The Bomb Ship

Richard Mariner #4

by Peter Tonkin

Richard Mariner has commissioned twin ships designed to transport nuclear waste across the Atlantic. But bad luck and weather trap one behind ice in imminent danger of being crushed. The other goes to help - unaware that the bomb at the ships' launch has done more damage than anyone suspects.

608 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

About the author

Peter Tonkin's first novel, KILLER, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.

More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."

Reviews

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bomb Ship by Peter Tonkin is the 4th book in the Richard Mariner maritime thriller series set in the late 20th century. I recommend reading this series in order, as key relationships between main characters evolve in each book. At a minimum, to understand the background for the plot and its key characters in this book, read The Leper Ship first.

His near-fatal experience on board the Napoli with its deadly cargo (The Leper Ship) sensitized Richard Mariner to the acute need for safe ships to transport dangerous cargo. So Heritage Mariner built two sister ships, Atropos and Clothos, with special safety features for handling radioactive or otherwise toxic waste in voyages through treacherous & icy North waters. On launch date, terrorists disrupt the ceremony and damage the ships.

Many setbacks and minor disasters occur during the sister ships' maiden voyage. No one on either crew realizes saboteurs (with Semtex) are aboard. The primary hazard each ship's crew knows they face is the weather. A combination of weather events (warm Gulf Stream pushing north while icebergs push south) strands the ships in the ice of the Labrador Sea.

Exciting and fast-paced. Describes beautiful scenery of ice fields, icebergs, and a rare phenomenon called "ice blink". Key characters are described in detail, to capture and hold the reader's concern for their rescue. Suspense builds to the exciting end. I look forward to reading more books in the series.

[J.D. Schechter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping

An author in love with the language, even when unnecessary hie descriptions are welcome. The plot is a bit fanciful - who sends ships that survive a massive explosion out without a thorough inspection? - but it's the foundation of the story

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

long winded

Not a bad book but padded out unnecessarily and using words most of us have never heard of . I don’t like to be made to feel thick when I am reading just use normal language

[Mike]

The book was a lot longer than it needed to be, with irrelevant detailed explanations.
the finale was a big non-event.

did not lead me to want to read others in the series

[chris standley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad