Stark Realities

by Alexander Fullerton

October 1918: Germany is suing for peace, terms for an armistice are being negotiated between the several capitals, all U-boats have meanwhile been ordered home from patrol. Among them is U81, commanded by Otto von Mettendorff: he's young, dynamic, already approaching the status of an 'Ace', and is infatuated with a new girlfriend who works not far from Wilhelmshaven, to which port U81 is now returning. However, U81 is 'holed' by a destroyer and sent to the bottom of forty fathoms of English sea.

Meanwhile in London, Anne Laurie, a young war widow now being courted by an American naval officer, and by virtue of her fluent German employed in the Intelligence Division of the Royal navy, learns of Otto's death. It jolts memories of a pre-war weekend in Berlin in the summer of 1913, the genesis of a compulsive story of two magnetic people torn apart by global conflict. "STARK REALITIES" is a grippingly authentic First World war adventure.

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

Alexander Fullerton (1924–2008) was a British author of naval and other fiction. Born in 1924 in Suffolk and brought up in France, he was a cadet during the years 1938-1941 at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth from the age of thirteen. He went to sea serving first in the battleship Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean, and spent the rest of the war at sea - mostly under it, in submarines.

Fullerton's first novel SURFACE! sold over 500,000 copies. Then he worked on the 9-volume Nicholas Everard series that made his reputation.

Series:
* Nicholas Everard Saga
* Rosie Ewing

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Anthony King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stark indeed.

5 stars simply because although there are some inexplicable typos towards the end of the novel, the rest 'reads like a true story, which of course it's not. Brings to mind the penetration of Scapa Flow by Gunther Prien in U39!

[Gerald E Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irritating litterols

Fight is usually spelled with an F and light with an L so it is very odd when they are reversed.

[Marcus · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot of this book consists of four or five separate story arcs supposed to deliver a 'complete picture' - the problem is though that they mix together as oil and water. Things aren't helped along by the fact that the strong erotic element of two of those sub-plots were creepy and clumsily written at the same time, while the events that led to the 'great finalé' were unbelievably contrived and forced. And then we have the ending, which manages to be even more pointless than the painful journey toward it.

Complete and utter waste of my time.