Shadow Divers

Starred review from March 29, 2004
This superlative journalistic narrative tells of John Chatterton and Rich Kohler, two deep-sea wreck divers who in 1991 dove to a mysterious wreck lying at the perilous depth of 230 feet, off the coast of New Jersey. Both had a philosophy of excelling and pushing themselves to the limit; both needed all their philosophy and fitness to proceed once they had identified the wreck as a WWII U-boat. As Kurson, a writer for Esquire
, narrates in this debut, the two divers next undertook a seven-year search for the U-boat's identity inside the wreck, in a multitude of archives and in a host of human memories. Along the way, Chatterton's diving cost him a marriage, and Kohler's love for his German heritage helped turn him into a serious U-boat scholar. The two lost three of their diving companions on the wreck and their mentor, Bill Nagle, to alcoholism. (Chowdhury's The Last Dive
, from HarperPerennial in 2002, covers two of the divers' deaths.) The successful completion of their quest fills in a gap in WWII history—the fate of the Type IX U-boat U-869. Chatterton and Kohler's success satisfied them and a diminishing handful of U-boat survivors. While Kurson doesn't stint on technical detail, lovers of any sort of adventure tale will certainly absorb the author's excellent characterizations, and particularly his balance in describing the combat arm of the Third Reich. Felicitous cooperation between author and subject rings through every page of this rare insightful action narrative. If the publishers are dreaming of another Perfect Storm
, they may get their wish. Agent, Heather Schroder
.7-city author tour; first serial to
Esquire; rights sold in Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the U.K.

March 1, 2004
"Bigger than huge," insists the publicist: efforts by two divers to raise a U-boat from deep waters off the New Jersey coast-where historians insisted no U-boat could be.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Adult/High School -Written with the assistance of the two wreck divers who played major roles in identifying a sunken German U-boat, Kurson paints a dynamic, page-turning picture of determination and compulsion to solve a mystery. Wreck divers risk their lives to find and examine shipwrecks, sometimes retrieving artifacts, but often coming away with just a glimpse of once-majestic ships. So it was with the attempt to determine if unexpectedly large catches of fish off the New Jersey coast reflected the existence of a shipwreck. Teens will be fascinated with the process of locating and identifying the wreck and even making contact with relatives of the original sailors. The wreck was of a vessel that did not appear in any U.S. records of the antisubmarine war. The search of those records provided not only exciting military history, but also valuable information on the evolution of diving. Kurson vividly shows how small groups of determined individuals can extend their reach and achieve goals that many thought impossible. Black-and-white photographs of the original German sailors contrast with color pictures of the search and retrieval of their U-boat and effectively unite the participants yet again." -Ted Woodcock, George Mason University, Arlington, VA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2004
Who knew that German submarine U-869, long thought to have been sunk off Gibraltar in 1945, was actually sunk by its own torpedo less than 60 miles from Brielle, New Jersey? No one--until 1991, when two death-cheating wreck-divers began exploring the boat's wrecked hull, 230 feet underwater. Death-cheating? In the seven years between its discovery and its positive identification, U-869 claimed the lives of three experienced wreck divers and scared away many more. Though Kurson's historical narrative is compelling on its own, it is nearly overshadowed by his adventure story--two brave and driven men chased by deep-water divers' narcosis, decompression sickness, sharks, and an entire wrecked sub full of snags to ensnare divers until their tanks run out. It's also a fascinating look at the sometimes communal, sometimes bitterly competitive psychology of wreck-divers, weekend warriors in wet suits whose dangerous hobby is often an antidote to the frustrations of the workaday world. All of these elements--military history, mystery, action tale, ethnography--combine to make this book very hard to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)