Ugh. Words cannot even begin to describe how bad this book is. I was drawn in by the undersea aspect of this fictional "thriller" and the premise is interesting enough, but I couldn't get past the wooden protagonist and the stereotypical portrayal of all of the military characters as deranged, maniacal sadists bent on destroying the planet. The dialogue was utterly hokey, and I would think that Mr. Child could at least have run his manuscript by someone on active duty or at least formerly in the military who could have corrected such idiocy, such as the repeated use of "Over and out," "Get here on the double" and the numerous inane militaryspeak/jargon that nobody in uniform uses. I should have known better than to stick with this dog when I first read the phony characterizations of those in uniform in the book's first few pages. Not worth the time and effort.