Customer Reviews

Voyage of the Gray Wolves

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Review:
Voyage of the Gray Wolves by Steven Wilson
Paperback 352 pages by Pinnacle Books

It is 1944 and the Battle of the North Atlantic is still as rampant as the winter swells. Hitler, Himmler, and others have a grand design that will, in their minds, create a turning point to the war. Their best remaining U-Boat Commander is chosen to lead a squadron of new Type XXI U-Boats against England.

The struggles of this makeshift squadron depleted by the ravages the allies are pouring on Germany make for a great read. They base is a perpetual cloud covered fiord in Norway which was an abandoned fishing village.

The training, problems with the untested boats, supplies, a decrepid tender, untrained crews, and the sudden arrival of
the SS add a great suspense to the book. Those events and the weapon that they are to use make up most of the very good read.

The story also has the approval of Michael DiMercurio and Joe Buff who are also premier submarine novelists.

The books is available at Amazon.com and other outlets. Get it, settle in and read a very good story.

VOYAGE OF THE GRAY WOLVES is a fast, exciting novel full of adventure and daring. Wilson does a magnificent job of basing his story around Guenter Kern, a German U-Boat captain who realizes that Germany is loosing the war quickly. His mission is a long-shot last hope to the ailing country. Kern faces difficult choices throughout the novel as he begins to clearly see how desperate Germany is. He also has to decide how far he is personally ready to go to remain loyal to his homeland despite his growing discouragement and sickness of a terrible war. Ultimately, Wilson does a great job at making the reader relate to and like Kern. Watching Kern as he is forced to make impossible choices will make the reader appreciate the often horrible intricacies that exist in war. This book will be especially enjoyable for those generally interested in the World War II era, but every reader will enjoy getting to know Guenter Kern.

Steven Wilson has written an undersea thriller worthy of attention. My daughter gave me the book and I read it that night. I have long read submariner books from Beach's "Run Silent, Run Deep" to Fluckey's "Thunder Below" with fictional novels thrown in as well. "Gray Wolves" combines "Das Boot" with Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" to give a real feel for the Unterseeboot service and a gives us a rousing story as well.
C R DeArmas Jr

Steven Wilson's "Voyage of the Gray Wolves" grabs you from the first page and does not let you go.

So often, writers are forgiven for bad writing if their story is engaging. Their formulaic and predictable endings are tolerated simply because they write well.

"Voyage of the Gray Wolves" is exceptionally well-written, the story held my interest from beginning to end, and the book actually ends well!

Wilson introduces the reader to characters with souls and personalities. These characters interact with tension, humor, and most importantly, intelligence. The story itself, like its backdrop, the sea, is strong. As the story builds, so does the tension. That tension, as the tale winds down, recedes like an ebb tide... For the first time since I finished "Empire Falls," I did not feel like I was cheated by the way the book ended.

One important note: I do not read military history as a rule, but the book had been recommended to me by a friend I trust. I really didn't have any interest in the subject matter but found myself fascinated with the world of U-boats. I saw U-571 when it came out and was bored to tears. In this book, I was amazed to learn so many interesting facts and trivia about the era, the technology, and a slice of history.

One thing that really surprised me, and I won't reveal the plot twists I am referring to, was how relevant to today's current events this story is. Along these lines, the author does a WONDERFUL job of humanizing the "enemy." Wilson gives you no choice but to form a relationship with the Kreigsmarine's Kern and his U-boat crew, and the British Navy's Land and Hardy.

If you're looking for a book that will hold your interest, no matter what your interests are, I recommend this book highly. My new favorite exclamation, which I hope Mr. Wilson will not mind me appropriating, is "Pennants to Punjabi!"

Cheers,

Adrienne DeArmas

As a fan of World War II historical fiction, I've read a lot of examples in this genre, and their quality ranges from excellent to dismal.
Shortly after beginning "Voyage of the Gray Wolves", I knew that I had found one of the best examples. Steven M. Wilson's craft allows the reader to share in the emotions of the characters and the dialogue, while still making the pulse race during tautly written battle scenes. The fine treatment of the main characters, both Allies and Axis shows that just in real life, war is rarely about absolute villains and heroes. Rather, Wilson will have you deeply engaged in the exciting victories and crushing defeats of the brave men on both sides of conflict.
"Voyage of the Gray Wolves" is a highly recommended read, and stands up well next to other excellent examples, such as "War of the Rats" by David L. Robbins, or "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. I look forward to Wilson's next foray in this genre...

Steven Wilson is a formidably gifted writer and "Voyage of the Gray Wolves" is an exciting, compelling book. Few books I've read in recent years satisfied me as much as this one. Essentially, it is the tale of two seafaring giants, one a German U-Boat commander and the other a British destroyer captain. They eventually meet in the middle of the North Atlantic. The plot is gripping and full of surprises. The characters are wonderfully developed. Wilson's descriptions of both land and sea are so realistic that you easily feel you are on scene. This is a great sea story, a great World War II story and a great all-round action-packed read. Wilson is an artist and this book is a masterpiece.

it takes effort to write a book -- it takes talent to write a good book -- and it takes someone remarkably gifted to write a what-if that makes you think it really happened.

the characters are vivid and soulful, complete from the heart out to the skin, and fascinating. you want to be friends with some and enemies with others, but you are not neutral to any.

as i read the book, i felt as if i were there, living and breathing with them, as hungry as they were, as determined -- and when the book ended i felt as if i was saying goodbye to people, not paper.

while this is not my standard fare, preferring dark fantasy and horror, i was still utterly drawn in and involved. this book does not stand on genres -- it stands as a good story told well by someone who cares.

Wilson is a craftsman and an artist -- i highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good book.

I never heard of the author or the book until a friend recommended that I buy it. Voyage of the Gray Wolves is a fascinating book of what-ifs during World War II. The characters are real and I felt as if I was on the deck of the destroyer or in the U-boat. It's one of those books that once you start reading it, you don't want to put down. I went to the author's website at www.huntersandthehunted.com and found out that he's working on a new book. I recommend Voyage of the Gray Wolves to anyone who enjoys action on the high seas.

A morality story along the lines of Martin Dibner's "The Trouble with Heroes." "Gray Wolves" is tight, suspenseful, and educational about the subsea war on the Atlantic. Worn out in the twilight of the war in 1944, the Brits and Germans fight on. Once again, the men on the front lines prove they are not Nazis but Germans fighting for the Fatherland. Actually, they abhor the SS, who had to have been the worst organization ever thought up by government. I finished the last 100 pages in one sitting and mourned the dead on either side. I came across an unfortunate mistake missed by the editors--where Hartmann orders "speed at desecration." Can't find that page now, but it shows that one or two errors of that kind can actually dislodge the reader's sense of disbelief. It almost did mine.

The book is an OK read. The plot and characters are OK, nothing great, but for seven bucks you can read it and leave it on the plane. I'll give mine to charity since I'll read other books rather than this one twice.