Customer Reviews

Dark Fathom (Beck Easton Adventure Series #2)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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Dark Fathom by Tom Morrisey traces the action-filled adventures of Beck Easton, as he trails a member of Al-Qaeda in a race to recover a weapon that could take millions of American lives. As he increasingly realizes the urgency of his assignment, the presence of Angela Brower-a business associate turned love interest-complicates matters. Easton's experiences with danger, love, joy, and grief will change him forever.

Fast-paced and suspenseful, the book wastes little time getting into the plot. Readers first meet Easton in the middle of an assassination mission that makes him realize he wants to leave the NSA. But his boss and friend, Bill Spalding, convinces him to take a mission tracking down the Saudi terrorist Ahmed bin Saleen to find out what he is up to. Eventually the mission leads to a life-or-death struggle upon which hangs the fate of millions of lives.

Easton's morality, ingenuity, and style make him a likable character. But he is not a Christian, and guilt haunts him. His relationship with the devout Angela highlights some of the difficulties a Christian faces in a relationship with a non-Christian, as well as the challenge of the double life of an NSA operative.

Overall, the book is very enjoyable. Morrisey's experience and research allow him to give interesting details throughout the story. For example, as a pilot and a diver, Morrisey provides realistic accounts of Easton's adventures in the sea and the air. The book may especially appeal to lovers of action adventures, but it also contains a touch of romance. Older teens and adults of all ages will enjoy Dark Fathom. - Jonathan Young, Christian Book Previews.com

Beck Easton is a software architect and owner of Blue Corner Technologies, a highly profitable encryption company. At least that's what the government wants everyone to think. Beck is actually a cover operative for the government and has traveled the world over on classified missions.

And he's had it with both jobs. His last mission left him questioning what he does in the government's employ, not a good sign. His co-owners of Blue Corner are, against his wishes, taking the company public. When that happens, he's cashing out his shares of stock and retiring to Florida to run a diving business.

But his retirement plans are put on hold when two things happen. The first is when he meets Angel Brower, an interior designer hired to work on the future offices of Blue Corner. Corporate expansion never looked so good.

The second is Ahmed bin Saleen. He is a Saudi terrorist and he has struck pay dirt. Years of searching for an elusive weapon from World War II is about to give his fellow terrorists their long-dreamed of weapon.

The stakes in Beck's cover ops career have never been higher. Failure will kill millions. Success will give him a future he had, up until now, only dreamed of.

Tom Morrisey incorporates little known facts from World War II to write a fast-paced thriller. Dark Fathom is an intense read with an ending that haunted me for several days after I finished it.

Beck Easton wants out. The Navy SEAL is finished after his last black op takes down a drug lord on Christmas Eve before the eyes of the family. His mentor suggests a staged, easy withdrawal from the service. Easy? Nothing this guy does is easy. As his cover, he serves as principal in a Silicon Valley tech dot-com that manages to stay profitable. When Beck's partners decide to re-design the corporate headquarters in a geek-friendly fashion, in comes Angela Brower, specialist in industrial ergonomics. The redesign succeeds wildly, but the interpersonal chemistry fires off with a bang. The challenge? She's a committed Christian, and Beck isn't. According to Angela, this is "a line a God-fearing woman doesn't cross-or even get near." How's a marriage-minded ex-covert-operative to win fair lady when the Creator of heaven and earth stands in the way?

Tom Morrisey knows piloting, diving, and quite a bit about a whole lot of other interesting pastimes. His expertise shows, and lends verisimilitude to a good adventure yarn. At the same time, the romance stays low-key though it always held my attention. Told primarily from the man's point of view, it gives enough insight into the male psyche to be satisfying.

Without inserting a spoiler, I will admit the ending disappointed me. Both this book and its publishing predecessor DEEP BLUE are terrific reads, either for a guy who can tolerate a little romance or a gal who can stomach a smidgen of adventure.

Four stars in my book.

