Triangle

The Jason Parker Trilogy #2

by John Clarke

Two superpowers are in a race to recover and exploit alien technology. To compete with the rumored Russian retrieval of an alien spacecraft found deep in Siberia's Lake Baikal, the U.S. government orders two Navy saturation divers to risk everything to help salvage a spacecraft that may not even exist. It is up to Jason Parker to make sure the divers return safely from the deepest man-dive ever, but he cannot guarantee mission success. That is up to luck, and the bravado and heroism of the Navy divers.

The thriller Middle Waters was the beginning saga for diving scientist Jason Parker and Oceanographer Laura Smith. In Triangle, Russian submarines monitor diving preparations off the U.S. Gulf Coast, then attempt to sabotage the U.S. effort. What started as Russian curiosity, morphs into a deadly threat. To make matters worse, both the U.S. and Russia are targeting Parker and Smith for elimination, if the governments don't get their way. As a result, Parker and Smith must struggle to survive at all odds, while trying to maintain world peace.

With the Presidents of both the U.S. and Russia vying for supremacy, and the American President's own staff warning of potential catastrophes, the balance of world power, and even world survival, may rest on a liaison between Parker, Smith and two mysterious men with most peculiar powers. One is a blind remote viewer, and the other is a Troll named Truman.

372 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2017

About the author

John Clarke has been a diving scientist with the U.S. Navy for thirty-eight years, conducting research specializing in the adaptations of people and animals to the deep-sea. That research began at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Florida State University, culminating in research in the Puerto Rico Trench and participation in the U.S. Navy Scientist in the Sea Program. The University of Florida School Of Medicine provided NIH-funded postgraduate training in human medical physiology. His Navy research began at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD and continues at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida. He has conducted diving research in both Antarctica and the Arctic, and aviation research for the Navy and Air Force. He is a Physical Scientist and holds a Ph.D. in Physiology. He lives in Panama City, Florida, USA.

Reviews

[Robert Williscroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Triangle is a hard science fiction story that pushes hard science fiction limits. The story is full of surprises. Technically, it is chock full of accurate deep-water saturation diving (something I know a lot about, because I am a professional saturation diver -- among other things), high-speed small jet piloting (I don't fly small jets, but am a pilot), high-level military operations (I've been deeply involved in highly classified submarine and diving espionage operations), insightful black-ops descriptions (ditto), and even Oval Office conversations that come off as genuine (I am personally acquainted with one president, and friends with several high-level government people). I can tell you that Clark nailed these, especially his Navy diver banter!

The hard science fiction limits that Clarke pushes revolve around remote viewing. Clarke presumes that this capability is real and can be developed. His main character, Jason Parker, has this capability, but not so well developed as a couple of other characters. Remote viewing plays a significant role in Triangle, and Clarke pulled me into it, and forced me to suspend my disbelief.

Triangle has aliens, highly advanced alien technology, government agencies (from several nations) vying to control this technology, highly skilled saturation divers doing what these guys do, and Clarke ties it all together with an edge-of-your-seat tale of suspense. This is a great read from a fine writer!

[Susan Kayar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Triangle, the second novel in the Jason Parker Trilogy by John Clarke. It is a fun and engaging mash-up of diving science and science fiction. John and I worked together in diving research for the Navy in Maryland years ago. He continues to this day to perform diving research for the Navy in Florida (while I moved on to other activities and then retired). As one would expect, his details in diving science and Navy jargon are impeccable. But it is impressive that his characters are well drawn and his plot twists are creative and bold.

My favorite part of Triangle has to be the ultra-deep hydrogen dive sequence for admittedly personal reasons. John and I, friendly colleagues though we were, had not been in contact with each other for a couple of decades or more. And yet my own diving novel, Operation SECOND STARFISH, was published in the same year as Triangle, and also contains an ultra-deep hydrogen dive sequence. Mutual friends had to tell us that the other had published a book for us to re-establish contact. I would imagine that our two books are the only novels ever to describe a hydrogen dive, which is a huge technical and physiological challenge, as readers will discover. John's hydrogen dive works out (if I dare say so without revealing too much of his excellent plot) about as well as such a dangerous scenario ever will. My hydrogen dive is a lot rougher, in keeping with the more aggressive compression rate chosen to respond to the disabled submarine rescue that forms the basis of my story.

Any readers truly interested in dives well beyond 1000 feet of seawater will find a lot to learn and marvel over in Triangle. Readers just along for the exciting sci-fi ride will be equally happy to have spent time in John Clarke's imaginative world. I look forward to his predicted December release of the third novel in this series.