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jparks5's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
weaselweader's review
4.0
If you liked Hunt for Red October, you're going to love this one!
In Larry Bond's best-selling novel, DANGEROUS GROUND, techno-thriller fans met Lt Jerry Mitchell, a former naval aviator who made a mid-career switch to submarines after his Hornet fighter crashed with the resulting injuries sidelining him forever from flight status. Having returned successfully from a dangerous mission aboard the USS Memphis, an out-of-date aging rust bucket, Mitchell has now been assigned as the navigator aboard the sleek, ultra-sophisticated USS Seawolf, one of the US Navy's most modern and fiercely capable nuclear attack submarines. Their mission - complete a secret hydrographic survey of the floor of the Barents Sea and leave behind stealthy surveillance technology that will keep the navy on top of Russian submarine movement out of their far northern Arctic bases.
Despite the crew's best efforts, their presence is detected by Aleksey Petrov, the commander of Russia's newly commissioned nuclear sub, the Severodvinsk. A testosterone drive cat-and-mouse game of brinksmanship results in a catastrophic underwater collision that sends the Seawolf limping home badly damaged. Unknown to the US crew, the Severodvinsk has been sent crashing to the sea floor and is completely disabled, unable to communicate with their Russian base and trapped with no working emergency escape pod to the surface. All the clocks are ticking - food, water and oxygen - but the clock that's ticking the loudest and most quickly is the one recording carbon dioxide levels. When the air scrubbers can no longer reduce CO2 levels below a toxic 5% level, a painful inevitable death quickly follows for all the trapped men.
No mystery from the point of view of plot in COLD CHOICES, just a superbly built thriller built around naval technology, politics, cold-war posturing and space age peace-time military maneuvering. COLD CHOICES is a first rate techno-thriller that will have you turning pages just as quickly as you can manage. But as Larry Bond pointed out in the author's note preceding DANGEROUS GROUND, a techno-thriller ought to be much more than a compilation of technical data which anyone can find with proper research. In the case of COLD CHOICES, Bond has done a superb job, not only with individual characterization, but also with a compelling description of submariner culture - their attitudes, their loyalties, their black sense of humour, their fears and their bravery.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
In Larry Bond's best-selling novel, DANGEROUS GROUND, techno-thriller fans met Lt Jerry Mitchell, a former naval aviator who made a mid-career switch to submarines after his Hornet fighter crashed with the resulting injuries sidelining him forever from flight status. Having returned successfully from a dangerous mission aboard the USS Memphis, an out-of-date aging rust bucket, Mitchell has now been assigned as the navigator aboard the sleek, ultra-sophisticated USS Seawolf, one of the US Navy's most modern and fiercely capable nuclear attack submarines. Their mission - complete a secret hydrographic survey of the floor of the Barents Sea and leave behind stealthy surveillance technology that will keep the navy on top of Russian submarine movement out of their far northern Arctic bases.
Despite the crew's best efforts, their presence is detected by Aleksey Petrov, the commander of Russia's newly commissioned nuclear sub, the Severodvinsk. A testosterone drive cat-and-mouse game of brinksmanship results in a catastrophic underwater collision that sends the Seawolf limping home badly damaged. Unknown to the US crew, the Severodvinsk has been sent crashing to the sea floor and is completely disabled, unable to communicate with their Russian base and trapped with no working emergency escape pod to the surface. All the clocks are ticking - food, water and oxygen - but the clock that's ticking the loudest and most quickly is the one recording carbon dioxide levels. When the air scrubbers can no longer reduce CO2 levels below a toxic 5% level, a painful inevitable death quickly follows for all the trapped men.
No mystery from the point of view of plot in COLD CHOICES, just a superbly built thriller built around naval technology, politics, cold-war posturing and space age peace-time military maneuvering. COLD CHOICES is a first rate techno-thriller that will have you turning pages just as quickly as you can manage. But as Larry Bond pointed out in the author's note preceding DANGEROUS GROUND, a techno-thriller ought to be much more than a compilation of technical data which anyone can find with proper research. In the case of COLD CHOICES, Bond has done a superb job, not only with individual characterization, but also with a compelling description of submariner culture - their attitudes, their loyalties, their black sense of humour, their fears and their bravery.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
brettt's review
4.0
Larry Bond began his writing career as a co-author with techno-thriller king Tom Clancy of Clancy's 1986 bestseller Red Storm Rising. He's spent quite a bit of time writing his his own since then, and developed the Harpoon military gaming system that's also used by military academies as a training tool.
In Cold Choices, he brings back a character from his earlier Dangerous Ground naval thriller, fighter-pilot-turned-submarine officer Jerry Mitchell. Mitchell is the navigator of the U.S.S. Seawolf, an attack sub that has been ordered to sneak into an area where Russian naval forces often conduct war games and leave behind listening devices to gather information on them. U.S. naval intelligence believes that there will be no Russian vessels in the area at this time of the year, but they are mistaken as the Seawolf is discovered by the new Russian attack submarine Sverodvinsk. Some dangerous close passes by the Sverodvinsk prompt the Seawolf to leave the area, but the Russian captain is not satisfied and his last close pass brings about a collision. The damaged Seawolf limps away towards a port for repairs, but turns around when they learn the Sverodvinsk was even more badly damaged and is marooned on the ocean floor. Politicians ashore in both countries have their own agendas and try to drive them, and not all of those agendas have the rescue of the trapped submariners at heart.
Bond has done an excellent job of creating a good, old-fashioned submarine thriller after the manner of Run Silent Run Deep or Ice Station Zebra. Sailors on both boats display varying degrees of courage and despair, each dealing with the disaster in their own way. It's a meat-and-potatoes kind of read, seasoned with effective characterizations and enough technical detail to help the non-naval reader know what's going on.
Original available here.
In Cold Choices, he brings back a character from his earlier Dangerous Ground naval thriller, fighter-pilot-turned-submarine officer Jerry Mitchell. Mitchell is the navigator of the U.S.S. Seawolf, an attack sub that has been ordered to sneak into an area where Russian naval forces often conduct war games and leave behind listening devices to gather information on them. U.S. naval intelligence believes that there will be no Russian vessels in the area at this time of the year, but they are mistaken as the Seawolf is discovered by the new Russian attack submarine Sverodvinsk. Some dangerous close passes by the Sverodvinsk prompt the Seawolf to leave the area, but the Russian captain is not satisfied and his last close pass brings about a collision. The damaged Seawolf limps away towards a port for repairs, but turns around when they learn the Sverodvinsk was even more badly damaged and is marooned on the ocean floor. Politicians ashore in both countries have their own agendas and try to drive them, and not all of those agendas have the rescue of the trapped submariners at heart.
Bond has done an excellent job of creating a good, old-fashioned submarine thriller after the manner of Run Silent Run Deep or Ice Station Zebra. Sailors on both boats display varying degrees of courage and despair, each dealing with the disaster in their own way. It's a meat-and-potatoes kind of read, seasoned with effective characterizations and enough technical detail to help the non-naval reader know what's going on.
Original available here.
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