Scimitar SL-2

This book was fantastic. A rogue submarine takes aim at the US and Admiral Morgan (known from some of the previous books) is up to the task to figure out what is going on and what to do about it. I highly recommend reading the books that come before this one especially Barracuda 945 which lays the groundwork to this book. I usually finish books in 1-2 weeks, I read this one in 3 days it was so good.

As usual, this Robinson techno-thriller is fast reading and hard to put down. The plot, like in his previous novels, is a bit hard to swallow at times, but nonetheless engrossing. However, for some reason I cannot figure, there are always a few mistakes in his novels which any sharp editor with knowledge of the U.S. Navy and U.S. government agencies should have caught. Maybe I am being too picky; however, whenever they pop up it annoys me. I recall in one of his earlier novels he referred to a junior U.S. naval officer with the rank of \”ensign upper class\” or something as silly as that. There is no such rank in the U.S. Navy, nor in the British Navy as far as I know. In this book he talks about a U.S. agency involved with the control of U.S. military satellites as the National Surveillance Office vice by the correct name of National Reconnaissance Office. He also refers to the Armed Services Committee as the Armed Forces Committee. Then, the topper, and although it is a matter of politics, it is too unreaslistic to be believed. He bad-mouths every liberal in the President McBride administration but then praises Senator Ted Kennedy like he is the savior of our nation when in fact Kennedy has consistently been one of the most anti-military persons in the senate. A couple lines which nearly made me vomit: \”But I know Teddy, if he lived on top of the goddamned Rockies, he\’d still do the right thing about a threat like this.\” And then we have a line describing Kennedy as \”the senior member of the Armed Forces Committee, whose patriotism was unquestioned and whose personal motives to act on behalf of the United States were always impeccable.\” Robinson has got to be kidding. Kennedy\’s obstructionist attitude toward the current administration, by words and actions, has consistently been anti-American, anti-military, anti-Iraq war. I know that this book is a work of fiction, but portraying Ted Kennedy as some sort of saint is ridiculous. But, with all the warts, I still enjoy Robinson\’s books. Carl Sundstrom, Captain, USNR (Ret), San Diego, CA.

A very interesting look into submarine operation and navigation. Too much time was spent free driving potential affects on every major city and military facility bordering the Atlantic ocean. That became a bit labored causing me to skim over much of that part.

Robinson\’s techno-thrillers have a certain two-dimensionality that Tom Clancy\’s don\’t. Clancy\’s are longer, better researched and more realistic in reflecting a large and complex world. Robinson\’s are shallower, written more like conventional popular paperbacks. They make it a little harder to suspend one\’s disbelief. I share reviewer Gaines\’ criticism of Robinson\’s conflicting and confusing tsunami details. It\’s never made clear to me how a tidal wave can go as far inland, maintain height and speed over thousands of miles, and pose as much of a threat to the entire Eastern seacoast, as Robinson suggests one might. Robinson\’s writing has always been clunky. He doesn\’t write Americans very well, constantly allowing Britishisms to slip into their speech. (Although the Australian-reared intelligence analyst Jimmy Ramshawe\’s colloquialisms are amusing.) His American characters tend to have British level fixations upon roast beef (Morgan\’s invariable lunch sandwich filling). He uses entirely too many acronyms and too much technical jargon, making long lists of weapons of which no further description is made. Nothing is added to the book and the jargon slows it down. Arnold Morgan is an amusing curmudgeon but a better writer would do more with his being Texan. A native of such a colorful state is capable of doing far more than just shouting and swearing a lot. Robinson\’s formula is simpler than Clancy\’s. The world is always being saved by the same few people, primarily Morgan, Ramshawe and NSA head George Morris.(Do they ever feel overworked?) All these misgivings aside, Scimitar SL2 is a good, although not exceptional, read. Robinson takes his time slowly bringing the terrorist submarine \”Barracuda\” silently around the world. He has a certain appreciation for the human qualities of his main terrorist, Ravi Rashood, and his supporting characters; they don\’t make your skin crawl and you occasionally like them – when you\’re not reflecting, say, upon their cold-blooded killing of a volcano expert early in the book. I wondered how Robinson would do the showdown; I found the ending convincing enough. Robinson plays the Republican-good-guys, Democratic-bad-guys card with a heavier hand than I remember from earlier books, perhaps too much. His clueless liberal president is an unlikely election winner, albeit essential to the plot in dismissing and ignoring the terrorist threat long enough to allow the dramatic crisis to develop. And the single exception to the Democrats-are-dangerous-morons rule, Sen. Teddy Kennedy, is drawn in such glowing terms one guesses the Irish-resident Robinson is either sentimentally drawn to the Kennedys, a personal friend, or both. The book\’s flaws notwithstanding, last winter\’s tragedy makes the tsunami device quite timely. Robinson wrote this book before the real threat posed by an unstable Canary Islands volcano became widely reported upon. Great anticipation on his part. I keep reading his submarine thrillers; I\’d like them better if they were a little better edited.

Different

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