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3.0 out of 5 stars
Please stick to what you know best Mr. Robinson, Jul 19 2004
As a reader of Mr. Robinson's previous books - which were not bad - I picked up Barracuda 945 from the public library with expectations of a solid exciting read. Sadly, this book falls far short of Mr. Robinson's previous work.The short answer for this is that Mr. Robinson doesn't stick with what he knows - submarines and submarine warfare - but instead ventures into realms where he reveals himself as ill-prepared and/or biased. Namely; 1. politics. Mr. Robinson often deviates from the plot to interject mini sermons on the evils of 'weak liberal presidents' who, when they gain power, neglect US military and foreign affairs to the detriment of our own power (which he sees as a very bad thing. Further, he degenerates into sermon-y rants when the subject of the 'little ******* Chinese communists' comes up. Politics is never a black and white affair and his portrayal as such is disconcerting. 2. religion. He makes an effort to show some dimensions of the complex Islam culture and religion, but again, his efforts fall flat and thus his attempts to prevent his book from degenerating into an US vs Them affair in actuality highlight that conception due to his poor understanding of Islam culture and beliefs. 3. the overall scenario. Mr. Robinson's book is based on the hypothesis that one nuclear submarine can single-handly destroy the US energy economy. He fails to take into account the fact that the US does currently, in fact, have vast reserves of oil stored away in the event of such a crises. So while in his book investors panic and gas prices over quadruple, in reality our government would take steps to mitigate the crisis. 4. characters. Every one of Mr. Robinson's characters is a stereotype. His characters are not interesting, extremely predictable, and often behave in manners not befitting the offices he distinguishes them with. I was very disappointed about this. The only saving grace to Mr. Robinson's book is when he gets into the details of the ships and his combat descriptions. Because he does have a large amount of knowledge about military equipment and can write up a tasty fight scene fairly well I am giving Barracuda 945 three stars - though I may be giving him the benefit of the doubt in a few areas. I think Mr. Robinson just deviated from what he did best: submarines and combat, and tried to bite off more than he could chew. All in all, it was a hard book to finish and for Mr. Robinson's next book I will read the reviews first before picking it up.
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