China Sea (Tales of the Modern Navy) [Hardcover]

David Poyer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tales of the Modern Navy | Publication Date: February 22, 2000

David Poyer's cycle of modern Navy tales ranks among the finest nautical fiction of our time. With China Sea, his self-doubting protagonist Daniel V. Lenson faces for the first time the unforgiving challenge of command at sea.

Ordered to relieve an alcoholic skipper, Dan finds he has inherited a damaged ship, an untrustworthy crew, and an ambiguous mission. He is to take the USS Oliver C. Gaddis, soon to become the PNS Tughril, on her final voyage to be donated to Pakistan. But in Kirachi, Dan gets new orders: take Gaddis still further east, and operate against modern pirates preying on commercial shipping in the remote, dangerous South China Sea.

Pursuing an elusive and shadowy foe into an exotic, isolated world of hazardous reefs and tropical islands, Dan gradually discerns a larger purpose behind his supposed objective. Who are these "pirates?" What expansionist cunning supports them? Abandoned by the Navy, threatened by a mutinous crew, a murderous shipmate, and an approaching typhoon, Gaddis struggles to survive without crossing the shadow-line herself.

Filled with suspense, battle, and unforgettable descriptions of the sea's beauty and violence, China Sea continues Dan Lenson's star-crossed career in what Booklist calls, "One of the outstanding bodies of nautical fiction during the last half-century."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An American frigate clashes with a Chinese pirate warship in Poyer's latest nautical adventure, which begins innocuously enough when Dan Lenson takes command of the USS Gaddis, an embattled vessel that has just been donated to Pakistan. Lenson is supposed to captain the ship only to its final destination, where his onboard Pakistani counterpart is scheduled to take over, but a disastrous emergency rescue of an Egyptian vessel near the Suez Canal reveals the tension between the American and Pakistani crews and their unease with the terms of the donation. Saddled with a ragtag, mutinous crew, Lenson is further plagued by an unidentified serial killer on board, who continues to elude capture. The voyage takes yet another strange turn when the captain gets new orders to head for China, and finds his ship involved in an international mission to curb a Chinese pirate operation while the rest of the world watches the U.S. take on Saddam Hussein. As the operation progresses, Lenson realizes he is being steered toward a final confrontation with a Chinese warship, knowing full well that if he loses the battle, the existence of his mission will be disavowed by his superiors. Poyer displays a fine sense of pace and plot when the focus is on seagoing affairs, and the battle scenes are scintillating and satisfying. But several nagging problems surface: the author occasionally gets caught up in nautical jargon; the writing veers toward cliche when the narrative drifts from the ship's maneuvers; and several plot machinations involving a relatively insignificant incident strain credulity. Poyer is a master of the genre, but this title lacks the consistency of his best work. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In his latest book, Poyer (The Circle) has brought back Dan Lenson and given him first command. It is 1990-91, at the start of the Gulf War. The navy, ready to discard the U.S.S. Gaddis, has asked Lenson to ready the ship for a final voyage. Accompanied by a crew of misfits and brigrats, Lenson endures a journey filled with bungling allies, hurricanes, a cronic supply problem, and piracy. THe crew is ready to mutiny - the vagueness of his orders and a disgruntled executive officer have undermined Lenson's authority. And to top it all off, Lenson soon realizes that one of his crew is committing murders in every port. Poyer's characters are as good as ever, and the action scenes are lively, but the book's lulls - passages filled with characters repeating themselves and to command - make for painful reading at times. Still, this is recommended for larger fiction collections.
Patrick J. Wall, University City
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312202873
• ISBN-13: 978-0312202873
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,593,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars China Sea, February 2, 2000

By 

"don4sail" - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Sea (Tales of the Modern Navy) (Hardcover)

David Poyer is a master story teller and in China Sea he continues his saga of Dan Lenson in much the same fashion as C.S. Forester with his Hornblower series and Patrick O'Brian and his Jack Aubrey works but with a modern twist. His storm scene descriptions are real and to this sailor who has sailed through several typhoons in small naval vessels as well as his own small sailboat, the power of the sea comes crashing through. For ten years my wife and sailed the waters of the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea and the western Pacific. The attacks by pirates are real, we having been through two ourselves and have had friends and acquaintences injured and killed, their possessions stolen, boats stripped or sunk. Poyer describes the village life in the Philippines as it is today on the some 1700 inhabited islands of that archepelago, islands so remote the people draw their water from wells or are forced to get it by banca from a larger island; where electricity is unknown or is supplied by a small generator. The tension of a small, nearly mutinous crew and the doubts and uncertainties of Dan Lenson learning command leadership is brilliantly laid out. I can't wait for Poyer's next story of the greening of LCDR Dan Lenson.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Poyer Deserves More!, July 27, 2000

By 

J. Melko (Miamisburg, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: China Sea (Tales of the Modern Navy) (Hardcover)

I become rather annoyed when the professional reviewers emphasize the accuracy of David Poyer's Navy expertise and descriptions. As someone who knows next to nothing about the Navy or seamanship or whatever, Poyer has nevertheless caught my attention as a masterful writer, a challenging thinker, and an insightful explorer of leadership within the context of human nature.

Poyer has always been an artistically admirable writer. If you've already read China Sea, return to Prologue 3 on page 11. As horrible as what it describes is, Poyer's prose is gorgeous, reminiscent of what made me pay special attention to him in another of his novels, As the Wolf Loves Winter. Poyer proves even in this small passage that he can consistently hit the artistic mark that Thomas Harris set in Silence of the Lambs.

Poyer's series hero, Dan Lenson, has evolved from a relatively innocent follower to a seasoned, wise, yet renegade leader. He struggles always to be faithful to his own commanders, yet his sense of loyalty and commitment brings him face to face, again and again, with the vagaries of human frailty. He is the adherent to the black-and-white code of Navy tradition that forever proves inadequate to contain the ambitions and passions of human leaders. And yet even as Lenson suffers professionally, he prevails in his belief that there is absolute truth somewhere out there.

The only character I can think of in another modern novel series who has been as exquisitely treated as Poyer's Dan Lenson is in the Lawrence Block series, Matt Scudder. Lenson's experiences and the effect they have on the ongoing development of his character are razor-sharp in every novel. Lenson feels like an old friend from whom I've heard many intimate thoughts, and he seems to be as complex and alive as any person I've ever known.

So many of Poyer's professional reviews focus on the realism of the Navy experience he describes, but what I am fascinated by is the realism of the human heart in the reality of leadership and command that Poyer portrays with such excellence.

Keep it up, David! I figure I'm going to retire right along with Lenson!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fantastic Poyer read!, February 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: China Sea (Tales of the Modern Navy) (Hardcover)

I was swept away into the adventure of the China Sea, living vicariously every exciting moment in Poyer's latest (and great) book. I'll never live such adventure so I'm terribly grateful to Poyer for allowing me to participate, if only on the printed page.

I did notice that the book's flap copy did a disservice to Poyer when they referred to his "star-crossed" career. I'm sure they meant it as a compliment (like "star-studded") but star-crossed actually means "destined to an unhappy fate, sure to end up in misfortune." Check out the dictionary when you write flap copy, publisher! Because David Poyer is definitely star studded and his books are going to be around for a long, long time.