The intense account of the perils of deep-sea diving is brought to life through depictions of the colorful characters that make up the sport. In "Shadow Divers," Robert Kurson immerses (pun intended) himself wholly in the culture and challenges involved in identifying a mysterious U-boat found off the Jersey coast -- in a place no U-boat was supposed to have been.
“In the United States, of the ten million certified scuba divers, it is likely that only a few hundred dive deep for shipwrecks. To those few, it is not a matter of if they will taste death, only of whether they’ll swallow.”
The author indulges in some Paul Bunyan-esque accounts and gives some aspects of the story short shrift. One of the main characters, Richie Kohler, happened across dead bodies on two different occasions in the water before he was 8 years old, and his father ended up dating one of his ex-girlfriends shortly after they had been living together.
Steve Bielenda is set up a dramatic foil, but then just disappears from the action without further mention. For me, Bill Nagle is also reduced to too much of a bystander, and the details of who ended up owning the "Seeker" -- the boat is as much a character in the story as anyone else -- are not shared.
“On a deep-wreck dive, no one is ever truly safe until he is back on the deck of the dive boat.”
However, "Shadow Divers" is flat-out mesmerizing and dramatic. Kurson's accounts combine elements of the detective, drama, history, and Wild West genres, dragging readers into the depths in search of answers.
“ … He felt like he was going exactly where he should be going, and this was the thing about diving to Feldman, and it always had been the thing: in the water, self-contained, a man could be what he was meant to be, and when that happened it was impossible to be lost.”
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