Crash Dive, Book 4, Contact!

Authors: Craig DiLouie
Narrator: R.C. Bray
Duration: 4h 54m
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tags: miltary - action - adventure

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Another great book bout submariner’s (and not only) life.

They do not stop surprising me, and due to the length of the book, did not became boring.

I hate when book spends 1/3 of a time recalling what happened in previous books, but this one did just great with a small number of reminders.

Also the great part is that you don’t have to read previous books, you can just pick this one up and start listening.

Again lots of action, commands repetition, philosophy.

Author had a great way of describing war without romance.

Lots of great quotes.

Quotes:

Every submarine captain had his own unique personality and style. He wondered what kind of commander would her be. How well would he handle the pressure. Captain Sunderses’s success marked him as a submarine ace. A man once had nerves of steel, but even steel grew fragile if worn down enough. He wared so long - he was now in war with himself.

Sonders was captain of this boat, king of this kingdom, period. He made a colossal mistake, he had broken under stress. Another man hight have learned from it and move on, done better. But that would require forgiveness. He’d have to forgive himself. Sonders wasn’t the type, so he blame the officers.

Charlie doubted that court, comprised of senior officers would publicly agree one of their own shown dereliction of the duty due to mental breakdown

On the submarine they served as a part of war machine that slaughtered ships and man. On the land they were fish out of water, untrained and possible unequaled to the task.

Why were they here? What were all they were fighting for ? Charlie didn’t think hate was the answer. He met only two man who hated Japanese so much that it was their main reason for fighting. … There was plenty of hate to go around, but it wasn’t enough for most man. Maybe enough for a battle, but not for a war.

Combat is a seducer. Every part of you sings in combat. You live completely in a moment. You face death and survive. It promises - if you survive this - you’ll live forever.

I’ve bet you have some stories to tell. Some, but none worth reliving.

Charlie remembered his first patrol aboard the S55 on the Solomons. Envying Rusty for surviving bombing of Caveta, listening the crew on how they survived the horror, wanting to survive and confront that horror himself, wishing he had his own stories to tell. Eager to earn them. He never imagined that some stories became an burden. That some stories can never be told and would have to be forever buried.

Bradic was one of the bravest man he knew. They had one trait in common - that their kept their head under fire. But sailer thought that war was crazy. They were playing war with real bullets.

Strange to love two woman for completely different reasons. Jane understood him as as warrior, the man he discovered himself here in the pacific. … She represented today, present, where one did not dared to dream about tomorrow, where tomorrow might never come. Evie however understood him as a man. The man he was in piece. A man he hoped to become again. Gentle and nurturing. She represented tomorrow, a future he hoped to put today behind him.

Maybe he wanted to see it though. Maybe he stayed, because he found himself in combat and no longer knew who he was outside it.

In war man paid a personal cost to benefit those whom they fought, often as in Smokie’s case victory demanded the ultimate price. For some however victory delivered special reward. War had a way to grinding a man down until he broke.