Not having spent time in the marine industry and one who is by far not fond on being captive in a tin can of any size, thrillers involving ships and its operations are not my favorite topics. Having said this, the plot will nevertheless capture the imagination of ship geeks….this techno-thriller with all the juice and characters hop-scotching through exotic locales will surely please the majority of readers.
The central character is Tom Dugan, a skilled professional who travels the world as an operating engineer on ships, he is one the good guys. As for the bad guys they are many of them most are motivated by religious fanaticism and some simply by greed. They are all sadistic as we would expect them to be. “Deadly Straits”, is a fast paced and multilayered plot that travels from Singapore, Malaysia, London , Malacca, Panama, Chechnya, Teheran, Virginia. 9/11 told us it is possible to used aircraft as flying bombs, “Deadly Straits”, suggest that huge tankers can be also used as weapons….Some said this plot is entirely possible and realistic….terrorists gaining control of loaded tankers and using them as weapons in straits to block flow of traffic. This story tells a scary account on how they may attempt this…..
This is one convoluted story very I had a hard time keeping focus on. Following the many characters with strange names was a challenge and keeping track of who is a good guy and who is a bad guy was even more. Mr. McDermott has definitely deployed his knowledge of ships and navigation with the many details about manoeuvering and detonating supertankers. Maybe he did a too good job doing so. The many threads that bounce from storyline to storyline make this book long and complex and not all that interesting… I struggled to keep up till the end …
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