Customer Reviews

Scorpion in the Sea: The Goldsborough Incident

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

P.T. Deutermann is both a career Navy surface officer and a gifted storyteller, and it shows in this debut novel. "Scorpion" wisely avoids the technobabble of the likes of Clancy, instead focusing on its mostly well-made characters. Deutermann clearly knows his Navy, plunging his readers into both the workaday world of a warship at sea and the Byzantine political maze of the shore establishment. The technical side is, properly, kept firmly in place as a well-done backdrop. By the novel's riveting finale, sailors and landlubbers alike will understand implicitly the intricacies of modern war at sea and the political games that proceed and follow it. An outstanding first novel by a first-rate author.

I'll admit it - I've become "hooked" on P.J. Deutermann. This is one of his best. Could have been written after 9/11, but was actually done some years before. Authentic dialog, flesh-and-blood characters, accurate naval detail, highly enjoyable.

This book explores the Navy's difficulty in locating and engaging a diesel-electric submarine in shallow water. It's very well written, moves quickly and is enjoyable from end to end.

I served as an ops officer on destroyers during the 60s, and Captain Deutermann knows his stuff. The Forest Sherman class destroyer weapons systems descriptions are right on target, the sensors are accurately named and described, the tactical and communications procedures are exactly right, and the action is totally believable. Not only that, this is a well written novel with excellent character and plot development - not a formula "techno-thriller" like so many writers crank out. I plan to add this book to my home sea-novels library along with the works of Jan de Hartog and others. Thank you, Captain Deutermann.

I've spent a lot of time in the "tin can navy" and can tell you that Deutermann knows his stuff. His ability to describe the machinations of Navy polictics is unparalleled. I cannot recommend his books too highly.

PTD out does himself in this novel. It is clifhanger till the last chapter. It also gives an inside look into the command structure of the Navy.

This book arrived at 5:00 in the evening, and by 8:30 the next morning, I had finished it off. That's right, I didn't sleep all night--I was up reading. It's definitely a page-turner! I enjoyed it so much that I immediately bought four more paperbacks by the same author.

Great story, good, believable characters, and just enough twists and turns to keep you going once you get to the end of each chapter.

This is one of the very few books I've ever acutally finished, and I couldn't help it. This book pulled me in with the character of Mike Mongomery. He's very relatable, especially to me, we have similar personalities. If you like navy/military stories, I HIGHLY recommend this book. You shouldn't be disappointed. It inspired me to get another of his books.

This is one of the finest novels of the military techno-thriller genre that I have read. It is creative, uses a refreshingly different setting, and interesting characters. A great read.

Scorpion in the Sea was a very good novel. It tells of Captain Mike Montgomery and his ship the U.S.S. Goldsborough sent out to investigate a possible Russian submarine in the Mayport opareas. I don't want to give too much away in case you haven't read the novel, but I thought it was very good. Before reading this novel, I also read P.T. Deutermann's Train Man, which was also very good.