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Jeffrey Fuller #5
Straits of Power
The next world war rages. With the Allies at a stalemate with the Berlin-Boer Axis, every battle takes on a new significance. But in a conflict fought with billion-dollar technology and campaigns comprising millions of soldiers, the outcome may rest in the hands of a single man ... Commander Jeffrey Fuller, captain of America's most sophisticated and deadly fast-attack nuclear submarine, the USS Challenger , is accustomed to victory in battle. But for his latest mission he is informed that the only way he can succeed is if he crosses into enemy waters -- without firing a single shot. His recover a spy. The world of espionage is unknown territory for Fuller. He is ordered to locate an asset, code-named Zeno, who may hold the key to staving off a crippling Axis attack. But this new world is full of lies, feints, and betrayals. In combat, Fuller always knows who his enemy is and how to defeat him. In the shadow world of covert operatives and counterintelligence, the distinction between enemy and ally is far more elusive. And it only gets more complicated. Steaming toward his target, Fuller and his crew begin to suspect that the spy they have been sent to retrieve may in fact be a subterfuge, a ploy intended to lure the Allies' most dangerous weapon into enemy hands. With the clock ticking down to an invasion that could alter the course of the war, Fuller suspects that his new "friend" could even be a double agent, intent on using Challenger as a weapon against his own allies, destroying the fragile ties binding nations in war. Fuller is accustomed to the codes of the Silent Service, where loyalty is taken for granted, orders are followed without question, and battles are as precise as a torpedo's firing solution. But now he must adapt to a world where betrayers become the new patriots and lies are the instruments of destruction. With the lives of his crew and the fate of his country hanging in the balance, he will have to risk everything on the word of a man who has, for the last two years, served Fuller's most bitter enemies.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2004
94 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 12, 2015
This was my second time reading this book; it has been several years and I thought I had read it previously but was unsure. About one-third of the way into the book it all came clear. I must say, I actually enjoyed reading it this second time around. I remember becoming pretty disgusted with it the first time I read it but do not remember why.
This book is the fifth book in the series and involves a German scientist who is based in Turkey and wants to defect because of a new weapon of mass destruction he has created for the German military industrial complex and his conscience has gotten the best of him. It involves the ability of some kind of ‘worm’ [virus] to be able to be inserted into enemy computer systems and communications networks to cause all sorts of disruptive havoc. Fuller is given command of a task force of two submarines to invade the Mediterranean Sea, land a SEAL team in Turkey to extract the defector, and escape unscathed. Meanwhile, Russia is violating its neutrality by building and selling advanced weapons platforms [including a new super-duper attack submarine] to the Germans. The Germans attempt to stop the task group before the mission even starts by launching cruise missiles, but the attack fails. The other American submarine commander goes after the German missile boats in violation of his orders, forcing Fuller and his submarine to follow in a supporting role. The German U-boats are destroyed, but Fuller is rightfully incensed about the other commander’s failure to follow orders. After coming to an understanding, the task force continues towards the Mediterranean. The Brits are a part of a deception to open the Straits of Gibraltar using their ceramic submarine as a decoy to allow the American task force to penetrate the Med. Obviously, the decoy strategy works and the American subs enter the German ‘lake’. However, soon after penetrating, the subs are discovered by the Germans and the Ohio goes on the offensive to give the Challenger time to escape. Upon arriving in Turkey, the SEALs infiltrate the Turkish defenses and meet up with their contacts who will be assisting them in the German’s defection. The plan succeeds .
The plan called for the Challenger to escape through the Suez Canal . While en route through the Suez Canal, Fuller is able to watch and marvel at the deviousness of the Israelis and the Egyptians as they two countries face down their mutual antagonist and win. It was a crazy battle! Then disaster strikes ! The Challenger barely escapes a fate in an iron coffin in a watery grave and manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! The crew then stealths across the Indian Ocean to Australia for refitting and some much needed R&R.
I could not figure out if the author was trying to get rid of Fuller’s love interest from the previous novels .
