BORELLI CONSULTING: Recreational Equipment Reviews

James Rollins' "Deep Fathom"
29 January 2007

I have to admit to being somewhat of a reading hound. I firmly believe that there is something to be learned in almost anything we read and I view my "recreational" reading as an on-going education process that I enjoy. Every evening when I'm home, my son and I have "reading time". For fifteen minutes or so he will read something he likes - typically one of the Goose Bumps books right now (he's nine) - while I read whatever I'm into at that time. Sometimes it's pure educational material applicable to military or law enforcement operations. Other times it's fiction that is fun. I ran out of books to read and had to pick up one of my wife's. I was delighted within the first few chapters. The book was "Deep Fathom" by James Rollins. Interesting book...

Copyrighted in 2001, Deep Fathom is one of seven James Rollins novels. To be honest, I didn't pick this book out on a shelf in a bookstore, grocery store, news kiosk, or anywhere else. I was looking for something to read one night around the house and this was a book my wife had purchased - probably because of the picture of the tentacle on the cover (she has a thing about sea monsters and any kind of horror story). I didn't have anything else to read, so this was it.

By the time I was two pages in I was hooked. Using a character development mainstay in today's entertainment world, Mr. Rollins created a primary character who had the background of a Navy SEAL. He also used the same background for the main antagonist as well. The good guy got out of the service and made a life of exploring the ocean and all its beauty. The bad guy got out of the service - sort of - and went to work for the CIA. Ooooh... spooky.

The good guy surrounded himself with friends, competent scientists and a faithful dog. The bad guy surrounded himself with a collection of lackeys who were each as evil as he was and who would obey his orders without a rational thought passing between their ears.

The good guy, while trying to salvage a boatload of treasure (literally) comes across an ancient monolith under a couple thousand feet of water. With the introduction of this monolith, the inscribed language / pictograms, and everything that grows out of the investigation that follows, Mr. Rollins links Earth's potential distruction to solar flares and recreates the myth of Atlantis using historical data and placed in the Pacific instead of the Atlantic.

Without giving away too much of the ending, the good guy wins, the bad guy loses, and the world enjoys peace once again. Oh, and the good guy gets the girl too. Not only is she good looking but she's smart too. What in the world does she see in a retired Navy SEAL with some truly challenging personal ghosts? Who knows? She's just got a soft spot for underdogs I guess.

So, after I started I finished the 465 page paperback within three days. The animal that tentacle is attached to does make numerous appearances in the storyline and plays a critical role in saving the planet. How's that for a plot twist? A sea monster that helps save the planet - by doing what comes naturally no less.

If your education and life's experience have made you an expert on deep sea submersibles, astronaut training, satellite engineering or something similar, you'll have to put that part of your brain in check while you read this. I'm not an expert on any of those items and I had to wonder about the veracity of some passages. Still, what's there is critical to the plot so if the author took some editorial license, so be it. I enjoyed reading this book quite a bit and will be looking into some of his others.

BE SAFE!

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Don't forget to check out our Tactical Equipment Review of BlackHawk's Level III SERPA Duty Holster securing a pistol with Xiphos NT light mounted!

This week's Training Article, about survival items that have worked for me.

For a listing of all reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

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