Ah, submarine warfare! Sure, kids these days have their grand notions about space battles, and romantics may long for the days when Hearts of Oak Really Ruled The Waves, but me? Give me being locked in a cramped metal tube deep under the ocean for months at a time, breathing stale air and never seeing trees, grass, or sunshine.

No, actually, I’m kidding. Being a submariner sounds horrible, and I have nothing but respect for people who serve their country by doing it.

Search and Destroy tells the story of such people, an American submarine crew engaged in a massive war against China, as seen largely through the eyes of Commander Christopher Coe.

Captain Coe is a harsh disciplinarian, and as the book goes on, he sometimes veers close to being a Captain Bligh. His harsh, no-nonsense attitude leads him to clash repeatedly with his executive officer, Richard Wickham.

And that’s about it on the human drama level. Most of the book’s conflict comes from listing the various pieces of awesome high-tech naval weaponry the dueling vessels (it’s more fun if you pronounce it “wessels“) hurl at one another. I admit, these scenes were a bit hard to follow–as I would imagine real-life submarine warfare is.

The book says it’s a techno-thriller on the cover, so I can hardly complain about the many references to technology. I don’t have a problem with that.

I do have a problem with the some of the prose style. For example, people say “very well” astonishingly often aboard this sub. Now, again, I’ve never been in the military, so I don’t know, but I would think the terser “okay” or “yes” would be the preferred form in intense, often radio-transmitted communications.

And then there are other oddities of style, perhaps the most interesting of which is:

“Aye, sir,” Wickham nodded through gritted teeth.

Obviously, what this means to say is “Wickham nodded and said ‘aye, sir’ through gritted teeth.” I’m not sure how you nod “through” gritted teeth. It sounds painful. But even apart from that, just try saying “aye, sir” while gritting your teeth.

But, we’re not here for lyrical prose. It’s true that some of the most interesting books about submarine warfare feature clever writing and complex psychological drama, but this one is more in the vein of Tom Clancy, where the point of the story is to watch our heroes defy the odds over and over and defeat the bad guys with their awesome technology.

And you can’t say it isn’t popular! The book has almost 4,000 reviews on Amazon, most of them positive. And for all I know, it may be a perfectly realistic depiction of how a submarine operates. Which just affirms my desire to never be on one.