The book had a decent flow to it. I did not get bored reading it, even as I started remembering more of the novel from the first time I read it. It seemed to have the right amount of action and ‘suspense’ – I was not quite on the edge of my seat reading it, but it still held my interest through the entire length of the book. Well, most of the length of the book. The whole deal with the FBI going after Fuller’s former lover seemed a bit contrived and slowed down the book, in my opinion. Not that the changes back to her trying to ‘earn’ her innocence ever came at a bad time in the book; her ‘problems’ just did not seem to go with the overall flow of the book [as opposed to breaking the flow completely by interrupting battles or intense moments].
The overall character development was good. I seemed to remember some of the characters from previous novels. It is interesting how the author has Germany teamed with South Africa and battling the world, trying to establish a Fourth Reich [as it were]. I have seen Larry Bond team Germany with France in ‘Cauldron’ and I have seen Germany try to go it alone in ‘the Ten Thousand’ by Harold Coyle, so this was an interesting change of pace. What makes it even more interesting is that there is very little discussion [scenes] with the German high command in terms of overall tactics. We know the German and South African advances in Africa have been stalled, but the author does not provide much detail in terms of the land warfare. He focuses exclusively on the submarines and underwater warfare with the occasional foray onto land as needs [and the plot] dictate.
I think it is funny how critics will praise other authors by comparing them to a particular author. This is not the first time I have heard an author described as being able to ‘out-Clancy Clancy!’ meaning the author has done a better job than Tom Clancy did in terms of writing something in the technothriller genre. Joe Buff has been described as outdoing Clancy in Buff’s book[s]. I do not know if I would go that far – Clancy set the bar pretty high with his early books [especially Red Storm Rising], but maybe in comparison to Hunt for Red October Buff has done a better job. I did not care for Clancy’s 1000 page monstrosity involving warfare between the Russians and Chinese with the Americans coming to the Russian’s rescue – he should have broken that book down into two or three separate books, but I digress. Buff’s books remind me of DiMercurio’s books about submarine warfare, except that Buff is writing about a specific submarine’s experiences during the next World War whereas DiMercurio is writing about the ‘history’ of a specific submarine commander as he moves up in the Navy. Both authors have done a great job of writing about submarine warfare and hypothesizing about what future undersea warfare might be like. Buff does a nice job of explaining technology as well as different kinds of phenomena [be they manmade or natural] in terms the reader will understand – which was the gift that Tom Clancy had as well. I will definitely be looking for ‘Seas of Crisis’ as that is the next [and possibly final?] book in this series and I have yet to read it.
This book is the fifth book in the series and involves a German scientist who is based in Turkey and wants to defect because of a new weapon of mass destruction he has created for the German military industrial complex and his conscience has gotten the best of him. It involves the ability of some kind of ‘worm’ [virus] to be able to be inserted into enemy computer systems and communications networks to cause all sorts of disruptive havoc. Fuller is given command of a task force of two submarines to invade the Mediterranean Sea, land a SEAL team in Turkey to extract the defector, and escape unscathed. Meanwhile, Russia is violating its neutrality by building and selling advanced weapons platforms [including a new super-duper attack submarine] to the Germans. The Germans attempt to stop the task group before the mission even starts by launching cruise missiles, but the attack fails. The other American submarine commander goes after the German missile boats in violation of his orders, forcing Fuller and his submarine to follow in a supporting role. The German U-boats are destroyed, but Fuller is rightfully incensed about the other commander’s failure to follow orders. After coming to an understanding, the task force continues towards the Mediterranean. The Brits are a part of a deception to open the Straits of Gibraltar using their ceramic submarine as a decoy to allow the American task force to penetrate the Med. Obviously, the decoy strategy works and the American subs enter the German ‘lake’. However, soon after penetrating, the subs are discovered by the Germans and the Ohio goes on the offensive to give the Challenger time to escape. Upon arriving in Turkey, the SEALs infiltrate the Turkish defenses and meet up with their contacts who will be assisting them in the German’s defection. The plan succeeds .
The plan called for the Challenger to escape through the Suez Canal . While en route through the Suez Canal, Fuller is able to watch and marvel at the deviousness of the Israelis and the Egyptians as they two countries face down their mutual antagonist and win. It was a crazy battle! Then disaster strikes ! The Challenger barely escapes a fate in an iron coffin in a watery grave and manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! The crew then stealths across the Indian Ocean to Australia for refitting and some much needed R&R.
