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The story of American submarine espionage seems like an excellent idea for a book. Brave Americans keeping a silent vigil deep in enemy waters during the most desperate hours of the cold war. Waiting, watching listening ... ever fearful of discovery, but still willing to take outrageous risks in the hopes of retrieving valuable intelligence. Finally a chance to give these unknown heroes the recognition they have been lacking, while at the same time telling a compelling adventure story that is part real-life Hunt for Red October and part underwater James Bond. A great idea, but somehow, somewhere something goes terribly wrong in Blind Man's Bluff. To paraphrase a review I read of the film Eyes Wide Shut, the book is a case of the blind leading the bland, and unfortunately it is the reader who is ultimately left lost at sea without a life-preserver.

Blind Man's Bluff suffers from two debilitating weaknesses which ultimately sink it. First, the authors have a tendency to overstate their case in order to stress the importance of submarine espionage. It seems as if the entire fate of the free world hangs in the balance during the course of each of the missions which make up the book's chapters. Toning the hyperbole down a notch would not make the story's real-life heroes any less heroic, nor would it make their jobs any less important.

The second flaw is what really torpedoes the book: it's BORING. We're talking mind-numbing, sleep-inducing, counting the mildew stains on the ceiling boring. It is not the fault of the subject matter. The stories really should be exciting. National security often was at risk, and the lives of the sailors ALWAYS were at risk. The fear, tension, excitement, anxiety, doubt, triumph, despair, joy, and relief should jump off the page and grab the reader by the throat. The book should move at the break-neck speed of a torpedo, but instead it crawls along with all the velocity of a leaky rowboat.

Perhaps the authors should not be blamed. After all, how can they compete with Tom Clancy or Denzel Washington. Or the heartbreaking images of the Russian families waiting to hear news of their loved-ones trapped aboard the doomed Kursk. Perhaps their task was an impossible one to begin with. Nevertheless, they should have come up with a better effort. The true-life heroes who are the stars of the book deserve better.

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(Submitted 11/2/00 by Cleveland lawyer Julio.)