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Upon Dark Waters

11 Apr 23

by ROBERT RADCLIFFE

(ABACUS – £8.99)

ISBN 978 0 351 32082 8

437pp

A cracking good yarn especially if you happen to be on a long-haul flight; ideally between London and Buenos Aires or, better still, Montevideo if there is a direct flight, because below lie the dark waters of the Atlantic which form the title of this book.

The tale is written in a cinematic style so there are constant flash-backs but once you get used to these, the tale moves along at a page-turning pace. And my usual page 59 test reflects an interesting aspect of the plot.

Two principal characters, one, a Brit ex-pat from Uruguay, an RNVR Officer in HMS Daisy, a Flower-class corvette; and the other being the story’s relater, a Dartmouth-trained Midshipman, seemingly RN but RN Mids were not appointed to Corvettes; they had kit-bags not suitcases and kept journals not diaries. Nor is the First Lieutenant a First Officer ON a warship. So, despite otherwise painstaking research, therein lie a few somewhat irritating niggles for purists. But I become too pedantic.

A recommended good read with some interesting divertissements but if your flight happens to be showing The Cruel Sea and the Battle of the River Plate, tilt your seat back, sip a G&T and watch the movies.

BILL EVERSHED