Friday Reads: 72 HOURS

It’s cold. And dark. The oxygen is running out. All around you men and vomiting, freezing, drifting between fitful consciousness and sleep. Somewhere above you a team of strangers, delayed and restricted by your own country’s bureaucracy, are desperately diving to try and get you out…

And it’s all real.

72 HOURS tells the story of a submarine accident off Russia’s far-eastern coast, leaving the crew of a tiny craft trapped in the Bering Sea. When the Russian navy’s own attempts to rescue their men were unsuccessful, they called on international assistance – keen to avoid a repeat of the Kursk disaster. British crew first on the scene, thrust into a race against time to free the craft before the oxygen ran out.

I really, really enjoyed this book – it’s quick, its desperate and it’s all real. Between the descriptions of the crew in their freezing metal tomb, the frustrations of the British and American crews as they attempted to get to the scene, the amazing technology they called upon, and everything that the sailors on all side had to overcome, I was absolutely on the edge of my seat. As to whether they were successful… I’ll let you find out for yourself!