The Baikal is a Typhoon-class Russian ballistic missile submarine. It’s huge, the size of a WW II aircraft carrier, and the United States paid Russia to destroy as part of the reduction of nuclear weapons. The Chinese, eager to force a confrontation over Taiwan, have their own plans for the sub. They have paid corrupt Russian officials to deliver the sub to them, and, unbeknownst to the sub’s volunteer crew, it’s loaded with 20 nuclear tipped ballistic missiles. (This puzzled me as the sub would have trimmed differently with all that weight on board; surely the captain would have noticed the difference. Ah well, it’s fiction.) There’s another sub in the water, the Portland, an American Los Angeles-class attack sub with a dysfunctional captain, a rebellious crew, and a woman lieutenant who speaks Russian. She and the captain, commander Vann, who has a very checkered past, get off to a bad start, and things go downhill from there. Everyone seems to have an ax to grind. An admiral at Norfolk wants Vann to prevent the Russian sub from making it through the Bering Straits, and issues orders with enough leeway to give the Vann an excuse to torpedo the Russian sub. Lots of interesting maneuvering under the ice and tricks to fool sonar.
The issue of women aboard subs is not handled with any subtlety. Scavello, the female Lieutenant, seems to have little to do and the enlisted men nothing better than to complain about the soap she uses. White does a nice job of portraying the devastation and poverty facing the Russian Navy, in fact the Russians come across much better than the Americans.
If you liked The Hunt for Red October (I did, about the only Clancy I do like,) you’ll love this cat-and-mouse sub chase and the little assorted side-plots. Several Amazon reviewers compained that the book was a mish-mash of Clancy's novel and Crimson Tide. Picky, picky. I love the technical detail, the more the merrier.
Robin White is listed as the co-author of the very excellent Hostile Waters with Peter Huchthausen. I could not verify that and the Huchthausen book lists an R. Alan White. If anyone knows if these authors are the same, I'd appreciate knowing.
