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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written story, July 9, 2008
Marine architect Hannah Bryson is on top of her game when she's contracted to inspect the Soviet submarine, Silent Thunder, which has recently been acquired by a U.S. maritime museum. Her task is to ready the nuclear attack sub for public exhibition. Hannah's brother and frequent partner, joins her to complete the project.
It's a simple stop-gap job meant to fill a couple of weeks before she moves on to something else. Simple. Until it goes horribly wrong when Silent Thunder and all souls aboard suffer a deadly attack.
Determined to discover the identity and deal with whoever is responsible, Hannah finds herself straddling a fine line between Russian connections and the CIA, wondering who she can trust.
The mother-son Johansen writing team has put together an engrossing read. Detail and action, together with a solid plot, bring this well written co-effort together into a story that will absorb you. A few wonderful twists keep the forward propulsion working, and the interaction between Hannah and a dangerous, driven man with no compulsion to follow the rules, keeps the reader wondering.
Silent Thunder should be on everyone's reading list. It's sure to be on the New York Time's list.
Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Full Speed Ahead Action Tale, August 7, 2008
Iris Johansen fans know her for the Eve Duncan suspense thrillers and for the blistering reads she delivers with every book. I have to mark time on my calendar to sit down with a new book because I know I won't want to have to get up. SILENT THUNDER proved to be another grab-you-by-the-throat dash that pulled me along on a frantic chase for a deadly puzzle piece.
Although novelist Roy Johansen teamed up with his mother for this one, I couldn't tell much difference. Evidently Mom's taught son a lot of her moves and he can step right in without missing a beat.
I was intrigued by the choice of subject matter in the novel. I wouldn't have figured the author for having any real interest in or knowledge of nuclear submarines, but they obviously did their homework and had worked out they wanted to do. Johansen has researched many fields for her books, so this one shouldn't have come as a surprise.
Hannah Bryson is an architect specializing in marine vessels. Her work on the TITANIC brought her to national attention and catapulted her career into an international theater. The work she was doing on SILENT THUNDER, a decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear attack submarine, was supposed to be a short gig and didn't involve anything big. She finds out too late that the mystery and danger that followed the submarine and its commander through the last years of the Cold War haven't been completely eroded by time. That lesson costs Hannah more than she ever would have risked had she known.
Now, instead of walking away from a simple job, Hannah goes over the submarine with a fine-toothed comb and ferrets out crumbs of the much larger secret held within the craft. On the run for her life, not knowing exactly who she can trust, Hannah seeks revenge on the people that brought pain into her life.
As usual, Iris Johansen's characters are a little on the thin side, but evolving them any more would have slowed the breakneck pacing that moves from event to event and from locale to locale. She writes books that hammer her readers with curiosity and tension, driving them to keep turning pages.
My wife and I both read this one and enjoyed it a lot. The characters were fun, and we didn't mind Hannah's superhuman photographic memory (though she and I haven't met anyone with that ability yet). And we both stayed with the book until we turned the final pages. That's about the best compliment a reader can offer an author.
Roy Johansen is an established, Edgar Award-winning author in his own right, and Iris has delivered a steady stream of NEW YORK TIMES bestsellers. Iris usually writes a couple novels a year, one of them sometimes featuring series regular Eve Duncan. It'll be interesting to see if mother and son continue to write together, but if they do, they've definitely got a winning blend.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great way to get lost in political intrigue, July 17, 2008
What could be held on an old Russian submarine that could be worth killing anyone who got in the way? That's what Hannah Bryson has to find out for herself, even if it put her in mortal danger. Her desperate search leads her on an adventure that keeps her heart pounding 24/7. Readers who love fast-paced mysteries and international espionage will really enjoy this novel.
Hannah is an intelligent and driven woman. She has a photographic memory. She uses that skill and her deep interest in submarines and other water vessels to create a unique niche for herself and her business. Her work on the wreckage of the Titanic caught the eye of the State Department when the Maritime Museum purchased Silent Thunder, a decommissioned Russian sub. When is accepts the job of verifying the safety of the sub to hold museum patrons, she's not given any idea of the danger that would surround her and her team. When tragedy strikes, Hannah turns her rage into action. she's not going to let the United State's government prevent her from seeking justice. She doesn't accept the State Department's warning when she teams up with the mysterious Kirov. She trusts her instincts and won't let anyone stand in her way of solving the mystery of the Silent Thunder.
Silent Thunder is written by a mother son team: Iris and Roy Johansen. I had never heard of these authors before receiving this book. I can't recall ever having read a novel written by multiple authors and I was intrigued to see how they would pull it off. I also made it a game for myself to try to discover parts of the book written by one versus the other. I can honestly say that there wasn't one part of this book that didn't fit with the rest. I was impressed by how they came together to write this story. I am also now looking forward to reading their solo work. I hope that those novels are just as much fun.
It took me less than 48 hours to finish this novel. The world of submarines and the former Russian navy came alive. This is the book for you if you are interested in mysteries involving political intrigue. If this isn't something you generally choose to read but you enjoy reading novels with strong female lead characters, don't let this book pass you by. Hannah is a wonderful character and I hope to meet up with her again in the future. I think you will, too.
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