I could not figure out if the author was trying to get rid of Fuller’s love interest from the previous novels .
The book had a decent flow to it. I did not get bored reading it, even as I started remembering more of the novel from the first time I read it. It seemed to have the right amount of action and ‘suspense’ – I was not quite on the edge of my seat reading it, but it still held my interest through the entire length of the book. Well, most of the length of the book. The whole deal with the FBI going after Fuller’s former lover seemed a bit contrived and slowed down the book, in my opinion. Not that the changes back to her trying to ‘earn’ her innocence ever came at a bad time in the book; her ‘problems’ just did not seem to go with the overall flow of the book [as opposed to breaking the flow completely by interrupting battles or intense moments].
The overall character development was good. I seemed to remember some of the characters from previous novels. It is interesting how the author has Germany teamed with South Africa and battling the world, trying to establish a Fourth Reich [as it were]. I have seen Larry Bond team Germany with France in ‘Cauldron’ and I have seen Germany try to go it alone in ‘the Ten Thousand’ by Harold Coyle, so this was an interesting change of pace. What makes it even more interesting is that there is very little discussion [scenes] with the German high command in terms of overall tactics. We know the German and South African advances in Africa have been stalled, but the author does not provide much detail in terms of the land warfare. He focuses exclusively on the submarines and underwater warfare with the occasional foray onto land as needs [and the plot] dictate.
I think it is funny how critics will praise other authors by comparing them to a particular author. This is not the first time I have heard an author described as being able to ‘out-Clancy Clancy!’ meaning the author has done a better job than Tom Clancy did in terms of writing something in the technothriller genre. Joe Buff has been described as outdoing Clancy in Buff’s book[s]. I do not know if I would go that far – Clancy set the bar pretty high with his early books [especially Red Storm Rising], but maybe in comparison to Hunt for Red October Buff has done a better job. I did not care for Clancy’s 1000 page monstrosity involving warfare between the Russians and Chinese with the Americans coming to the Russian’s rescue – he should have broken that book down into two or three separate books, but I digress. Buff’s books remind me of DiMercurio’s books about submarine warfare, except that Buff is writing about a specific submarine’s experiences during the next World War whereas DiMercurio is writing about the ‘history’ of a specific submarine commander as he moves up in the Navy. Both authors have done a great job of writing about submarine warfare and hypothesizing about what future undersea warfare might be like. Buff does a nice job of explaining technology as well as different kinds of phenomena [be they manmade or natural] in terms the reader will understand – which was the gift that Tom Clancy had as well. I will definitely be looking for ‘Seas of Crisis’ as that is the next [and possibly final?] book in this series and I have yet to read it.
January 12, 2025
This was a real Battle
I was intrigued by the storyline - an axis led by Germany and South Africa intent on defeating the U.S. and a few allies. With the axis having all the momentum, America sent an advanced nuclear submarine to the Middle East to attempt to extract a German scientist who wanted to defect and had details of an upcoming offensive that could lead to WW III and a full blown nuclear war.
Unfortunately, reading the book was painful with loads of details and technical matters that had me close to throwing in the towel more than once. I’m honestly surprised I made it through. My advice is that if you are not interested in and familiar with submarine warfare, take a pass!
I was intrigued by the storyline - an axis led by Germany and South Africa intent on defeating the U.S. and a few allies. With the axis having all the momentum, America sent an advanced nuclear submarine to the Middle East to attempt to extract a German scientist who wanted to defect and had details of an upcoming offensive that could lead to WW III and a full blown nuclear war.
Unfortunately, reading the book was painful with loads of details and technical matters that had me close to throwing in the towel more than once. I’m honestly surprised I made it through. My advice is that if you are not interested in and familiar with submarine warfare, take a pass!
October 25, 2021
Being a former submariner myself, I found the technical and adventure side of the story very exciting. The very tense moments in the story were very well written and brought back memories and feelings of anxious moments. I was on a ballistic missile sub, so we didn't have the intensity of action that personnel on a fast attack submarine endure. All in all, it was a very good read. I understand that there were some issues that were not addressed in this book which you expect in a series. I'll be reading more by Joe Buff, that is a certainty.
