Deep Whisper

by Henry Martin

Mark Castillo, captain of the submarine USS Pasadena, is tracking a brand new Russian missile submarine when sudden disaster tears him away from his quarry. Pasadena’s sonar watch has just detected a massive casualty aboard a Russian Victor-class fast attack—and the enemy boat is going down. Castillo races to the scene to help rescue the trapped sailors. He speaks with the desperate commander of the lost submarine—and is haunted by the Russian boat’s DEEP WHISPER.

Castillo will do just about anything to pull those sailors off the bottom, but the Russian government refuses his help—leaving him with a terrible dilemma.

Will he risk everything to help—or will he let his fellow submariners die?

54 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2012

About the author

Henry Martin is an award-winning Irish writer and art scholar. His plays have featured at Project Arts Centre, Roundhouse, Underbelly, Arcola, Theatre503, and Belltable; his fiction and poetry is published in Ireland, Mexico, USA and UK; and he has written about art and books for Soho House and Phaidon Press. He is narrator of the documentary 'Agnes Martin Before The Grid' (2016), his book 'Yappo' is published by Company Cod (2017), and his play 'The Cost of Your Forgetting' is published in 'Tiny Plays For Ireland', New Island Books, 2013.

Reviews

[Ken Finlay · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Deep Whisper" packs a lot into a few pages, maybe too much.
Mark Castillo, USS nuclear submarine commander, is first on the scene after a Russian sub goes to the bottom after an explosion.
His orders, to co-operate with, and take the lead from the Russians.
They, however, seem intent on only using their resources and that means that all the trapped submariners will die.
Will he try to save them or just follow orders.
There's a secondary storyline which seemed patched on to get a message across about following your gut and doing what's right - it's not particularly well done.
2.5 Stars, down to 2 Stars because it really is too short to judge accurately.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome short story really well done and gripping

[Phil Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book. It shows the human side of a Naval Commander as well as the difficulties in making the right decision.

In the end, I like what the COB said. The men would follow their Captain anywhere. As a Naval veteran, I can attest to that tidbit of truth. We will follow a true leader through thick or thin!

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, solid, believable story, exciting and intriguing, with a good, solid, believable ending. Just not the ending I wanted to read.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decently written submariner story--more of a short story. Not much character development.