Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

Mysterious, gripping, tension-filled! Nonfiction??? I never thought I would use those adjectives for a nonfiction work but Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson changed my mind. Shadow divers are deep sea divers who explore items on the ocean floor. They differ from other divers in that they dive to depths unheard of by “normal” divers. A comment from the book about the shadow divers is, “If you die, no one will ever find your body.” The book revolves around two divers investigating a World War II German submarine found 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey in 1991. The mystery starts with why was the boat so close to the United States. The mystery deepens when the German government denies that it ever existed. There is a problem in that the submarine is buried 230 feet down and divers cannot stay at that depth for more than 20 minutes. During the diving expeditions, three of the team lose their lives. Kurson makes you feel the coldness as well as the darkness (0 visibility) with the currents and debris swirling around you. The book also shows you the determination of the divers to identify the submarine as well as the skeletons of the sailors. A good portion of the book follows the team tracking the submarine’s history and then trying to notify members of the sailors’ families. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about a real event which Kurson has made more exciting than your average action adventure fiction novel and anyone who might be interested in the World War II history surrounding the submarine.