Product Description

This is set in 2007. The strait of Hormuz is ablaze with the wreckage of three gigantic supertankers. World oil prices skyrocket. US Military Intelligence concludes that behind this catastrophe at the gateway to the Gulf stands Iran, assisted by an expansionist China. The US Navy thunders across Hormuz. The Presidents National Security Adviser, Admiral Arnold Morgan, threatens the Iranian Navy with annihilation. Then he rounds on China, unleashing the US Navy SEALS to deal mortal blows to China's ambitions in the Indian Ocean. The scenario is lethal as the SEAL try to fight their way out of the swamps of Burma...and that's when the Commanding Officer of the nuclear submarine USS Shark throws the entire operation into jeopardy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208036 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Veteran techno-thriller writer Robinson's fifth novel The Shark Mutiny pairs Arnold Morgan, the ageing but still powerful national security adviser who stars in the author's previous titles (Nimitz Class, Kilo Class) with a new young naval intelligence officer named Ramshawe--one of the few characters with more personality than the military hardware on which Robinson lavishes most of his attention in this somewhat pedestrian tale.

Ramshawe's commanding officer ignores his warnings about a Russian airplane carrying a lethal cargo of sea mines to a Chinese naval base and the subsequent movement of Chinese warships flying the flag of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, even when an American oil tanker explodes in the Persian Gulf. Unable to convince his Admiral that the events are connected, the junior hotshot ignores the chain of command and takes his suspicions to Morgan. When more oil tankers blow up and it becomes clear that the Chinese have mined the strait in order to drive oil prices up and destabilise the economy, Morgan deploys the US Navy to the Gulf. Included in the force are a couple of SEAL teams on a submarine--but the sub is commanded by a deranged captain who believes he's the reincarnated spirit of the French naval officer defeated by Nelson at Trafalgar, so the SEALs are forced to stage a mutiny in order to carry out their mission. Meanwhile, it turns out China has another target in its sights, halfway around the world: its neighbour Taiwan. So the Taiwanese air force must fight off the attack on its territory with no help from the US Navy, which is committed in the Gulf.

There's enough weaponry and military manoeuvring here to keep fans of Clancy, Coonts, and Dale Brown happy, but it may be past time for the curmudgeonly Morgan to retire and let a new series hero like Ramshawe take over. --Jane Adams, Amazon.com

Review
Oil prices rocket after a series of massive underwater explosions has left three huge oil tankers burning fiercely in the Strait of Hormuz. US military intelligence concludes that with China's help, Iran has carried out its threat to lay a minefield across the narrow seaway. An American task force plans to eliminate China's brand new oil refinery and flatten their new Burmese navy base. The Navy SEALs go in but are soon on the run. The commander of the submarine USS Shark must decide whether to risk the ship to save a handful of men.

CARLO D’ESTE
‘A master craftsmen of the techno-thriller. No one does it better, not even Tom Clancy.’

Customer Reviews

Contrived imitation of Clancy at his best
For a book titled the Shark "Mutiny". The actual mutiny seemed to be a very shallow and incidental plot line that could have easily been dispensed with. Thus streamlining the story greatly and perhaps resulting in a slightly more satisfying conclusion.

I'm afraid that, despite the undoubted intensive research the author has put in, that this book does not quite match up to the benchmark works of Clancy or Larry Bond.

The lack of comprehension on basic naval concepts such as employment of minefields and a seeming ignorance of strategic matters specifically in the USN/Taiwan theatre, went a long way to ruining the story for me. With a Naval Advisor of the stature of Adm. Woodward (whom it seems Robinson must make some sycophantic reference to in every volume he produces) such mistakes are both suprising and disappointing.

All told probably an entertaining read for the uninitiated, but, certainly is not as good as it could, or perhaps should, have been with just a little more attention to detail.

Utter bilge
Befoe I start I should point out that this sort of book would normally never register on my radar but it's amazing what lengths one is driven to when on a rainy camping holiday in Cumbria and the options are limited. Such was my initiation into the world of post 9/11 military thrillers.

I'll be brief - badly written, rubbish dialogue and utterly laughable low-brow yarn of comic-book America taking on the evil heathens from foreign countries and keeping the free world safe. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it is probably the worst book I've ever read. Mutiny On The Buses is not only more plausible but has more dramatic tension and characterisation than this inane drivel. Shark Mutiny? I can think of another word beginning with "sh" that describes this mutiny better.

An amazingly bad book
This is really a five-black hole book. Clearly written to cash in on the post-9/11 US audience, it is trite, gung-ho and racially insulting (many references to "towelheads" and "Chinks"). The US is pure and wholesome and can do nothing wrong, the nasties are bad, bad, bad and can do nothing right. The actual "mutiny" of the title is a bizarre appendage at the end of a longish book, and by this time you've lost all interest in both story and characters and are reading out of sheer determination because you paid good money for this garbage and you are desperately trying to get something slightly more closely approaching your money's worth. I personally have read my last Robinson.