December 18, 2019
Action paced undersea adventure.
Another Jeffrey Fuller submarine novel.
Quick paced plots and unique characters feature many story lines.
Good read again. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
Another Jeffrey Fuller submarine novel.
Quick paced plots and unique characters feature many story lines.
Good read again. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
August 7, 2020
One fast underwater read
Joe Buff is the Clancy of the seas
Every book leave you wanting more ,a page turner filled with action on land in the air on the surface and especially underwater ,and don't forget the navy seals ,please read on order the entire series
Joe Buff is the Clancy of the seas
Every book leave you wanting more ,a page turner filled with action on land in the air on the surface and especially underwater ,and don't forget the navy seals ,please read on order the entire series
June 12, 2021
This is another good book by Joe Buff continuing his series. This has harrowing rescues and great submarine warfare. My only complaint is I wish there was more undersea battles. Highly recommend Buff is you like submarine books.
August 24, 2021
Another Excellent Fuller Novel
Another excellent Fuller novel, having read all five. They are filled with non-stop action and some surprising twists and turns. Looking forward to Book 6.
Another excellent Fuller novel, having read all five. They are filled with non-stop action and some surprising twists and turns. Looking forward to Book 6.
July 25, 2018
Too much equipment detail for me, however it was well plotted.
August 9, 2021
My review
I got the 1st in this series because of the military basis. I have since purchased the complete series, and have enjoyed the books and the author.
I got the 1st in this series because of the military basis. I have since purchased the complete series, and have enjoyed the books and the author.
November 10, 2022
Non Stop Action, a real nail biter
The continuing saga of Jeffrey Fuller and The Challenger is the best yet. Non stop action. Read it from beginning to end with no breaks.
The continuing saga of Jeffrey Fuller and The Challenger is the best yet. Non stop action. Read it from beginning to end with no breaks.
January 12, 2024
Outstanding a real page turner. Highly recommend
October 4, 2025
Hadn't read a book about sub warfare in ages. This book filled the void. Technical. Intense. Eventful.
February 10, 2016
Another episode in the series about Jeff Fuller, submarine skipper. It's set in the near future, with the US and allies battling Germany and South Africa, but the moral atmosphere recalls 1942 and a desperate struggle against an evil foe. This one begins with a top German computer expert sending a message to Washington that he wants to defect, bringing top secret info with him, but will do so only if Fuller, whom he has long admired from afar, comes to get him. James Bond fans may recognize the set-up and think they're in for a gay version of "From Russia With Love," but they'll just have to pull themselves together. This is a technothriller! It has plenty of advanced weaponry, but it's talked about for a long time before being used. More briefings than battles in this one.
July 15, 2015
Want a novel that is just about sub craft and action that takes place more on land than underwater? This is it. An odd combination of mental agility on the part of Commander Jeffrey Fuller fills this novel. His cunning intellect and prowess helps him elude his enemies and there are many.
Odd twists and turns of the plot near the end just when you think it is going to wind down. Ahhh--but no sex nor hardly mention of his previous liaison with the Australian oceanographer. She is in stasis now-locked up by our government and Commander Fuller cannot help her. Another novel is needed here and let's make up for lost time!!
Odd twists and turns of the plot near the end just when you think it is going to wind down. Ahhh--but no sex nor hardly mention of his previous liaison with the Australian oceanographer. She is in stasis now-locked up by our government and Commander Fuller cannot help her. Another novel is needed here and let's make up for lost time!!
November 24, 2016
Suspenseful
Very interesting book involving submarine warfare. However, too much time spent on the seals and their land mission. If I wanted to read about Seals I would purchase a book more oriented towards them.
Very interesting book involving submarine warfare. However, too much time spent on the seals and their land mission. If I wanted to read about Seals I would purchase a book more oriented towards them.
February 13, 2010
Good book. I would read it again. In a genre with many submarine novels, it does very well.
March 22, 2015
Jingoistic garbage
April 3, 2013
Read the whole series....excellent read
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews