Thunder in the Deep: A Novel of Undersea Military Action and Adventure

By Joe Buff

Book Overview

In his electrifying first novel Joe Buff instantly established himself as the ultimate chronicler of 21st-century warfare by taking military fiction and submarine combat to a new level of authenticity, vision, and power. Thunder in the Deep picks up where Deep Sound Channel left off, bringing to life a frightening seascape where technology pushes warriors to new extremes, and warriors push technology to the max. This time the difference between victory and defeat hinges on the two most advanced nuclear attack submarines in the world. The Challenger is the weapon of the future, a ceramic-hulled nuclear attack submarine whose electronic eyes and ears are the most advanced ever created. It is commanded by acting captain Jeffrey Fuller, a former SEAL turned submariner whose aggressiveness has made him a rising star -- and sometimes scares the hell out of his crew. Fuller's mission is to rescue the Virginia-class fast attack sub Texas, now lying on the bottom of the Atlantic just off the Azores. But the enemy -- a newly resurrected and fanatically militaristic Germany -- knows where the Texas is, too, and knows the Challenger is coming. It is Challenger the Germans want, dispatching their own high-tech supersub, the Deutschland, to destroy her. In this war your enemy is a blip on a console hardwired into an integrated nuclear weapons system. Ships are vaporized off the surface of the sea, nuclear shock waves unleash deadly tsunami waves, and smart submarines do battle with smart aircraft sent to hunt them down. For Jeffrey Fuller and the Challenger, for the men on board the Deutschland, the race beneath the ocean's surface across a horrific underwater war zone will demand every bit of courage and skill they can muster just to survive. Before it's over, the Challenger 's mission is radically redefined: Fuller, his SEALs, and freedom fighter Ilse Reebeck are sent into Germany itself -- to plant a nuke right in the gut of the enemy's power structure. Thunder in the Deep plunges the reader into the middle of some of the fiercest and most thrilling depictions of underwater warfare ever written. It is an electrifying novel of military strategy and action, a powerful tale of technology and humanity that will have you breathlessly turning pages until the explosive climax.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553582402
• ISBN13: 9780553582406
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

I'm a submarine freak

Joe Buff's gripping story telling about submarines is absolutely amazing. This book really makes you think about the future of warfare. Although I liked his first book a lot, I like this book even more because he has developed his characters even better. I really do want to meet Ilse! I wonder who would play this role in a movie? The possibilities for the next book and beyond are endless...

What's next?

After reading Deep Sound Channel, I was eagerly waiting for Thunder in the Deep. Now I'm eagerly waiting for the next one.I can only imagine the research that has gone into creating such a vivid picture of life and warfare on a nuclear-powered submarine. The author's scenario for an early 21st-century political situation is thoroughly plausible and chilling. There's no wasted pages here--every scene gets you more deeply involved. I feel as if I know and care about these characters as people, so I really do want to know what happens next.

First book was amazing; this one is better!

I rarely read novels of any kind before Deep Sound Channel, and certainly never a submarine novel, but now that Joe Buff is out there I am thoroughly hooked. This book picks up where the first one left off, and everything about it is even more intense: It's faster paced, with more action, more suspense, and it's more violent, if all that can be believed. There is actually a similarity in the plot, in that in both books, the protagonists have to venture onto dry enemy land to plant a nuke, but it's a lot scarier this time. There's even more character development, and through Jeffrey and Ilse and the rest you really feel emotionally what it's like to be in an all-out war, as much as that's possible by merely reading a book. The depiction of war in its many forms couldn't be more real - it's so vivid it's hard to believe Joe has not spent his whole life on Navy submarines fighting battles. Now that I've read Joe's first 2 books I am especially eager to see what the third one will be like.

The new Tom Clancy

Great Book:) The way that Mr. Buff writes his combat scenes reminds a reader of what Tom Clancy used to be. This is a book that you will want to read again just to see what you missed the first time around. Mr. Buff writes submarine fiction the way it should be written. Can't wait for the next book.

Buff raises the bar for the intense sub thriller yet again.

I just finished reading this last night, and all I can say is I am floored. I could not sleep until I finished this, it was just the best thriller I have read in a long time. This is Joe's second novel following the exploits of the Jeffrey Fuller and the crew of the USS Challenger, and the action is even more gripping than in the first. The conflict is ratcheted up to a whole new level, and the tac nukes fly even more freely.What a grim conflict, what bold heroes, what great characters.Joe is the master of near future sub novel, I now measure all others against his work. Tom Clancy eat your heart out. The only downer about this book is waiting until he finishes his next book. I might recommend you read his first book before reading this one, but it should hold up on it's own just fine.