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The Dragon In The Sea by Frank Herbert
01/05/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR/Forge. 268 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $16.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-1774-5. Buy The Dragon In The Sea in the USA - or Buy The Dragon In The Sea in the UK  check out website: www.tor-forge.com
It's been a little while since I read 'The Dragon In The Sea' by Frank Herbert. Even more remarkable for a book written some fifty-one years ago still holds up remarkably well. The title as with a lot of quotes in the book are from the Bible.
Set in the near future, the world has fallen apart after a nuclear war. The East and West are at loggerheads but both need oil to survive. To this end, western nuclear submarines are sent to an east continental shelf to obtain supplies. Unfortunately, the past twenty missions have never returned. One that did, the Fenian Ram S1881, returns with one of its officers insane. To find out whether there are spies aboard or the crew cracked up under the strain, psychologist Johnny Ramsay is prepped and sent along on the subtug's next mission.
These subs only require a four-man crew but have to work at depth alone, evading attacks from the enemies and coping with the pressure. This book is not for the claustrophobic. Frank Herbert really puts you into this situation and shows the type of person required to live benneath the waves. These can range from differences in air mixtures to dealing with the nuclear reactor. Stress levels should go through the roof yet Captain Harvey Sparrow seems to run things very calmly as Ramsay discovers from his secret instruments. When a dead body is found near one of the outlets to the nuclear reactor, everyone becomes suspicious of each other, especially of the new boy, Ramsay.
This is the kind of book that you read and wonder why no one has thought to make as a film. The characters are realistically depicted and it's a super-tense situation. It should be required reading for any neo-writer who wants to understand good storytelling. If I have to be critical of anything is that the ending seems somewhat abridged but back when it was written few books reached beyond the 200 page mark.
As this book's been out of print for twenty years now, many of the newer generations are unlikely to have come across it. Don't miss this opportunity.
GF Willmetts
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