The Shark Mutiny is author Patrick Robinson’s fifth foray into the inner workings of the US Navy. With expert advice, the story is very rich in technical details, and realism. The plot unfolds as the Chinese and their Iranian allies lay a minefield across the Strait of Hormuz, which shuts down the flow of all Persian Gulf oil. As in his other books in this series, Vice Admiral Arnold Morgan (National Security Adviser) is the President’s right hand man in orchestrating the US’ response to this dire situation.What follows is well told story, with hardly any lapse in the breakneck speed of action. Of course, the US Navy makes a large show of force, including the USS Shark, a submarine on her last tour of duty. SEAL teams get dispatched, including some familiar players including Commander Rick Hunter, and “Rattlesnake” Davies, which have appeared in some of Robinson’s previous novels. The SEAL’s live up to their official motto of “most of the world’s problems can be solved with high impact explosives.”
In my opinion, this is one of the stronger novels in the series, although I have enjoyed them all. The geopolitical realism is great, and there is enough grit inserted to make this believable. While the novel follows a formula, each one introduces some new twists that keep us coming back for more. In The Shark Mutiny, this includes a Naval Court of Inquiry at the end (somewhat reminiscent of Poyer’s The Circle). For readers looking for the naval version of Tom Clancy, Patrick Robinson and The Shark Mutiny is it. If you’re new to this series, clicking on the link above will take you to the author’s website where you can get the order of the novels (there is a loose progression, but purists should read them in order).
Overall Grade: A
Also by Robinson:
Scimitar SL-2
Hunter Killer
3 comments:
But wasn't the ending somewhat of a letdown? The fact is that Donald Reid's judgment was impaired so his order was unreasonable. Robinson making the distinction he did that Reid's fantasy was irrelevant sort of misses the point.
I didn't think the ending was a letdown. Reid as the skipper of the sub had the responsibility to protect his boat. You can certainly argue his side of things.
I am now on Page 13 of the book. So far he has placed the White House at 1400 Pennsylvania Ave, he has described Ted Kennedy as a "natural leader among such men" as Admirals and Generals, he describes the "Great Hall of the People" as the largest government building in the world, with 561,800 square feet.
I knew these were errors when I crossed them, and a little research shows how great the errors are:
The White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Ted Kennedy is, at best, disliked by senior officers, and he has little regard for them.
The "Great Hall of the People" has 1,849,239 square feet of floor space, which is a bit more than one-fourth of the 6,636,360 square feet in the Pentagon - which is the largest office building in the world - government or non-government.
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