HMS Unseen

Robinson, Patrick

ISBN 10: 0694521337 ISBN 13: 9780694521333

Publisher: HarperAudio, 1999

Synopsis

The most highly efficient and lethal underwater ship ever built, H.M.S. Unseen, vanishes into the depths while on a training mission, baffling British and American military intelligence including wily National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan.

One year later, the Concorde, the world's safest and most secure domestic plane, disappears without a trace over the North Atlantic. Days later the brand new Starstriker jet vanishes. Both appear to be random inexplicable accidents until Air Force Three, carrying the vice-president of the United States, is blown from the sky.

Morgan devises a chilling theory. Not only is Unseen still out there, but it's been modified to become the most dangerous anti-aircraft weapon at sea. And the admiral is convinced that only one man could have masterminded it: The world's most cunning'and reportedly dead'terrorist spy, Iraq's Commander Benjamin Adnam. But what Morgan doesn't know is that the fanatically religious military terrorist has a chilling agenda of his own'a plan that will bring these two intense warriors face to face. . . and only one will come out alive.

Performed by David McCallum on four cassettes.

About this title

Review

Patrick Robinson might not be the smoothest writer in the world, but for action on and around the sea he's as good as Tom Clancy or the late, much-missed Hammond Innes. Robinson's latest finds ace Iraqi terrorist Benjamin Adnam--supposedly killed at the end of Nimitz Class--alive and decorated in Baghdad. Ben instinctively knows that he is no longer useful to Saddam Hussein, and sure enough, he surprises and kills an official hit squad waiting for him at his home. Burning with the desire for revenge, Ben walks to Iran (a two-week trek through desert and marshes wonderfully described by Robinson) and convinces that country's leaders to help him launch a scheme that will punish both Iraq and the Great Satan, America.

Commander Adnam, trained as a submariner in England and Israel, hijacks the HMS Unseen,, one of the world's most dangerous and undetectable subs, refits it with Russian missile launchers, and uses it to shoot down three very high-profile airplanes, including a supersonic Concorde and a plane carrying America's much beloved vice president (this is 2006, by the way). As planned, the Iraqis are widely suspected--but national security adviser Albert Morgan recognizes Adnam's handiwork and begins a global search. There's a beautifully detailed journey, across Scotland and Ireland, before the book settles down into a smaller but satisfying story of Adnam's personal quest for some kind of redemption. --Dick Adler

From the Back Cover

The H.M.S. Unseen is one of the most efficient, lethal submarines ever built. But suddenly, on a training mission off the English coast, it vanishes, baffling military intelligence on both sides of the Atlantic, including National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan. A missing weapon is dangerous enough. But then the unthinkable begins to happen....Planes begin blowing up across the skies.

Searching for answers, Morgan is convinced that only one man can be behind all these devastating events: his archenemy, the world's most cunning -- yet reportedly dead -- terrorist spy. Determined to stop his old nemesis, Morgan must use all his wits to find a madman armed with a powerful sub hidden somewhere in a million square miles of ocean. What Morgan doesn't know, however, is that the fanatical terrorist has a plan of his own, one that will bring these two intense warriors face-to-face -- and only one will come out alive in one of the most chilling spy stories of the year.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0694521337
• ISBN 13: 9780694521333
• Binding: Audio Cassette