THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411051061
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BILL ROACH
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
PHOENIX SUB ZERO
MICHAEL DIMERCURIO
Donald L. Fine. 381 pp. $22.50
Michael DiMercurio has delivered another superb sea action thriller in Phoenix Sub Zero. Like DiMercurio's Voyage of the Devilfish and Attack of the Seawolf, this novel is about modern-day submarine war, and once again we are treated to a tale featuring heroic sub skipper Michael Pacino.
DiMercurio can be counted on to produce strong plots, lots of action and suspense and just enough detail to make the tale authentic and believable. A Naval Academy graduate who served on the submarine Hammerhead, he clearly knows subs and the sea.
In this third sub saga, a new Muslim nation - the United Islamic Front - has gained control of a large territory in the Arabian Peninsula, Asia and North Africa, and is at war with a Western coalition headed by the United States. The striking leader of the UIF is Gen. Mohammed al-Sihoud, the Khalib or Sword of Islam. Sihoud possesses a Mitsubishi ``Hiroshima'' nuclear missile that he plans to fire on Washington, and U.S. submarines are all that block his way.
Embarked on the Hegira, a new submarine built by the Japanese that features a ``Second Captain'' computerized mechanism for running the undersea vessel, Sihoud must break out of the Mediterranean Sea, which is guarded by U.S. attack submarines, and drive into the Atlantic to launch his weapon. The action scenes as Sihoud's sub vanquishes a pair of U.S. subs in the Atlantic are gripping and too real. After this defeat, Capt. Pacino is called on to take his old vessel, the Seawolf, out of dry dock and destroy Sihoud before he can launch his deadly missile.
DiMercurio creates a group of commanding characters who make the taut plot believable. The charismatic Sihoud, his military aide, Col. Rakish Ahmed, and the commander of the UIF sub, Abbas Alai Sharef, are carefully drawn antagonists. So, too, are the protagonists, the skippers of the mythical U.S. submarines: Pacino, Cmdr. ``Rocket Ron'' Daminski and Cmdr. David Kane. Daminski, skipper of the Augusta, is a hard-driving, no-nonsense type while Kane, captain of the Phoenix, is pictured as a bright apple-polisher. How the three U.S. ship drivers perform under fire and in crisis makes for fascinating, and sometimes surprising, reading.
While the plot is straightforward enough, the twists and turns created by the deadly maneuverings of the vessels generate considerable suspense. And the dialogue that carries it along makes the action especially vivid. From beginning to end, this is just a marvelous sea story. MEMO: Bill Roach is a retired naval officer in Jacksonville, Fla., who
formerly lived and served in the Norfolk area. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael DiMercurio creates thrills and chills with his third
submarine saga, ``Phoenix Sub Zero.''
by CNB