Product Description

The mine is an impartial killer, and a lethal challenge to any volunteer in the Special Countermeasures of the Royal Navy. They are brave, lonely men with something to prove or nothing left to lose. Lieutenant-Commander David Masters, haunted by a split second glimpse of the mine that destroyed his first and only command, H.M. Submarine Tornado, now defuses 'the beast' on land and teaches the same deadly science to others who too often die in the attempt. Lieutenant Chris Foley, minelaying off an enemy coast in ML366, rolls on an uneasy sea with a release bracket sheared and a lie mine jammed, and hears the menacing growl of approaching E-boats. And Sub-Lieutenant Michael Lincoln, hailed as a hero, dreads exposure as a coward even more than the unexpected booby-trap, or the gentle whirr of the activated fuse marking the last twelve seconds of his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118932 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Sunday Times
'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction’

About the Author
Douglas Reeman did convoy duty in the navy in the Atlantic, the Arctic, and the North Sea. He has written over thirty novels under his own name and more than twenty bestselling historical novels featuring Richard Bolitho under the pseudonym Alexander Kent.

Customer Reviews

Firebrand
This is the first Douglas Reeman book I've read even though I've been a fan of his books under Alexander Kent for some time. And first off I have to say that I was surprised by how different this book was to the Richard Bolitho novels. Obviously there's about 125 years between the subjects, this book being set during WW2, but the style seemed darker and more sorrowful, less of the gung ho, charge in with all guns blazing attitude. It does have its moments of high drama but the author does write a lot in this book without seeming to say much, its only after several chapters that I realised that he was building a connection between me and the characters, inviting me, slowly but surely to actually care about what happens to them. There are two main male leads, Chris Foley a Royal Navy Lieutenant in command of a small coastal gun boat and Lieutenant Commander David Masters, a one time submariner until a harrowing tragedy leaves him with something to prove and a death wish it seems as an expert in the defusing of land mines and unexploded bombs. Reeman builds up each character slowly almost like a gradual introduction, succeeding in bringing each to life. But the story really begins to take shape and gets a hold when each man is drawn to a woman, one a member of the W.R.N.S who owes her life to the courage of Foley, whilst Masters becomes intrigued and captivated by a mysterious but beautiful stranger who is somehow involved in military matters at a high level. Relationships in the time of war are always a risky undertaking and long before this stories conclusion, it seemed only too obvious as to how things were going to end, but with just 4 pages to go, the author quite brilliantly to my mind, turned the whole story round, I just never saw the the end coming in the way it finally panned out. So all in all a great read, thoroughly absorbing and full of fascinating detail and atmosphere befitting the time, I'll certainly be reading more books by Douglas Reeman.