Sea Leopard

Kenneth Aubrey and Patrick Hyde #3

by Craig Thomas

The British nuclear submarine HMS Proteus carries the most sophisticated anti-detection equipment in the world, codenamed "Leopard". Her first mission is to chart the new Soviet underwater defence system which poses the most deadly threat to NATO's northern flank.
But Proteus picks up a distress signal from a Soviet submarine lying crippled on the sea floor. And as she sets out on her rescue mission, the Russians prepare to spring a devastating deathtrap twenty fathoms beneath the ocean. The plan: kidnap the Sea Leopard!

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Action, Military Fiction, Horror Thriller

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

David Craig Owen Thomas was a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the Mitchell Gant series.

The son of the Western Mail rugby union writer, JBG Thomas, Craig was educated at Cardiff High School. He graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1967, obtaining his M.A. after completing a thesis on Thomas Hardy. Thomas became an English Teacher, working in various grammar schools in the West Midlands, and was Head of English at the Shire Oak School, Walsall Wood.

After unsuccessfully trying script writing for radio, Thomas wrote part-time, with his wife as editor, in two fields: philosophical thoughts in books of essays; and techno-thriller genre, which although invention is often attributed to the better-known Tom Clancy, many feel that Thomas was its true originator. Most of Thomas's novels are set within MI.6 and feature the characters of Sir Kenneth Aubrey and Patrick Hyde.

His best-known novel which brought him to global prominence, Firefox became a successful Hollywood film, both directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. After writing his third novel, 1960s Cold War espionage thriller Wolfsbane, he left teaching altogether in 1977. His later books include Snow Falcon and A Different War. Shortly before his death he finished a two-volume commentary on German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Thomas and his wife Jill had lived near Lichfield, Staffordshire, but moved to Somerset in 2010. He died on April 4, 2011 from pneumonia, following a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 68.

Reviews

[John A. Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is great to see these classic technothrillers re-released on Kindle, even if it is a bit frustrating they are often priced as though they are new releases. With that said, this is an excellent read, introducing Kenneth Aubrey of MI6. The British have developed a new stealth submarine, the Americans are eager customers and the Soviets desperate to get their hands on the technology.
Learning of a risky mission to test the Sea Leopard technology aboard the nuclear submarine, Proteus, the Soviets put together an elaborate plot to capture the vessel and learn it’s secrets. At the same time, London based, KGB agent Petrunin is trying to capture Quin, the inventor of the technology. Aubrey must juggle the situation in the North Sea and the KGB actions in England, with his man Hyde on the case, but alone against an increasing cast of Soviet agents.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een vlot geschreven thriller, waarin het nodige onderzoek is gedaan door de auteur. De onderzeese belevenissen zijn zeer realistisch beschreven.

De Proteus is een nucleair aangedreven onderzeeër die is uitgerust met een nieuw ontwikkeld systeem om zo goed als onzichtbaar te zijn op sonar en andere systemen. De uitvinder van het systeem is echter spoorloos verdwenen en de Britse geheime dienst vermoedt dat hij in handen is gevallen van de KGB.

In een van de verhaallijnen wordt getracht zijn dochter te vinden vóór de KGB dat doet. Dan is er het verhaallijn waarin de Proteus in handen is gevallen van de Russen.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good despite being over forty years old. I had read this first in the late 80s or early 90s after reading the Firefox "trilogy" (and when I was "on a kick" reading submarine-oriented stories [that, and the cover of the paperback I read was pretty awesome at the time with the submarine's conning tower half-in, half-out of the water]). Overall, it's a fun story, and I can see why Craig Thomas could be said to be the "creator of the technothriller" and that Tom Clancy merely "perfected it." The character development was decent - the author initially gave us what we needed to know about the different characters in the story but then gave hints about some of their backstories as the narrative progressed.

I momentarily found myself wondering if Clancy was influenced by this book because one of his best recurring characters is "John Clark", a former Recon Marine turned Special Forces extraordinaire. In this book, there is an American naval officer named "Ethan Clark" and referred to as "Clark" throughout the book; at one point we learn he underwent what sounds a lot training to be a Navy SEAL before going into intelligence. Or, perhaps Clark is still a SEAL but on special detachment?.

The plot is pretty ballsy. The British are testing a new system that prevents their submarine from being detected via sonar, but not via infra-red. Upon detecting an SOS from a sunken Russian submarine in Norwegian waters, they move to investigate and see if the Russians need assistance (for some bizarre reason even though there are elements of the Russian fleet in the area who could assist). Or, the British MoD sends their new toy into harms way to test it in a "real-time scenario" and not realizing the Russians have set a trap to capture their submarine. In a moment of irony, the British captain makes a decision to accelerate the boat because he believes the Russians have found them when in fact the Russians have not, so the author did a nice job of creating tension in that regards.