Reviewed by Deb Kinnard

Beck Easton is leading a double life. Most know him as a partner in software company Blue Corner Technologies. Few know him as a member of the National Security Agency. Instead of a supposed business trip for Blue Corner, he's actually on assignment in Columbia assassinating a couple of drug dealers at the opening of Dark Fathom. But he's tired of his double life and ready to cash in. As soon as Blue Corner goes public, he plans to retire and leave his NSA days far behind.

Unbeknownst to Beck, a sinister Al-Qaida plot is quickly falling into place that could kill thousands. The government calls on Beck to do them one last favor--find Ahmed bin Saleen, who they believe is the plot's mastermind. No big deal, his superior tries to persuade him. You won't even need to bring a gun. Beck reluctantly agrees to tackle the job. His search takes him from Berlin to Canandaigua, NY, where he discovers a man murdered and floating beneath the lake's thick ice. Apparently bin Saleen means business.

But it's in Bermuda where the pieces fall into place. According to Dark Fathom's premise, during World War II a Nazi plane carrying a plutonium bomb intended for New York City crashed in the Bermuda Triangle before delivering its "cargo." Ahmed bin Saleen will stop at nothing to find that bomb, and neither will Beck. Armed with the latest underwater searching technology, he and his friends comb the waters for the missing plane as bin Saleen stealthily follows. Will they find the bomb before the terrorists?

Morrisey's definitely done his homework in Dark Fathom, a prequel to his previous novel Deep Blue. Straight from the prologue he had me wondering if Germany really did have a flying-wing jet bomber like the one described (they didn't, according to the author notes), and his sharp eye for specific details brought the story to life. He even personally drew the maps at the beginning of each section.

Beck Easton is an ocean-diving Indiana Jones. The guy's been to sniper school, can fly or drive just about anything, is an accomplished diver, and speaks German, Spanish and French. We watch him put most of these skills to good use in Dark Fathom. Some of the technical descriptions of diving equipment got a little tedious, and the romance subplot might seem a bit tacked on, but neither of these hindered my enjoyment of this bold adventure novel. Perfect for Clive Cussler fans and all those who savor page-turning action.

--Reviewed by C.J. Darlington for Infuze Magazine (http://www.infuzemag.com)

Take some diving, derring-do, and a bit of historical mystery, blend them together with Tom Morrisey's flair for adventure-starved characters...and you get the idea behind "Dark Fathom."

If you haven't read a Beck Easton adventure, "Dark Fathom" will be a treat. If you met Beck in "Deep Blue," you'll get to know more of him in this latest from Morrisey. Beck's past is revealed; the horrors of 9/11 are explored; and spiritual questions are raised.

Morrisey gets better with each book, taking us deeper into his characters' motives, pacing his stories with skill. "Dark Fathom" not only lets us feel the pain of frustration of Beck and Angela, it connects those feelings to our own. This is a thriller with heart and soul; yet at its core, it never forgets that it's a thriller, racing to a satisfying conclusion. I can't wait for more Beck Easton.

This is another GREAT book from Tom Morrisey! I have only cryed at one movie(Joshua) and certinly NO BOOKS, untill now. Dark Fathom is a hard-to-put-down book! LOVED IT!

This is the second book I've read featuring Beck Easton (the first was this book's sequel) and it is an improvement in the diving/technical categories. Here, Easton contemplates leaving government service (he's an NSA agent) for good, but is drawn back in when intelligence reports reveal that an al-Qaeda operative is on U.S. soil and possibly planning an attack with a dirty bomb from World War II.

There is a lot of technical diving information as well as WWII history here, and the author clearly has done his research. The only parts of the book that dragged involved the romantic subplot between Easton and Angela Brower, a Christian. Angela attempts to convert Beck but fails.

In real life, Christians do not date unbelievers; they don't even consider this, and Angela's actions reflect this. Yet, somehow, she dates him and marries him anyway. Come on. If you're going to write an ostensibly Christian novel, at least have the Christians stick to biblical principles and not follow their hormones all the time.

I finished the book in a day. It's not exactly a light read, but it's quite engrossing and its sequel is also very good.