Rating: 
Summary: Not worth finishing
Review: Briefly, I'm only halfway through this book at I don't plan on finishing it. This author's a hack.
Rating:
Summary: Junk
Review: This book is long, complicated, confusing and borin. The writing style is simplistic and would make a good kindergaren reader. I strongly recommend you avoid it.
Rating: 
Summary: Another really great job by Patrick Robinson!
Review: A military fiction written by Patrick Robinson. What else need I say. (other then 5 stars).
Rating: 
Summary: Kilo Class is one climatic scene to another.
Review: Patrick Robinson is once again a winner with this follow-up of the New York Times Bestseller "Nimitz Class". He wonderfully captured the reader's feeling of suspense throughout the whole story. Robinson made the plot one twist after another. Also, the way to ends the novel is award winning.
Rating:
Summary: Ranting, crazy, racist admirals and upper-crust officers
Review: Well, I'd like to second the scathing reviews all of my one-star predecessors have left before me. I had trouble finishing "Kilo Class", because I got ever more annoyed at the ranting, crazy, megalomaniac, racist U.S. Navy admirals, the heroic submarine commander who constantly gripes about the fact that he is so excellent that he cannot live the luxurious life of an "independently wealthy" New England pseudo-nobleman sailing a yacht all the time, the clumsy characterization of the Chinese characters (of course there must be a sadistic Chinese - and of course he meets his untimely end at aforementioned submarine captain's hands)... just remembering that gives me goosebumps. The dialogue is so flat and repetitive, it sounds almost like written by Colin Forbes (who punches out one book per year with the help of a lot of cut and paste). Reading Robinson's bio - lives part-time in the UK, part-time in New England - the impression forms that he projects a lot of his imaginations about himself into some of the characters...I'd better stop ranting now, but only after this last shot: For all his bragging in the foreword about his office being crammed with maps and reference books while writing "Kilo Class", and that British admiral spinning tales and plots, it seems the reference books were somehow forgotten. But there seems to have been a "Proceedings" article pointing out the technical shortcomings of the book, so I don't need to elaborate on that. Unfortunately, amazon doesn't let me give this book zero stars. It really was a waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Bottom of the barrel techno-thriller
Review: A better review of this book can be found in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the US Naval Institute where a US Navy admiral skewers "Kilo-class" for its faulty premises, technical inaccuracies and sheer absurdity. The blurb on the book says "Patrick Robinson is quickly replacing Tom Clancy as the preeminent writer of modern naval fiction", this brings to mind a quote from one of the characters in this book: "that's like claiming to be the tallest midget in the world" Seriously, leaving aside robinson's clumsy attempts at dialogue and characterization, the plot in this book is so bizarre and outlandish that "Kilo class" probably deserves to be put in the Fantasy/Science Fiction genre (it might get better reviews too). As it stands, i can't see this book appealing to any but the most geo-politically naive of readers. To be fair, the question proposed in the book is a valid one, (if we discount the existing fleet of 70+ elderly submarines in the chinese navy), "What if the chinese obtained enough numbers of advanced, stealthy submarines to (presumably) be able to blockade the Taiwan strait?". The answer proposed in this book is to basically declare an unprovoked war on two of the most powerful (nuclear-armed) nations on earth, supposedly for the sake of american interests in Taiwan. The US admirals in this book take risks bordering on sheer insanity (or stupidity) for the most nebulous of gains. However, this being a book set in a fantasy world, negative consequences never happen to the heroes in the book. US Navy SEALS roam the russian countryside with impunity, A *single* US submarine dashes around the globe sinking submarines without provocation and under the noses of both the russian and chinese navies, and all this without starting World War 3 or even CNN getting wind of the fact. The USA in this book perpetrates acts which are more reminiscent of Saddam Hussein (e.g., terrorism, the outright murder of civilians) than the leader of the Free World After having to endure an endless tirade of obscenities in which US admirals refer to the chinese as "Chinamen" and even worse, the book finishes with an epilog by retired-RN Admiral "Sandy" giving his seal of approval. Perhaps british navy admirals should spend more of their time time learning to do their jobs than advertising for techno-trash, then maybe the british wouldn't have lost 4 front-line warships to a third-world navy in the Falklands war. In a few years, all this will become moot anyway, the chinese navy is in fact taking delivery of their fourth Kilo-class early this year with more Kilos possibly on order and more indigenous subs being built. This being the real world, no-one expects the ordered Kilo-class to "disappear" enroute.
Rating:
Summary: Tiresome pace, predictable outcome, irresponsible premise.
Review: Barely readable prose, but two things stand out. The major problem I have is believing that the US Government would do something so irresponsible as to sink Chinese subs in international waters without provocation - so what if they blockade the Taiwan Straits or the South China Sea - go around them or send in the MPAs with mad gear and MK 46s. The US was just plain wrong, and stupid, to do that. The second point was minor, but my experience in the military suggests that when a group of admirals get together they don't litter their speech with four letter words the way Admiral Morgan did in the book - that's really declasse, and totally unbecoming of professional flag rank naval officers. This book ranks right down there with R. Karl (Carl?) Largent's stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent action tale, but.....
Review: I don't care if Patrick Robinson does own a house in Cape Cod--until he's more familiar with American slang, he should avoid it in his books. The story begins with the disappearance of a research ship, and the cousin of one of the missing scientists joins the hunt. In one passage, he gets drunk because of the lack of progress in the search, and harangues the group he's drinking with. He answers his own rhetorical question on what anyone knows so far about the fate of the ship with the following very British vulgarism: "F--- all", meaning "nothing whatever". This was an American talking--one of us would have said, "...nobody's found s---...", or some such thing. Hey, us Yanks taIk funny even when we talk dirty. Okay, it's possible to make your characters of a nationality not your own--just do your homework on their colloquialisms, that's all.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it was a great book
Review: Even though there are many critics who have criticized him for being inaccurate, I feel that we should not be worrying about how accurate it was, but more just to read it for a great book. This was indeed a fascinating book which kept me anticipating what was going to happen next. I would strongly suggest for pleasureable reading and for pure enjoyment of a good naval thriller. I have not been able to get submarines out of mind since this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read, but needs to polish up conclusions
Review: Good character development and great underwater battles; didn't drag on the way many other technothrillers do. My only complaint was the conclusion as it was very quick and left some questions (reminance of Grisham?). Aside from that, one of the best techthrillers I've read. Robinson ranks right up there with early Clancy. Really looking forward to #3.
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