Typhoon

by Robin White

Book Overview

A deadly game of cat and mouse has begun in the bonechilling waters of the Arctic Ocean between an American sub and a Russian Typhoon, the largest submarine ever built. Neither side can afford to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039914935X
• ISBN13: 9780399149351
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Run Silent, Run Deep - Run for your life

The main complaint I see from some of the negative reviews is that the book is not original. Okay. Just how many submarine plots are there any way? A submarine is either attacking, running or there is a cat and mouse between two or more subs. Everything else is a variation on those themes. That said, this is a masterful piece of writing. TYPHOON is the story of a Typhoon class boomer that suddenly appears off the Kola Peninsula. (There was supposed to be a treaty that scrapped these killers, evidently the Russians forgot about this one.) You can always count on your former commie to be cheating somewhere. The nearest submarine on station is ordered to prevent the Typhoon from navigating the Arctic ice pack and being delivered to the new bad guys (the Chinese). The American commander interprets his orders as license to sink the Typhoon. Not to spoil the story. Many things happen under the water and things get very desperate. This is the best submarine novel I have read since the Hunt for Red October. I liked it alot.

A RARE techno-thriller with great characterisation and prose

Title says it all. If you can't get over the fact that submarine novels generally have similar plots, then you won't be able to appreciate the fact that this novel is pretty much unique in being a sub thriller by an author who can actually write great characters, and not just technical prose. Remember all those awful talky bits in the Clancy books - Pentagon brass yakking over dinner in Georgetown? Yeah, you do. The stuff where you want to skip whole sections of poor dialogue but you're worried you might miss an important plot detail - so you read it and realise you just wasted 10 minutes because it was POINTLESS, not to mention wooden and crude... None of that trademark Clancy pap here. Just great writing with compelling characters struggling against the elements, a hidden enemy and one another. Think I'll go back and read Siberian Light again. Can't get enough of this guy's writing. Especially his characterisation of Russians, which is spot-on because he worked in Russia...

Well Done!

Typhoon is one of the best novels out there about undersea warfare and the people who fight it. It accurately describes life aboard submarines and the environment in which the subs fight. It is a pity that this genre of fiction started with Clancy, because White and Buff are much more deserving as authors to get the fame that Clancy now wields.In many ways, this book harkens back to the days of Alistair MacLean's "Ice Station Zebra"- where the action takes place aboard submarines but the characters are as important- if not more so- than the action. This is a trait that many recent thrillers lack.The plot has already been outlined in a number of previous reviews... so I'll spare you the re-hashing... but I could not put this book down, and would recommend it to anyone.

From a retired submarine CO

After graduation from Annapolis I spent 22 years in nuclear submarines. My career included command of two missile submarines, and I was the Executive Officer of an attack submarine that spent two months under the Arctic ice. Part of that time was devoted to work on in instrumented range to develop under ice tactics and part was spent in interactions with a foreign submarine. As someone who's "been there and done that," I thought Robin White's latest novel, Typhoon, was technically the best I've read on warfare between two modern submarines in the erratic sound conditions of the Arctic, comparable to Edward L. Beach's Cold is the Sea. I do not understand why the above reviewer who was a career submariner thought aspects of this book did not sound authentic. I had nothing to do with the plot or character development of this book, but I am acquainted with Robin White and recognized in the book slang expressions or snippets of dialogue from sea stories I have shared with him in the past. I read this one cover to cover as soon as it came out and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys submarine novels.

Great reading

Another great book by Robin White. Having spent 6 years on subs and operating in the same areas as the book, it was interesting to see how acurately the author dwelt with what might happen. The idea that a sub skipper might not be able to handle anything that comes up is scary. The plot, I thought, was captivating throughout. Having a women crewmember and the problems it created makes one wonder what the navy is doing in anticipation of when women are onboard subs. There were lots of technical details that I found interesting, but even for someone who doesn't know anything about submarines, this is a good reading book with lots of adventure and it will keep your interest to the end.