Neptune by Noel B. Gerson

Neptune is an undersea adventure thriller promising a top-secret clash for world domination at the bottom of the South China Sea, as CIA operatives and a billionaire industrialist launch a salvage operation for the lost, defunct Russian atomic submarine Zoloto.

Except: that is not quite what the reader gets.

The players include Porter, an English spy in the James Bond mode, slipping from one international adventure to the next when not bedding some beauty; Adrienne, a seductive karate champion and top CIA operative; Billionaire shipbuilding-adventurer Franklin Richards and his wife, with the money to fabricate a vessel able to raise the sunken Russian sub for the secret codes and atomic weapons aboard. I am always up for undersea adventure, but... this is mainly about Porter and Adrienne maintaining secrecy while the massive ship is being secretly constructed in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, off Seattle. I was reading this in Victoria BC, so when they were hanging around Port Angeles, where I could practically see them 26 miles away, it lost some of it's exotic charm. Into the scene come a Eurasian beauty, a triple agent who romances Porter and makes herself unwittingly useful to their scheme. Dealings with Chinese and Russian spies, and the launching of the ship, take up over 170 pages - leaving just 40 pages to journey to the South China Sea and conduct the mission.

This was entertaining, but I did feel let down by the promise of far off adventure - and getting a clandestine boat building story set near Seattle. Porter was a smooth character, but although his partner was his stated equal, she merely appears in a low cut evening gown here and there. Once they get travelling, the finale a little too clear cut, a little too short, and a little too late. That the operation occurs in a freak tropical hurricane just barely makes up for it.

If you are that certain kind of reader who likes submarines, spies, and intrigue, I would say this is just middling. Not terrible, but not great. The reception and reviews online are just average.

Author Noel B. Gerson has 325 published titles to his name, written under about 9 pseudonyms - mainly biographies, historical fiction, and western series.

1976 / Paperback / 220 pages