'Typhoon'
Author: Mark Joseph
Publisher: Fontana Press / 1992
Pages: 300
This is a book review but before I start I must preface a reflection that goes beyond the story.
The background of the story is a Russian, or rather Soviet, Empire that has so declined as to be ungovernable - nothing works any more. People spend their time drinking and getting drunk.
But a group of hardliners want to put an end to this situation, cost what it may.
The only way they can think of is to explode a nuclear bomb in the centre of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. There is no rebellion in Georgia but someone in Moscow has come up with the idea of bombing Tbilisi to Kingdom Come to serve as a warning to the rest of the Soviet Empire.
That's the background to the story. We know, however, that things have not turned out like this.
Today Georgia is an independent state, working hard to be admitted into the European Union as the only way for it to get out of poverty. There have been huge public protests these past months because part of the government wants to remain linked to Moscow but the majority of the people does not want this.
This shows, if anything, how history has moved on in just a few years. It would be impossible to think of something like this happening today.
Having said that, this is precisely what Russia tried and is still trying to do with Ukraine. This country is also an independent state but Russia refuses to accept this. The Russian invasion aims to pull Ukraine back into the Soviet Empire which it refuses to acknowledge it has died and is buried.
The bombing, the cutting off of electricity, all aim to get Ukraine back in the Soviet fold.
This shows how important it is for the whole world that Russia fails in its effort.
Forcing an independent people to endure intense cold weather is not however just as bad as exploding a nuke in the centre of a capital city but equally lethal.
Fortunately, the Ukrainians are a courageous and resilient people and they must be supported by the free world.
To the book, now. The action takes place around a huge submarine base in the extreme north of the country, beyond the Arctic Circle.
There is, as usual, one hero, and quite a number of lackeys of Moscow.
The old Soviet Union is crippled - economically and socially. It is becoming dangerously unstable.
Central to the power struggle are the Typhoon class submarines of the Northern Fleet, the world's largest and most lethal fleet, armed with nuclear weapons capable of destroying any target on earth.
The US is wary of their capabilities and despatches a lone submarine to spy on the Typhoons. But for USS Reno commander "Plutonium Jack" Gunner and his crew, the covert mission changes drastically when a Typhoon suddenly surfaces on the White Sea and fires a test missile.
Gunner and his crew can only watch in horror and disbelief as the two huge submarines stalk each other in the dark sea in a life-or-death battle between the old regime and the forces of change. Caught in a lethal crossfire, they must ultimately decide who is the real enemy.
Inevitably the description becomes full of technical terms but the action is swift and engrossing.
This is, after all, the author of the famous To Kill the Potemkin.
Back to our time for a final reflection. Russia is not just big but also very beautiful but as the previous years have shown us it is constantly at risk of fragmenting, with parts breaking away to form independent states.
Attacking Ukraine might have seemed to Putin a brilliant idea but it has failed completely - the number of deaths has been enormous. It has now dragged the rest of Russia into real poverty. The Russian advance has stalled and the Ukrainians have grown stronger thanks to always inadequate help from Europe and also America.
The tricks brought to play - the North Koreans, the people in prisons - have proved to be inadequate. While trying to stabilise Russia, Putin may end up to be the one who deals the death blow.