Rating:  Summary: Great beginning, weak ending Review: I won't go into the books details since you can read about them elsewhere.The book is a great read, marred by some filler material in the middle and then a very, very weak end. A far better ending would have been for Adman to get back to Iran, after being lost in a boating accident, where he reported that his mission was ultimately successful. Not the way it ended, which was that the author probably got tired and wanted the book to go to press.
Rating:  Summary: This dude grew on me... Review: This book is the third in what I hope will be a long series. But you know, when I bought "Nimitz Class" because the concept almost intrigued me, after the first read, it almost wound up getting contributed to my church's book sale table. Speaking as a Tom Clancy fan, Robinson was an acquired taste. To compare him to Clancy is a mistake--Robinson concentrates heavily on ships, where Clancy only did one book which spent that much time on the water: "Red October". If you picture somebody who falls between him and Clive Cussler, you've got Patrick Robinson. Where he's like Clancy is that his characters are plain ole life-size, not Homeric like Cussler's Dirk Pitt. The only problem I see is that his American characters aren't always that convincing. In "Kilo Class", he had a Yank using a Brit vulgarism my countrymen would never do unless we were doing a Michael Caine impression. But don't let that stop you from buying this book--in the same way the Colonel does chicken well, Robinson does Navy well.
Rating:  Summary: H.M.S. Unseen Review: Well, I finally did get through the book. This is definitely the worst one of the three. For anyone to compare Mr. Robinson to Mr. Clancy tells me one thing. They don't know Clancy!
Rating:  Summary: Lousy ending, bad psychology, poor premises Review: Fine example of how popular authors are pushed by publishers to do novels too fast, with poor results. This story expects you to believe that a consumate professional military man/terrorist, who has never made a mistake in his career, allows sentimental attachment to a lost love to fuzz his intellect, producing simple behavior/mistakes which doom him. It expects you to believe that the US Navy is constrained by budget from pursuing conclusions reached by the National Security Advisor, a retired admiral, thereby dooming a more people in a repeated terrorist action. It expects you to believe that the news media will ignore an obvious lead from a reliable witness in the last incident, even when sensational, anti-military and anti-gov. (Actually, they did just this in the Fl800 story, for about 100 witnesses.) The author thinks we are all morons.
Rating:  Summary: A solid thriller (especially for wine buffs!) Review: I have read all of Robinson's three submarine thrillers and would say his first, Nimitz Class, is the best so far.Kilo Class was a respectable sequel and although Unseen is a pacy enough thriller it is less plausible and by using characters from previous novels Robinson is running the risk of writing to a formula. One thing that amazes me is his obsession with wine - what can it possibly add to the novel to describe in detail the wine served with every meal? I found this to be an amazing lack of awareness on the writers part. Nevertheless this was a good enough novel for me to buy his next but one more "samey" novel and I may desert.
Rating:  Summary: H.M.S. Unseen goes into unseen realities Review: I am a big fan of Patrick Robinson - he is a brilliant writer, but H.M.S. Unseen exceeds the scope of reality. He admits this in his acknowledgments. However my main objection is that after Chapter Eight the books turns into a love-romance novel where Adnam is searching for his lost love, Laura Baldridge, who, in the end points a shot gun at his head to force his surrender. The reader is dragged through a depressing saga of Adnam being alone and an outcast. As far as the SA-N-6 Grumble Rifs, made by Altair State Design Bureau in Moscow, being bolted to the ship rear fin, that is another "stretching-it". Each missle is 22.9 ft long and weighs 3200 lb- would easily establish a sonar trail, even at five knots. Finally an Iraqi-turned Iranian terrorist is another fantasy hard to accept, even though the author tries to compensate for this by Adnam not being paid and planned to be murdered. I think the story would have been much better by Adnam getting into a final shoot-out and going down in battle - forget the love-romance. Robinson's Kilo Class and Nimitz Class are far better. Admiral Morgan retains his colorful character and the reader is still entertained by Morgan's vocabulary. My suggestion - keep Admiral Morgan and forget the Baldridges and Adnam, and write a real military thriller Patrick. You are too good a writer.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent! Review: This was an excellent book! I finished it in one day. Very fast paced and I would reccomend it to anyone. Enjoy!
Rating:  Summary: Patrick Robinson's best so far, but spare us the menus! Review: This book starts off brilliantly. Ben Adnam, the terrorist bad guy in PR's NIMITZ CLASS, is betrayed by his home country of Iraq when Saddam orders him assassinated. So he journeys to Iran, in a well-researched voyage. Zap forward to 2005 and Adname had infiltrated the Iranian Navy. With aid of the Russians, he purchases a surface-to-air missile system, and hijacks the British Royal Navy's most modern diesel sub, HMS Unseen. With this feasible capability, he knocks three high profile flights from the skies, including Concorde! As Adnam hides, weaves and ducks, and ends up in Scotland, it is up to Admiral Arnold Morgan, a foul-mouthedly entertaining character, to search him out! And the ending, and Adnam's evasions of the authorities in a journey across Scotland, Britain and Ireland is surprising. Action comes thick and fast, the locations are well-researched, particularly the UK scenes, having been to Scotland many times it was easy to relate to them. However, I have one criticism to make. Did we really need to know in exact detail what every character had to eat? Or what movie they loved? It did interfere with the fast narrative, but HMS Unseen still gets a five star rating for a great story(which could come true one day) and an entertaining set of characters. Well done Pat!
Rating:  Summary: Ending Weak Review: This is for the recording. The action in Patrick Robinson's "H.M.S. Unseen" moves at quite a pace. Robinson introduces techncial issues rapidly and efficiently to show how a submarine could shoot down airliners (including one with the Vice President of the United States). The motivation of Commnader Benjamin Adnam is understandable, but the author does not make a good case for Adnam's conversion into a distressed penitent ...attempting to make admends for all his crimes against humanity. The characterization of the American Admirals suffers in the recorded version. I listened to David McCallum (of "Man From Uncle" fame) on my daily drive. McCallum failed to convert his educated British accent into a reasonable facsimile of an American twang. Further, the author puts too many "F---this" and "holy sh--" and "Jesus H. Christ" into the admiral's dialogue. I found it offensive. American admirals have long since passed the stage of bumbling colonials, unable to make a coherent statement under stressful situations ---- especially admirals who are supposed to be giving daily briefings to the U.S. President. (By the way,"stewardess" is out and "flight attendant" is correct.) Finally, the ending is weak. It is difficult, based upon the characterization of Muslim Commander Adnam, to believe that he would end it all that way.
Rating:  Summary: H.M.S. Unssen Review: I managed to complete Nimitz Class, but not Unseen. I just can't do it. Robinson's character development/dialogue is poor and ruins his plots which have the potential of being great adventure stories. Admiral Morgan, his secretary and the he-man president are terrible. I'm listening to the book on tape and after only the 3rd tape I really have to quit. Maybe Robinson should collaborate with another writer; he could supply the plot and the other writer could do the actual writing.
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