Deep Sound Channel

July 3, 2000
Exciting battle scenes, fascinating naval maneuvers and accessible technical data are offset by clich d villains and tenuous narrative logic in this debut submarine warfare thriller set in the year 2011. World War III has begun, and Germany and South Africa, armed with nuclear weapons from a "neutral" Russia, are allied against the U.S. and Britain. The brunt of the war is borne by naval forces in deadly nuclear combat. Lt. Comdr. Jeffrey Fuller finds his state-of-the-art submarine, the U.S.S. Challenger, pulled from battle duty to run a covert team of Navy SEALs into Durban, South Africa. The mission: to destroy the secret lab where an ultra-lethal biological weapon is being perfected. Ilse Reebeck, a Durban marine biologist who worked at the lab until her family was executed in a Boer coup, is along as sonar consultant, and it is she who will lead the raid. But first Challenger must navigate a heavily mined port and evade enemy tracking devices and nuclear torpedo attacks launched by its South African counterpart under the command of Capt. Jan ter Horst. The fearless ter Horst, who is Ilse Reebeck's former lover, is the epitome of arrogant evil; their relationship adds a personal edge to the struggle. Buff scripts suspenseful submarine action and invents clever futuristic naval tricks as Challenger and its crew play dueling subs with ter Horst's vessel and improvise on the Durban raid. The inevitable romance is well handled, but the villains are straight from central casting, as are many of the good guys. A satisfying, cliff-hanging ending suggests a sequel.

May 1, 2000
It is 2011, and the world is at war. Fascist coups in Germany and South Africa have created an unholy axis that is fighting the United States and her allies. Tactical nukes are used by both sides with great loss of life. This is a great premise, and Buff knows weapons and warfare. However, his descriptions are overly technical, his characters one-dimensional, and the nontechnical dialog trite. Nor is the overall premise plausible. For instance, it is unlikely that Germany, a traditional land power, would be willing and able to fight and sustain a major land war in southern Africa. Confronting defeat, the Axis plans biological warfare measures that Lt. Commander Jeff Fuller and the obligatory gorgeous blonde scientist set out to forestall. Their success is almost too easy, and the subsequent submarine chase is confusing. The ending implies a sequel; one hopes it is torpedoed. For larger collections.--Robert Convoy, Warren, MI

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2000
An unholy alliance between South Africa and Germany in the year 2011 leads to a high-tech war at sea between this new Axis and NATO. Nuclear-tipped missiles are the weapons of choice, and nuclear submarines are the prime delivery vehicles. Add deadly biological warfare, toss in a touch of romance, and you have a page-turner that will keep technothriller fans at sea most of the night. Buff's fast-paced prose gets the job done effectively, and the glossary helps those unfamiliar with military technobabble. Buff's protagonist is Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Fuller, whose mission is to take out the South African lab where the bad guys are cooking up a new bioweapon that will destroy anyone and anything that gets in the way of their bid for world domination. The catch is that the job must be done without wiping out thousands of civilians. Good summer reading for the military-fiction addict. ((Reviewed May 1, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)