The Cruiser

Set in 2003, Poyer’s exciting 14th Dan Lenson novel (after 2011’s The Towers) shows that he and his series hero have more than kept pace with the technological challenges and changes in the modern U.S. Navy. Capt. Daniel V. Lenson takes command of the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Savo Island after the ship’s previous captain ran it aground on a sandbar off Naples. Aboard the Savo, which carries the Navy’s most advanced weapon systems, Lenson intuits almost immediately that secrets among the crew members threaten the ship’s mission. After the Savo arrives on station in the Persian Gulf, things begin to go seriously wrong, making the battles that follow even more dangerous as the ship and crew both distinguish and disgrace themselves while Lenson, despite crippling self-doubts, does his heroic best. The action is so detailed that readers paying close attention could take over the captain’s chair and drive the boat themselves. (Dec.)