Silent Thunder
Non-series
Iris Johansen
and Roy Johansen
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-36799-6 (0312367996)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36799-2 (9780312367992)
Publication Date: July 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Brilliant marine architect Hannah Bryson has
been given the job of a lifetime. A U.S. maritime museum has just
acquired the decommissioned Soviet submarine Silent Thunder for public
exhibition. It’s Hannah’s job to make sure that
every single inch of the legendary nuclear attack sub is safe for the
thousands of visitors anticipated. Enlisting the aid of her brother,
Connor, they examine the enormous vessel and delve into its long---and
lethal---history.
In the course of their investigation, Connor discovers a mysterious
message behind one of the ship’s panels. But before he can
figure out what it means, there’s a deadly assault on Silent
Thunder. Though the U.S. government tries to warn Hannah away,
she’ll stop at nothing to find the ruthless mastermind behind
her brother’s death. Even if it means joining forces with a
mysterious man who may be even more dangerous than the enemy she has
sworn to bring down. As Hannah finds herself in the crossfire of an
epic standoff, her only hope for survival is to unravel the
sub’s explosive secret. But someone’s willing to
kill to make sure Silent Thunder stays silent.
Review:
Silent Thunder,
the first collaboration between Iris Johansen and her son Roy Johansen,
both accomplished authors in their own right, is a spine-tingling
thriller that will be hard to put down once started.
Hannah Bryson, an extremely talented marine architect has been
commissioned by a U. S. Maritime Museum to thoroughly examine a
decommissioned Soviet submarine. Every nook and cranny of the "Silent
Thunder”, at one time a nuclear attack sub, must be inspected
and cleared completely of any material that might jeopardize the safety
of the many visitors expected to board it for viewing. While searching,
Hannah and her team (including her brother, Connor) discover metal
plates with cryptic, coded messages hidden and bolted behind one of the
ship’s control panels. She notifies her State Department
liaison who negotiated with the Russians for the purchase of the boat
for the Maritime Museum. He tells her to evacuate her team from the sub
immediately. Before she can, there is the sound of gunfire coming from
the area of the hidden panels. She runs back to find her brother dead.
What are the meanings of the cryptic markings on the plates? Why are
they important now? And who would kill to get them? Hannah realizes
there was many sets of eyes following her every move as she stubbornly
sets out to find out the secret behind the plates, but more
importantly, who killed her brother.
Silent Thunder
is a multi-layered thriller that keeps the action coming from all
angles. It turns out that every covert organization from Russia to the
United States seemed to know about the existence of the hidden plates
that Hannah and Connor found but they did not know exactly how to find
them, or if they did find them, how to decode them. After Connor is
killed, Hannah is offered help by the State Department (among many
other organizations) to help find her brother’s killer. She
feels she can trust no one until she meets a man, a Russian no less,
who seems to be more honest with her than the others. But is he? Only
when she discovered her brother’s killer would she relent
enough to find out if this man was really helping her in her pursuit,
or if was he there simply to secure the plates and uncover their
meaning.
From the intricate plot to the puzzle of the plates, and from the still
simmering Cold War rivalries to the developing relationship between
Hannah and her Russian associate, Silent
Thunder is not only an exhilarating suspense novel from
start to finish, it is a prime example of a "page-turner".
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Silent Thunder and to Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Omnimystery keywords for Silent Thunder ...
Location(s) referenced: Washington DC, Russia.