lesson that captured my imagination.  I felt a bit like Julien Perlmutter in that I put the novel down many times to search out books about the Japanese Imperial Navy.

So, yes I enjoyed the book very much but not for the usual reasons.

Clive Cussler's Website - https://clive-cussler-books.com/

Japanese submarine history Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarines_of_the_Imperial_Japanese_Navy

Clive Cussler

Red November by W. Craig Reed - Book Report #180

I can't help being fascinated by the cold war.

Submarines are so cloaked in secrecy that I simply find myself drawn to them.

I've read a few books on just how close we've all come to destruction and it leaves me chilled every time I hear such a story.  So it came as no surprise when close calls from the submarine fleet were revealed in this book.

What impressed me was how small innovations could have profound impacts on the opposing force.  When the Soviets moved to burst transmissions to communicate it sent the US into a massive effort find a way to locate the subs that suddenly became invisible.

Like a Tom Clancy novel there are no small players in the American military and it takes everybody doing their jobs to the best of their abilities to keep ahead.

What was revealed about the Cuban Missile Crisis surprised me leaving me thankful that the skippers of the Soviet subs were so clever and cool-headed.

The book reveals other mission right into the mid 1980's, anything after that is still classified.  Fair enough.

In the end I would dearly love to see a day where we put all this ingenuity to use as one people instead of constantly trying to find ways to undermine each other.

That said it is this very war against ourselves that moves our society forward as technologies become available commercially and the real work of peaceful progress takes place.  Our society lags about 30 years behind the advances made by the military.  So, in a weird way, we have managed to benefit from all of it.

The book was well written and at times felt just like a fictional thriller.  I liked the personal feel of the book as it started by first following the career of his father then moved into his own career in the submarine service.

I highly recommend this book.  Publishing it helps to make the world a better place.

W. Craig Reed's website is here - http://wcraigreed.com/

W. Craig Reed.