Hunters in the Sea

by Robin White

During the heyday of the USSR, Russian scientists desperate to create a weapon that no sophisticated defense system could stop turned to one of the oldest killers of all—smallpox. Modifying it to evade the human immune system, they created something so destructive that even they realized that it could never be used. Codenamed HUNTER, the disease was left to rot in an obscure lab in the heart of Russia as the Soviet state collapsed around it. But now a disgruntled former Russian scientist has defected to a shadowy group of terrorists and has taken passage to the Middle East in a rusty freighter full of so-called freedom fighters. In his case is stored one test tube of this new plague. In the midst of the worst storm in the history of the Mediterranean, only two men can stop him. Commander William Steadman of the attack boat USS Portland and Captain Rem Reonov of the Russian Akula class submarine Gepard hold the fate of the world in their hands, if only their superiors can recognize that they're on the same side. What no one knows, least of all the hapless terrorists on the freighter, is that HUNTER is already free on the boat and that the end of the world is already upon them.

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author and I was very impressed. This novel rates as good as anything you will find in the submarine adventure genre. The main story centers around an American and Russian sub playing cat and mouse as they try to track down a freighter that has a stolen biological weapon on board. There are several strong sub plots that support the main story and this gives the novel plenty of substance and depth (pardon the pun). The author keeps the technological terms and Naval acronyms to a bare minimum and this keep the action moving along at a brisk pace. The main characters in the story are all very well crafted. About the only way the novel might be better is if some maps were included to illustrate where everyone was positioned relative to each other at various points of the mission.

[Stephen Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep, as I said with my review of Typhoon... just a solid good read. Well done Mr. White!

This time the unlucky crew of the USS Portland get to take on some navy seals for some above the waterline action in capturing a bio-weapon of mass destruction on-board a rusty junk freighter. Naturally, the Russians aren't going to let thinks go smoothly and they don't.

Well worth reading and quite entertaining.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me a while to get into. The back history on the characters was over the top at times (most of the time) and the fact it jumped about from a lab to 2 submarines and 3 ships with most of their staff/crew getting back history made it longwinded and hard to follow until some got bumped off.
The basic story idea was different to most of the others of the same genre so I wanted to complete it even if it was slowly. Of course the Americans came out as the heroes and the Russians as the numpties. No major surprises really. The "bad guys" died and the "good guys" survived (mostly).

[Maggie]

Slow to start but pace picked up and the book became more enjoyable