Reviews of My Work

Latest Reviews of "The Voyage of the Stingray"

Reviewed by D. H. Grim

(USN Submarine Service, Ret.)

This is why it is called the Silent Service and why the crews are called the Quiet Professionals. This is not a techno-drama story filled with rads per hour or blast radius calculations. You may find the word reactor used possibly three times. This is a geo-political what-if story that links the highest levels of US Naval Submarine Command, a murdered USN submarine Captain and a Mossad controlled doppelganger who has penetrated deep into Iran (and is then successfully extracted by the Stingray and Seal Team Ten operators).

The years of preparation required by the Agent and the unresolved mysteries surrounding the possible death of Mr. X and the murder of Capt. Joe Moreno leave you wondering if this could really happen or even more chilling - has it already? Mobsters, murderers, and war criminals have tried using plastic surgery to disguise their identities but what if you had a covert operative who needed no disguise? What if nature truly provided you with such man who only needed time to learn, mimic and study the life of the man he is about to replace, what could or would any government do with such an asset?

The Stingray is rushed out of new construction and into action at a pace far faster than Captain Woodbridge or Admiral Towner are truly comfortable with, but the call has gone out and the Boat and her crew must respond at flank speed. Stingray’s newly developed technology allows it to position its self underneath surface vessels, so that it can make covert entries into harbors, submerged and nearly undetectable. Its classified structure makes Stingray nearly an immovable object in the sea, allowing for station keeping that will provide superior support for lockout operations while remaining nearly invisible and undetectable.

Come meet Dr. Gross and Mr. Roth and learn how creative solutions are found to the most complex of US Navy bureaucratic problems.

This book is a fast and easy read. Enjoy it for the story that it is. The backdrop is contemporary and the state actors are real, as are the geopolitical implications.

As someone once said, “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know that we don't know”. He could have been speaking of the Stingray, but then again, we don't know.

I rate this book at 3 cigars and 3 bourbons, which is pretty darn good!