The Russian plan works - they launch a torpedo with a reduced warhead at the British sub to disable her without sinking her, and then they launch some kind of multi-headed torpedo to finish disabling the vessel. The Proteus settles to the bottom before being found (because Leopard begins malfunctioning due to the prior torpedo damage) and is eventually floated to the surface before being towed to a (relatively) nearby Russian naval base. A Russian operative boards the British submarine and releases gas into the air system to knock the British sailors unconscious. He is able to do so because of a (presumably) fictitious incident (from my limited research) of a British submarine (the Phaeton) where the entire crew died of asphyxiation because the doors could not be opened in time to provide new oxygen into the boat (or something like that). So all subsequent British subs were build so that the airlocks could be opened from the outside as well as the inside, which allows the Russian operative (probably Spetsnaz) to enter the submarine. They promise to release the submarine and its crew in 2-4 days after the "accidental" damage has been repaired and the vessel is deemed seaworthy (and they are able to obtain the secrets of the Sea Leopard system.

Meanwhile, the American operative/officer Ethan Clark is dropped by Harrier into Russian territory, where he meets one of Aubrey's operatives who takes him to the Russian naval base. After being dropped off, Clark enters the harbor and swims to the submarine pen holding the Proteus. His goal is to determine what went wrong with the Sea Leopard system, repair the damage, and free the British submarine so that it can sail out of the pen and to freedom. He enters the submarine to find her captain (Captain Lloyd) and give the British officer the plan to get his vessel and crew free. Lloyd agrees to the crazy plan. Clark then enters the pressure hull of the submarine to test the system. After performing multiple tests, he determines why the system failed - some kind of relay had come loose during the torpedo attack, and he repairs the damaged relay. The captain and two officers use captured weapons to either kill or drive the Russians from their vessel, then some of the crew leave the submarine to open the dock doors. As the submarine is leaving the pen, the Russian who had captured the submarine leaps onto the vessel and enters via one of the escape hatches. The Russian disables the system again, and Clark must get through him to turn the system back on. The Russian and Clark fight to the death, with the Russian nearly killing Clark before succumbing to his wounds and dying. Clark turns the system back on, and HMS Proteus escapes.

There was one major weakness in the plot, I felt. The other part of the plot involves this British agent Hyde trying to find the designer of the electrical system and the dude's daughter. He finds the daughter, saving her from some KGB agents looking for her, and convinces her to take him to her father. When she finally acquiesces to his request, he has not idea the Russians have bugged his vehicle, and he ends up leading them to the inventor, Quinn (whose first name is never given in the novel that I can remember, oddly enough). Quinn is furious because the British agents assigned to protect him never believed Quinn when he regularly complained about how the KGB were always watching him, waiting to pounce and grab him.

The important part of the plot is that the KGB were trying to grab his daughter, Tricia Quinn, to force Quinn to what they wanted. Everybody in British intelligence knew this. Yet, after Quinn is saved and taken away by helicopter back to the MoD, Hyde and Tricia are apparently left behind. No other protection provided. Which was just incredibly stupid as the entire book up to that point has been making the bald statement that the Russians just need to grab Tricia to force Quinn to do whatever they wanted. That being the case, why were two helicopters not flown to where Hyde and the Quinns were "hiding" to bring all of them back to MoD? Why was a helicopter larger enough not used to transport the three back to HQ? Why were additional highly trained soldiers not left behind to protect Tricia until Hyde could get her to a safer place for pickup? It was just incredibly stupid for the two of them to have been left behind like they were, especially after the helicopter's arrival interrupted Tricia and her father being taken prisoner. What was the author thinking leaving Hyde and Tricia behind like that with no support? A serious faux pax on the part of the author, and a pretty big plot hole in the book.

