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ericwelch's review
4.0
The Van Zandt is a naval frigate on convoy duty in the Persian Gulf at a time when the Iranian War is in full swing. The new captain, Ben Shaker, is determined to avoid a repeat of the loss of his earlier command, a destroyer that was sunk by an Iranian missile. Men had died because they were wearing the new, sharp-looking polyester clothes that melted onto the skin during fire fighting, and had their feet horribly burned because they had abandoned the standard leather shoes for the more flammable cordovan that held a shine better.
Dan Lenson, a character from an earlier novel (The Circle) and maybe the unluckiest officer in the Navy, having survived an Arctic sinking and the attendant inquiry, is the XO on the Van Zandt. Shaker is out for revenge, and that leads to a confrontation between Lenson and Shaker as the ship becomes a pawn in U.S. gunboat diplomacy.
Interestingly, readers at Amazon.com validated my observation that if you like Tom Clancy, you will not like Poyer. Clancy is much more escapist, whereas Poyer attempts to realistically portray what it is like working on a naval vessel during the late 20th century. Poyer is a former naval officer, and the books reflect that. A scene describing the fire-fighting efforts after a ship has been hit by a missile washorrifyingly realistic. Clancy hasn’t delivered since The Hunt for Red October, which was great, and he’s become a mere shill for the high-technology, can’t-do-anything-wrong-superman military. As one reader noted: “Clancy is escapism. Poyer is life.”
Another character is Blair, an investigator for Senator Talmadge on the House Armed Services Committee. She’s in the Middle East on a fact-finding tour, trying to decide if the billions being spent on the Navy are being appropriated for the right kind of equipment. The major threat to the shipping lanes is coming from small torpedo/gunboats that don’t even show up on radar, and can scurry back to safe ports in Iran or Iraq. As a result of their harassment, insurance rates are escalating for tankers going through the Straits of Hormuz, and the Navy seems unable to do much about it. There are also rumors of a small submarine that is unaccounted for. It was purchased by Iran from Germany, but can’t be found where it should be, and sonar does not work well in the shallow waters of the Gulf.
Then there is the human element. The captain of the Van Zandt has his own grudges, one of the corpsmen is handing out drugs to make friends and feed his own addiction, and the helicopter pilots have personal problems of their own. Despite his loyalty to the captain, when Lenson discovers the captain and the gunnery officer attempting to override the safety mechanisms and fire off a nuclear missile at Iran following the destruction of the ship's helicopter by an Iranian gunboat, he aborts their efforts. That leads to an investigation and a suicidal retaliatory raid on a hidden Iranian port by the Van Zandt and another American destroyer.
Pure escapist fiction, but it's hard to knock nautical realism.
Dan Lenson, a character from an earlier novel (The Circle) and maybe the unluckiest officer in the Navy, having survived an Arctic sinking and the attendant inquiry, is the XO on the Van Zandt. Shaker is out for revenge, and that leads to a confrontation between Lenson and Shaker as the ship becomes a pawn in U.S. gunboat diplomacy.
Interestingly, readers at Amazon.com validated my observation that if you like Tom Clancy, you will not like Poyer. Clancy is much more escapist, whereas Poyer attempts to realistically portray what it is like working on a naval vessel during the late 20th century. Poyer is a former naval officer, and the books reflect that. A scene describing the fire-fighting efforts after a ship has been hit by a missile washorrifyingly realistic. Clancy hasn’t delivered since The Hunt for Red October, which was great, and he’s become a mere shill for the high-technology, can’t-do-anything-wrong-superman military. As one reader noted: “Clancy is escapism. Poyer is life.”
Another character is Blair, an investigator for Senator Talmadge on the House Armed Services Committee. She’s in the Middle East on a fact-finding tour, trying to decide if the billions being spent on the Navy are being appropriated for the right kind of equipment. The major threat to the shipping lanes is coming from small torpedo/gunboats that don’t even show up on radar, and can scurry back to safe ports in Iran or Iraq. As a result of their harassment, insurance rates are escalating for tankers going through the Straits of Hormuz, and the Navy seems unable to do much about it. There are also rumors of a small submarine that is unaccounted for. It was purchased by Iran from Germany, but can’t be found where it should be, and sonar does not work well in the shallow waters of the Gulf.
Then there is the human element. The captain of the Van Zandt has his own grudges, one of the corpsmen is handing out drugs to make friends and feed his own addiction, and the helicopter pilots have personal problems of their own. Despite his loyalty to the captain, when Lenson discovers the captain and the gunnery officer attempting to override the safety mechanisms and fire off a nuclear missile at Iran following the destruction of the ship's helicopter by an Iranian gunboat, he aborts their efforts. That leads to an investigation and a suicidal retaliatory raid on a hidden Iranian port by the Van Zandt and another American destroyer.
Pure escapist fiction, but it's hard to knock nautical realism.
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