Bright Shark

by Robert D. Ballard, Tony Chiu

1968. . .In the murky waters of the Mediterranean, an Israeli submarine vanishes without a trace, burying its top secret cargo. 1988. . . on the monitor of a U.S. research ship, the eerie vision of a hideously shredded skin diver's suit and the image of a star of David appear. . . miles beneath the sea. And across the world, a chilling conspiracy begins. . . Few but U.S. Naval Lieutenant Edna J. Haddix and retired Navy officer Wendell Trent know the real reason the Fanning II is anchored off the coast of Crete. But when their unmanned probe penetrates the hull of the sunken submarine Dakar, Haddix and Trent find themselves on the explosive edge of a political time bomb code-named. . . Bright Shark. It was a mission so daring, so deadly and unthinkable that its exposure could forever after the balance of world power. But a plan had already been set in motion to keep the silence. And now it is only a matter of days, hours, minutes. . .before an undersea weapon is deployed that will bury a a shocking secret for all time. . .at cost of certain global disaster. . .

"A page-tumer. . .plausible. . .convincing. . .exciting!" — Publishers Weekly.

"Ballard has taken the technothriller to a whole new standard of quality and excitement." — John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Military Fiction, Novels

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas) is a former commander in the United States Navy and an oceanographer who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology. He is most famous for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. Most recently he discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2003 and visited the Solomon Islander natives who saved its crew. Ballard is also great-grandson of American Old West lawman Bat Masterson.

from wikipedia.org

see also
http://literati.net/Ballard/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/fie...
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pa...

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first thing a reader has to know about BRIGHT SHARK is that it is slightly dated. Written some years ago, some of the technology is just a little out of date..

That didn't mar my enjoyment of the book one bit. Not anymore than a novel about World War II that used period technology would annoy me. This story is set in 1988 and the computer items described were indeed state of the art in 1988.

Ballard, one of the men involved in finding the TITANIC-- is one of the authors of this fine novel. That means that the underwater stuff is just plain right, which I think adds to the pleasure in this novel.

With that said, the big conspiracy is fun, though the book's prologue which was meant to keep the reader thinking about this conspiracy and to whet the appetite of the reader really worked as a bit of a spoiler for me. The diplomatic stuff is fun, the undercover stuff is fun, and the bad guys are the sort of guys one would want to hat. This was written like one of the Dirk Pitt novels without the super heroics of Pitt. In fact, in a few places the authors take time to poke fun at Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's oceanic hero.. the biggest joke is mispronouncing his name and the name of his agency.

One reference that just kept coming up was an idiom about being someone's teacart. By the time I got tired of hearing that if someone had wheels that they would be a teacart.. I didn't get it and thought it was a stupid thing to say repeatedly.

Still, there is a time-table that keeps the book moving-- a mysterious conspiracy to be uncovered regarding a sunken submarine, and a lot of undercover stuff going on. There is plenty of action, and some good dialogue (despite the "teacart" idiom that kept cropping up.

Started off slow and built to a frantic pace that had me turning the pages trying to get to the end last night before mthe muscle relaxer I took for my back caught up with me. The last 100 pages will likely keep the reader occupied.

The underwater robots, Bert and Ernie, were most interesting as was the efforts to keep them operating and tricks that the team used to solve problems. I could almost see Ballard's team using these robots as they explored the Titanic-- so this part of the novel, the technical part, was quite interesting to me.

This is the sort of stuff Tom Clancy USED to write, before he decided he would just stick his name on other people's books to sell CRAP disguised as fiction. This is the sort of stuff Larry Bond fans will find pleasureable. The authors out-Clancy modern day Clancy by many, many fathoms.

Undersea adventure and a spy mystery at its best with realistic characters and no Super spy like Bond or Pitt.

[Ruthe Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been more engaging than it was. A submarine-naval-political story, set in 1988 it is the story of a grologic exploration -- with a conveniently placed naval officer aboard -- that discovers a missing (sunk) Israeli submarine where it wasn't supposed to have been. The following actions involve American industry and several federal departments, the higher-up Israelis, a Russian conspiracy, and Reagan's trip to Moscow. The characters seemed to be the vehicle that carried the story.
It was NOT, however, bogged down with technical details, which I appreciated. For me, this type of story is generally hard to read. This one was, too, but I was interested in what they would find, iff they would find it, how the others would react, etc. The events take place on a holiday weekend -- Memorial Day to be exact, and that adds to the tension somewhat, with lower level officials having to make higher echelon decisions.

[Tekken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Üks neid Ballardi teoseid, millest lihtsal põhjusel bestsellerit ei saanud. Suurem jagu kirjeldatud masinavärgist on nüüdseks lootusetult vananenud, aga sellest hoolimata oli pinge olemas ja püsis lõpuni. Mis tegelastesse puutus, siis nemad jäid usutavuselt küll tehnikale alla. Ajavahemik Dakari avastamise ja uurimise vahel oli ka uskumatult pikaks venitatud, aga ikkagi, neli tärni.

[Jackie Schoenherr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of the other reviews for this book seem disappointed that the technology mentioned is out of date. As someone who knows quite literally nothing about deep sea recovery or unmanned submersibles, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought the suspense and plot were intriguing. As all books do, this book has aged, but the story and intrigue have not.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story but a bit too long. Of course interesting subject, but saw too much real-life Ballard.

[Wynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read, several tech errors

[Joe White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Co-written by Robert Ballard, this reflects his geophysical and naval expertise. It is 20 years old, so reflects some outdated technology and the old cold war situation, but nearly everything in it lending suspense is still active in more contemporary forms.
Complaints: lots of detail and a large cast. A little longer then the normal boilerplate suspense novel at 514 pages versus the normal 300.

[Eric]

I found this book on the shelf at the library and based on reading the flap it sounded kind of interesting. It was actually a fun book to read. A little slow at times but overall a fun easy ready.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob Ballard and Tony Chiu should have kept this story going. It was an interesting case about a missing Israeli submarine, a weapons, and people pipeline out of Russia, and what people will do to keep their secrets. It is well written and a fun read.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still one of my favorites of all time, despite the fact that I am not generally a fan of the technothiller genre.

[Jared Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated, a little too jumpy with cuts, but good.