Voyage of the Devilfish

By: Michael DiMercurio

Narrated by: Gene Engene

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

A confrontation of nuclear submarines just 200 miles off the American coast is the scenario of this riveting novel by a former U.S. Navy submarine officer. At the center of the deadly conflict are two men on a mission: one wants to find his father's killer, while the other wants to destroy Glasnost and provoke a war. The ensuing underwater chases and battles build to a stunning showdown.

©1992 Michael DiMercurio (P)2007 Books in Motion

As a qualified submariner, this book feels like an insider’s tale. He knows his business.

Funny story:

Yesterday, I took along with me on my travels an audiobook, written by a friend of mine and former submarine officer, Michael DiMercurio, “The Voyage of the Devilfish”.

It is the tale of a fictional US submarine, USS, Devilfish, SSN 666. The name of the boat is fictional anyway, but the hull number is not. It is the hull number of the USS Hawkbill, which happens to be the last boat that I rode at Sea.

So why is this a funny story? Well, my destinations for the night was Arco Idaho. The last words of the epilogue came from my speakers just as I was pulling into the hotel for the night.
“My hotel?”, you ask. “Why is this significant or funny?“

Well, in the oft-spoke words of the author himself, “ well, I’m glad you asked that question”. The door to my hotel room is less than 100 yards from the sail of the Hawkbill, which stands as a submarine memorial here in this godfersaken town.

But seriously, this is a great book, unless you have survived a life-threatening submarine casualty, in which case there are sections you might want to skip over. He has an eerie talent for accurate descriptions of what should be fictional, impossible events.

Good book

Actually a good book at times tried to explain in depth way to much that's it

An Excity Submarine Story

This is a new author for me. I understand it is his first book. The book is an exciting techno-thriller. Our protagonist is Cmdr. Michael Pacino who is the captain of the attack sub Devilfish. Michael’s father was also a sub captain. As he leaves on his new assignment, Michael finds out that the Admiral aboard the new Russian submarine he is to track sank his father’s sub twenty years ago.

The new Russian super-submarine, the Kaliningrad, is superior to the U.S. submarines. Admiral Alexei Novskoyy plans a nuclear strike on the United States. He has gone rouge. Apparently, the Russians have a mole high up in the Pentagon. The suspense is palatable as the two submarines play hide and seek under the polar ice while Russian submarines line up along the United States eastern shores to launch nuclear missiles.

The book is well written with lots of action and suspense. The plot twists and turns. The characters are interesting and realistic. Apparently, the author was a former submarine officer and drawing on the experiences, DiMercurio makes the life and action on the submarine extremely realistic. I am definitely looking forward to reading more books by this author.

The book is just over twelve hours long. Gene Engene does an average job narrating the book. I first enjoyed Engene when he was the narrator for the Beaumont books by J. A. Jance. I think that Engene has the perfect voice for westerns. This is my first experience with him reading a submarine book. He does an average job with this book. This experience only re-enforces my view that he is superb as a western narrator.

Make it believable

When telling a tale on audio you must make it believable and that means bringing characters to life. Gene Engene somehow turns every sailor into a parody of a southern ‘hick’ and every opponent into a knuckle dragging thug. America is rich in regional accents, as is Russia but the characters in this read are come across as simpletons. The real US and Russian submarine fleets must be made up of smart, well trained and responsible people so why of why make them sound so stupid? It turns a tale woven with technical information into a comic. Michael DiMercurio should get this re-read for the book deserves better treatment.

great story, poor performance

I've read the book, and I throughly enjoy submarine warfare fiction. the Michael pacino series, Jerry Mitchell series, etc. the story is good but the narrator left a lot to be desired. while speaking in his normal voice he was enjoyable to listen to, but when he tried to perform the characters voices they came out very forced and very unbelievable, bringing me out of the story.

still worth the listen because the author knows his stuff about submarines

Unbelievable!!!

1st thing that explodes in this book is the HORRIBLE ATTEMPT of the narrator to identify each character with a voice that a mother couldn't even love!!! OMG did they not hear this guy before putting the book on audible??? The narrator has a good voice while he isn't in character but you must plug your ears when he is!!! I really don't think I'll be able to stomach the rest of the book!!! He will kill the sale of this book.

Very technical Good story

I enjoyed the story and the narrator. I soon learned to recognize the different voices and what character they belonged to. Learned a lot about onboard nuclear power plants. My only complaint is very minor and directed at the author. American submarines are called “boats”, not ships.

Impressive sea story!

I am a Destroyer sailor, good read, Try and sail through that ice storm on top of the sea.

Devilfish

Great story with a lot of action. The only problem I had was with the narrator! He did a very credible job but needs to work a lot on his characters voices. Some were completely annoying and made it very difficult to listen to.

Hampered by Narration

This could (and indeed might) be an interesting story, but the utter garbage-tier narrator really took me out of it. Without exaggeration this is the worst performance I've ever heard; the narrator can't seem to figure out a regular cadence or consistent accent/voice to save his life. Hugely disappointing as again this had the potential to be decent.