Rating:  Summary: Naval Warfare at its best Review: A good, detailed work of art. We used to think that the aircraft carriers are really invincible. Are they? Russian's Kilo Class Submarines. Stealthy, Slick, Nuclear weapons capable. At the slow speed of 5 knots, nobody can pick them up on sonar, hear them much less see them in the dark depths of the sea. The story touches on the effectiveness of these subs in any real navy. Though fictional, but it can be very true in the fast changing world of us. There is a saying; "He who strikes first, strikes last" China ordered 10 new kilos from Russia, see how the USA reacts to it with their 688s (USN) and their covet Navy Seals....
Rating:  Summary: Great Navy Thriller.... Review: From the salty mouths to the scrappy ending this was a fastpaced, page turner. Plenty of intrigue, villians perfect to hate &good guys to the rescue, keeping the free world safe. Robinson is excellent at what he does, & this is it! I've enjoyed this series so far, & learned a good bit about Subs in the process and the special men who man them. Enjoy!
Rating:  Summary: Robinson Produces Another Pacy Thriller Review: Patrick Robinson has quickly established himself as a leader in the submarine thriller genre. Kilo Class, his second novel, is tightly plotted and fast-paced. High class literature this is not, and if an analogy can be drawn between the world of books and television, Kilo Class is definite TV movie material. In fact, at times this novel reads like a TV movie script, especially the dialogue. Still, this is a competent thriller sure to grab fans of the submarine actioner, and is perfect wet weekend reading.
Rating:  Summary: I wish I had 300 million bucks Review: For the average folk uneducated in current submarine technology, you'll find this to be a good book. It kept my imagination going through the whole tale, and I found the plot to be pretty decent too. Very exiting to see how they hunted down all the kilos. If you like naval thrillers I'm sure you'll love this book.
Rating:  Summary: A ripping good yarn! Review: This is a globe-trotting thriller starring the USSR's famed Kilo Class submarines & a host of naval brass in the Pentagon & their Black Ops Los Angeles Class skippers. Keen if typical portraits of good & bad guys as well as rousing underwater stalkings & ambushes tell a fascinating tale about Taiwan's not-too-distant future & how the powers that be wrangle for power & stability. Every American is tall & handsome, everyone else is caricatured. The action was hair raising. What I'd call a ripping good yarn!
Rating:  Summary: good Review: i think this book is the best it can be. the plot is exelent and i thought that the charecters were supurb.
Rating:  Summary: Ex-Submarine Warfare Instructor/Trident sub officer Review: Very disappointing. I had to force myself to finish it. First, just skip the first 300 pages that should have been 25-50 pages. As an example of his abuse of words, it took Mr. Robinson 3 pages to explain the inevitable fact that 2 guys in a motorboat eventually discovered dead bodies in a tight, shallow river. Second, within the final 300 pages, every pivotal technical aspect that supported the plot was wrong. This was excusable in Nimitz Class because the plot still held (some) water despite Mr. Robinson's technical mistakes. However, the crucial plot drivers, even as referenced through unclassified sources, are inaccurate in Kilo Class. Without giving the answers that ruin the imaginative but weak plot, I will instead ask the questions that undo the plot's foundation (beyond p300) for the benefit of future readers. What happens if a submarine shoots a Russian Typhoon submarine with a torpedo? World War III because of a nuclear holocaust released by the detonation like Mr. Robinson harps upon or the underwater dispersion of fissile material in a trivial amount, especially compared to that released during Chernobyl? Next, what is the frantic hurry to risk an American submarine in order to sink a Kilo class submarine today so that you don't have to risk an American submarine to sink it later? Agreed, Mr. Robinson makes a good argument for sinking Kilos in transit when they are unguarded or otherwise helpless, but when it comes down to sinking one when alerted and escorted, one could argue that it may be just as easy for America to let China get the damn thing, study its patrol patterns, and then take it out under better circumstances. Finally, stopping with a last question for the sake of argument length, how long has wire guidance in a torpedo given a submarine commander the option to select targets with acoustic data from the torpedo? At least since the Falkland/Malvinas war, probably since before many readers were born. I suspect that many readers will cast aside Kilo Class before discovering why this, one of many technical faults in the story, invalidates the plot. Now that I have battered Mr. Robinson's work, let me at least commend his writing skill and effort. He has attempted to underline the global importance of submarine warfare and to portray (at least American) submarine officers as heroes. Additionally, his writing style is rather fluid and his imagination is strong, despite the problems hinted at above.
Rating:  Summary: Kilo Klass a Killer Review: I really enjoyed Kilo Class, as well as Nimitz Class. Robinsons books remind me of early Tom Clancy or Michael DiMercurio. I think DiMercurio has another sub book coming out called Threat Vector. I Ccn't wait for that one. Looking forward to Robinsons next one too!
Rating:  Summary: Military/Suspense Novel Review: If you approach this book as a military/suspense/mystery, you will probably enjoy it more than if you look to compare it to a Clancy novel. If you are looking for a high tech, submarine story you will be disappointed. However, if you take the book at face value and if you enjoy a little suspense and mystery to your military novels, then this book is for you. I would suggest reading Nimitz Class first, as there are several characters that are developed in that book.
Rating:  Summary: An overly-heralded disappointment Review: I disagree with the Florida-Times Union. The book is NOT "superb," and Tom Clancy is far and away a better story teller. Unless you are a devout submarine buff, any Clancy book is better than this one. There are three sequences that may genuinely hold your interest in this story - the mysterious destruction of a science research vessel in Antartica, and a Navy Seal Team assault on some subs in transit. The third likeable scenario is the US sub's hunting of a couple Kilo subs, but you have to wade through 350+ pages to get to it. The characters in this story are cliche and shallow, and the basic premise is not credible. The US risks nuclear war to destroy a few diesel submarines purchased by China? Yeah, RIGHT! We've already let Iran procure a few such subs (in real life). This book is a disappointing treatment of a supposedly "realistic" scenario.
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