Books like Korea Strait

Like an aged diesel-powered submarine, David Poyer's "Korea Strait" gets off to a slow start. In fact, the first 200 pages or so are packed with the mundane. Excessive detail about tactical submarine exercises and maneuvers in waters off the South Korean coast. Superfluous visceral details about ship stench when at sea for weeks at a time, and the rot of unappetizing food like kimchi hanging in the air.Somewhere amid it all, however, a story develops. A hero emerges and deeper themes involving mission, success, failure and duty take hold. The final 60 pages or so captivate into a riveting, gut-checking conclusion that rewards the reader who sustains interest and remains character-loyal.Former Naval officer Dan Lenson is at the center of this book's sideways paradigm, which drones on for far too many chapters about the twists, turns, and the unforeseen circumstances of exercises involving ships from the U.S., South Korea and other Asian-Pacific nations, both above and below the waters in the world's most hostile region. Lenson has been assigned to a neutral task group, essentially charged with observing and recording the exercises, ultimately to assess South Korea's naval readiness in the event of an underwater infiltration from the North.Amid this process, not one but two typhoons nearly scuttle the whole operation, and a group of North Korean subs actually does infiltrate South Korean waters. As the novel progresses to a more right-side up plot line, Lenson anguishes against extreme fatigue, nausea and hopeless odds to come up with a solution before the world is drawn into irreversible destruction.The closing chapters pack less unsettling description and a far more powerful narrative in bringing the book to satisfying culmination, rescuing what could have been an utter waste of time. The book rounds out nicely to a 3-star rating, which may have even touched 4 if not for the angony of the first 200 pages.This read would definitely be enticing to fans of the very niche genre of submarine thrillers.When inspired, Poyer's writing packs an almost literary, flowing style of description and character exploration.