Boone Fischer is a divemaster who works guiding scuba excursions on the remote island of Bonaire in the Caribbean. He likes the job, but is restless, so he’s taken another job on another island. The problem is that he’s now falling in love with Emily, an English girl he’s working with, and hasn’t yet worked up the nerve to tell her he’s leaving.

One day while diving, Boone spots something he’s never seen before – a submarine. It’s not military or scientific. Emily snaps a couple pictures of it. These pictures prove of interest to two American customers – who just happen to be military. They make inquiries, and learn that there are rumors that a Venezuelan drug cartel has hired Russian engineers to build them a large sub for smuggling purposes.

What none of them know is that the cartel itself has been betrayed – one of their engineers is a Muslim extremist, and his plan is to take the sub and use it not for smuggling – but as a massive bomb.

That’s the premise of Nick Sullivan’s Deep Shadow. Boone, our hero, aside from being young and strong and agile, is also fortunate in being an expert in Brazilian martial arts. He’ll need them. In fact, luck plays, perhaps, too large a part in this story from a plotting perspective. The Caribbean is a large body of water – what are the odds Luke would stumble on the submarine, not once, but twice, purely by happenstance?

Overall, there was nothing wrong with Deep Shadow. It was a well-told, exciting adventure story. The prose was professional. I found it a little simplistic – it reminded me of those kids’ novels I used to read, where the boy gets involved with spies or detectives or something, figures out what’s wrong before the adults do, and ends up the hero. However, Deep Shadow makes no claim to be Dostoevski – it promises a rousing adventure story, and it delivers just that.

There’s violence, but not too graphic, and hints of sex but no sex scenes. If you’re looking for uncomplicated action entertainment, perhaps for reading on the beach, Deep Shadow is a good choice.