Torpedo the Red October!
A submariner leads a guided reading of this Cold War classic
Welcome back to the Two Navy Guys Debrief, the (mostly) weekly forum where we offer perspective on a national security issue and how we have explored that topic in our fiction.
We grew up in the 80’s reading the great thriller writers of the day: Clancy, Follett, Forsyth, to name a few. Indeed, one of the reasons we started writing together was to see if we could capture some of that storytelling magic from our youth. To paraphrase one reviewer, we wanted to write a globe-trotting, high-stakes Clancy novel updated for the 21st century with “all the boring bits taken out.”
How would you like to revisit a thriller classic with us?
So, we had this idea…what if we hosted a read-along, right here on The Debrief? Together, let’s go back to a golden oldie and see if it holds up to our more <ahem> mature literary standards.
There’s something about reading a novel with a group—even if you’ve read the book before—that makes you feel like you’re part of a team. Comments from your fellow readers might give you some insight into the story that you hadn’t seen before. Maybe you share how the novel landed with your younger self.
Here’s the basic mechanics of the process:
This is not a book club and there are no book reports. This is a slow read, approximately 50 pages a week. If you can set aside 15-20 minutes a day to read, you’ll have no trouble keeping up.
Every week, we will publish a summary of the action and some color commentary about the story. Depending on the topic, we may invite a guest to give us some insider details about the story.
Through Substack, you can leave comments and questions for deeper side discussions. We are firm believers in the rabbit hole method of learning.
At the end of the book, if there’s enough interest, we might host a Zoom call wrap-up.
A guided reading of a Cold War submarine classic
If you’ve been reading The Debrief more than a hot minute, you know that The Hunt for Red October was a formative book for David and it would be our first read-along. (We’ll let readers vote on future choices, if we continue the project.)
Clancy is often noted for his realistic depiction of submarine life and tactics, but David (and some readers of The Debrief) have lived it. During the 1980s, when the Cold War cat-and-mouse submarine game was at its apex, David served on a Los Angeles-class fast attack boat, just like the USS Dallas in the book.
He can share some sea stories about his time in the Silent Service and call some balls and strikes about story elements.
Thanks to YOU, Covert Action hit a new milestone!
Some time over the last few weeks, we logged our 1000th review for Covert Action, Book 5 of the Command and Control series. We know from practical experience that only about 1 out of 100 readers leave a review or even a star-rating on Amazon.
If you’re in that One Percent of our readers, THANK YOU. Your kind reviews and 5-star ratings make all the difference in helping other readers find our work.
If you been meaning to leave a review for Covert Action, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet, you can use this link to make your voice heard. The more, the merrier.
Be happy. Stay healthy. Read (or listen to) a book.
As always, thanks for being a supporter –
David & JR, AKA the Two Navy Guys
PS – Are you looking for the FREE download of Death of a Pawn?
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