Phoenix Sub Zero

In the near-future imagined in this brisk, hardware-packed techno-thriller, the United Islamic Front of God, comprised of 30 Islamic nations, is losing its world war with the Western Coalition, comprised of European countries and the U.S. To turn the tide, the Front resorts to its ultimate weapon: a plutonium bomb to be launched at Washington, D.C., from the Hegira , a Japanese-designed sub seemingly superior to any other under the high seas. As the Hegira breaks into the Atlantic in order to close in on its target, one American sub is sunk and another is crippled, leaving the fate of the West in the hands of Mike Pacino, captain of the American sub Seawolf , and the badly damaged USS Phoenix , whose commander, David ``Sugar'' Kane, refuses to abandon the hunt. Former submariner DiMercurio ( Attack of the Seawolf ) conveys without melodrama the horror of undersea warfare, with death in a hundred forms always a hand's-breadth away. He is also a master of submarine technology, rivaling Tom Clancy in his ability to make technical details comprehensible to general readers. Here, in true techno-thriller fashion, the computers, torpedoes and propulsion systems carry the exciting story from first pages to last, where Seawolf and Hegira engage to decide the future of the world. (Aug . )