I read this book for several reasons. For me, it satisfied my book challenge reading task #52 an adventure novel. I also love submarine books. The adventure challenge was a difficult one for me. Initially, I thought it was a genre that I really didn't enjoy. When I set about selecting a book for this category, it turns out that I have read so many of what people consider to be adventure novels.
My husband used to be stationed on board both a nuclear submarine and a fast attack. He never could talk about his job, and still doesn't, but you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat. Having no other outlet to satisfy my curiosity, I turned to books about submarines. I have read many. Some of my favorites: Run Silent, Run Deep, Blind Man's Bluff, Scorpion Down, The Ice Diaries and of course, The Hunt for Red October. To Kill the Potemkin now takes it's place among my favorites.
One of the most recent losses of a submarine to the United States Navy was the mysterious sinking of the USS Scorpion back in May of 1968. She was lost with all hands in a mysterious manner. In my opinion, To Kill the Potemkin is excellent conjecture as to what could have happened to Scorpion.
To Kill the Potemkin is about another skipjack class submarine, The Barracuda, sent to the Med on special assignment. While there, she comes across a new class of Russian submarine, the Potemkin. Her assignment becomes to find out as much about the Potemkin that she can. What happens is a series of unfortunate events. I loved this book because the characters are robust and real. The pictures they paint of the otherwise Silent Service, were rich and accurate. I enjoyed that fact that the author wrote this book from both the perspective of the Americans and the Russians. If you, like me, enjoy a good adventure novel, To Kill the Potemkin has it all. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars and I hated to finish it.
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