This was a fairly fast read for me. I read it mostly over my lunchbreak at work but brought it home to finish over the weekend. It was good - it held my interest from start-to-finish, but I can see why I generally enjoyed Clancy's work more than Craig Thomas's stories - something about Clancy's writing style makes them more ... relatable or enjoyable or something. At the same time, it was fun to read this book because of all of the "British jargon" and slang in it that I am not familiar with (and which the Russians seemed to use at times as well, especially the latter part of the book after the Proteus has been captured). Enough time had passed that I did not remember how the situation was resolved, so I was (almost) on the edge of my seat a few times as the end drew near. It was a pretty "bare bones book", 316 pages in length, which was just fine as the relatively low page count helped keep the story focused and on-point (not like how Clive Cussler's books got pretty bloated in terms of story and page-count as his Dirk Pitt stories became more popular). Even though it is a bit dated because of the time period in which it is set (the Cold War in the early 1980s), I think it still stands the test of time in terms of being entertaining, and it was fun to revisit it. I could see myself reading it a third time, but just not anytime soon, hahahah! Solid three stars for me.

[Viceroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The research that went into this novel is obvious. A fast-paced thriller, the submarine scenes are thoroughly believable and leaves the reader breathless and wanting more. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat. A great novel to add to your collection by Craig Thomas.

[Edward R. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like the movie firefox which stars Clint Eastwood then you will definitely like Sea Leopard. If you want suspense, than this is the book for you. It keeps you guessing until the very last chapter. It is indeed a good read. But that's just my opinion!

[Simon Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this book for the third time now, and i still find it as riveting as the first time. a great plot and tension to match any thriller

[Nik Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Craig Thomas is on top form with his seventh novel, the thriller Sea Leopard published in 1981.

This adventure again features Kenneth Aubrey, Deputy Director of British Intelligence, and Patrick Hyde, one of his field agents.

The book begins with a map of the North Sea, UK, Scandinavia and Russia and the Barents Sea. This is followed by documents from Plessey, the weapons manufacturer, the SIS, Ministry of Defence and the US Navy Defence Department, all relating to the installation of a new anti-sonar system for submarines, ‘Leopard’.

The nuclear submarine HMS Proteus has the system installed and is running trials at sea when a distress call is detected.

At about this time a search was underway for Leopard’s inventor, Quinn, who has gone missing. Hyde is attempting to track down Quinn. Soviet agents are attempting to abduct Quinn’s daughter, Tricia, in the hope that she will lead them to Quinn’s whereabouts.

The distress call is a trap and the captain of Proteus, Commander Lloyd falls for it.

The tension mounts as a number of Soviet surface ships and submarines play cat-and-mouse with the Proteus – for their sonar is incapable of detecting the British submarine, thanks to ‘Leopard’.

Ingenious methods are deployed by Russian Valery Ardenyev, office in charge of the Soviet Underwater Special Ops Unit to incapacitate the submarine and take the crew captive and then learn everything about the Leopard system.

A rescue mission is then mounted by Aubrey, using USN special agent Ethan Clark.

The suspense mounts, switching from Hyde’s search in England, Ardenyev’s bold assault in inclement weather, Aubrey’s altercations with Ministers and the Navy’s hierarchy, Commander Lloyd’s concern for the safety of his vessel and crew, and Clark’s near-impossible mission on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

A gripping thriller that time has not spoiled in the slightest.

[Philip Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

More classic Cold War shenanigans from the dependable Craig Thomas. "Leopard" is a top secret Royal Navy cloaking device whose prototype is being trialled by the sub "Proteus". Rather ambitiously, she's sent to the Barents Sea to map a new Soviet sonar array. Meanwhile, back in Britain "Leopard" 's scientist inventor and his daughter go missing - nabbed by the Russians? Spymaster Kenneth Aubrey from the author's four previous thrillers is in charge of putting things right.

This marks the first appearance of Patrick Hyde, the Australian (strewth, is he Australian) SIS agent who goes on to become Aubrey's regular action man sidekick in the series - Bond to Aubrey's M. The action switches between the plight of the "Proteus" and events back in Blighty as Hyde tracks down the missing scientist Quin (a bit of a drip, ditto his daughter) while fending off KGB spies. The twin track approach works fairly well with both plots just about staying on the credible side.

The prose is a bit clunky and Aubrey is given to melodramatic commentary. I found it dragged a bit early on but built to a thrilling finale. Despite the Soviets clearly being the baddies - fair enough - there's still room for a sympathetic Russian frogman, Andreyey. There's a pleasing lack of faffing about (ie. romance, internal dialogue and political nuance) and not an ounce of fat on the ending. The combination of spycraft and military action set this author apart, a template similar to Tom Clancy's subsequent work - there's even an American called Clark who performs commando heroics in Soviet territory. "Jade Tiger" next up when I've recovered my breath.

[Gwyn Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd read.

[Geoff Boxell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast moving, interesting details, but a few plot holes. which hasn't stopped me reading it twice (after a few years between reads).

[Andy Moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much, of its time. Better than one star, not really up to two.