An unexpected pleasure
I cannot tell a lie. I blanched a bit when my copy of Shadow Divers, the March book for the Meadowridge Book Group, arrived. It seemed menacingly thick and blue, blue, blue, and all about diving (or so I thought). It lay, unopened, on my work shelf for several weeks. The day of the discussion drew nearer, though, so finally I held my breath and took the plunge. And, wow! I got sucked in right away. Robert Kurson vividly brought to life the rough-and-tumble characters of deep sea diving.
John Chatterton and Richie Kohler were deep sea wreck diving rivals: Chatterton was methodical and meticulous, and Kohler was a member of the rowdy and irreverent Atlantic Wreck Divers gang (yes, a gang, complete with leather jackets!). Chatterton was the first man to dive what appeared to be a World War II era German U-boat (dubbed the "U-Who), and when Kohler got involved in subsequent expeditions tensions between the two men ran high.
What on earth was a German sub doing off the coast of New Jersey when all historical records deemed it impossible? Which sub was it? How was it sunk without the knowledge of American forces? Kurson beautifully weaves the historical mystery and the saga of Chatterton and Kohler's growing friendship in this riveting book about how they teamed up to defy the history books and unravel the identity of the "U-Who."