Robert Kurson, Shadow Divers

Shadow Divers was exactly what I was hoping for. It is a fascinating tale of adventure and exploration that details the discovery of a mystery U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The book works great as an adventure book, with lots of descriptive details regarding the craft of wreck diving and the tales of the people who risked and sometimes lost their lives on this wreck and others. And the risky deep-water dives in pursuit of this mystery ship certainly proved hazardous, with three divers losing their lives in the 200 feet plus depths. But the book weaves this adventure in with a mystery surrounding the identity of the newly-discovered ship. No U-boat were known to have gone missing anywhere in the vicinity. And the ship was reluctant to give up her secret, as years of diving produced no clear indication of just which ship she was. So John Chatterton and Rickie Kohler, two of the wreck divers, set off on a years-long quest to research U-boats in general, and dig through reams of primary documents detailing U-boat communication intercepts (the famed Enigma intercepts that were publicized in the movie U-571) and other documents from WWII, at times questioning the received wisdom or even consensus history when it didn't check out under further scrutiny. And the mystery drove these men years of research both in American archives and in trips to Germany to meet U-boat historians and even a former captain.

But the book has a third layer as well, the story of the three men who were principally involved in the discovery of the ship and its identity, as well as the story of the fated German U-boat. Especially the stories of the three divers, Bill Nagle, Chatterton, and Kohler, are what drive the story, as we get to know them and what drives them, and see how this mystery gets intertwined with their lives and their understanding of who they are.

In the end, this book was highly satisfying. It was fun to read, tied together by a mystery that needed solving, and driven by interesting and carefully reported characters. And I'm happy to recommend it.