After completing the excellent Run Silent, Run Deep, I searched for and managed to find a copy of its sequel, written almost 20 years later: Dust on the Sea. This book continues the narrative started in Run Silent, Run Deep, but does not show how good it is immediately. However, once the subs are on their way to sink enemy shipping, the tension builds, and the dangers without and within the sub grip you. The last 100 pages were quickly read, to find out what would happen to the officers and crew of the Eel. I think of the author's works as Tom Clancy concise, not "lite". Authentic, engaging, excellent read. Recommended. ( )

Richardson, captain of the U.S.S. Eel, is in a funk - ever since he used his submarine to destroy the lifeboats of a Japanese antisubmarine task force, in the process dicing up "Bungo Pete," its commander, with the Eel's screws.

Edward Beach's novel Dust on the Sea is a solid WW II submarine adventure. Beach (author of [book:Run Silent, Run Deep]) was himself a submarine captain, so the details have a very authentic ring to them; those little details can make or break an action yarn. He immediately defines Richardson's competence by showing how he saves the sub, recognizing signs of an oncoming "Kona" wave as they enter harbor, a freakishly huge wave that poops the submarine, and had the hatches been open, would have most likely sunk it.

The captain of the Eel is assigned to an American wolfpack under the leadership of his old captain, who has begun to exhibit strange behavioral quirks that Richardson is forced to defend to his executive officer. They have been assigned to patrol off the coast of China to prevent the Japanese from sending reinforcements to Iwo Jima and Okinawa during the Allies' planned attacks on those islands.
What makes this book most interesting, aside from its typical WW II story line, is the heart-stopping realism of the -scenes. We Imaw Beach has been there. You participate in the palm-sweating, frenzied rush down the hatch after a plane has been sighted, yanking the lanyard to slam it shut, and crash diving as steeply as possible, remembering that a threehundred-foot submarine diving as vertically as possible, doesn't have much maneuvering room in two hundred feet of water. The scenes of their being depth charged are astounding. Read this book, then watch Das Boot, the greatest of all submarine movies IMHO. ( )

Realistic story of USN submarine warfare during World War II. Logical sequel to Run Silent, Run Deep. ( )

This is a follow-up to the famed submarine novel, "Run Silent, Run Deep," although written quite a few years later. It follows many of the same characters on the sub's next mission. A very good war novel, and gives a great picture of the day to day lives of WWII submariners. An absorbing read. ( )