By Chip Schrader
Book Review Editor
NEW ENGLAND –
Jack Rutledge’s Coverup is a cool story. In two hundred pages the author crams World War Two conspiracy theories, submarines, scuba diving, investigative journalism and a potential “oil slick the size of Texas” into one compact novel.
The opening chapter depicts the covert mission of a doomed French vessel manned by a German Valkyrie mission hoping to inform the United States of an internal plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. As a commercial American plane spots it outside of Cape Cod, the allied forces go in to sink it after a similar ship approached London indicating surrender and attacked instead. The American forces succeeded in sinking the friendly vessel.
Years later, a roughed up Maine scuba diver and history buff named Jerry Scott is asked to help a fisherman untangle his equipment from an unexpected obstacle outside of Cape Cod. Thus begins Jerry’s journey to uncover what he figures are French Nazi-sympathizers in a sunken submarine that the Navy has long obscured. Scott reasons this was to maintain the calm of the American public from the proximity we came to an “Atlantic Pearl Harbor,” or to mask a fatal error.
In order to get funding for this deep sea excavation he and his friend Greg Rivers intend to execute, they needed some publicity to generate interest in their possible discovery. In comes the beautiful, young, and hard-headed reporter Ashley Powell.
Ten years younger, Jerry knows there is no chance, and she is not one for unclean fishermen who carry the stink of booze, misery and the sea. But she is intrigued by a man who knows what he’s talking about.
When he mentions that the ocean is filled with sunken tankers from the war that are slowly leaking, she is all ears. Her story in progress is an exposé of said oil that she figured was coming from modern oil tankers, and she is sure this is her ticket to the big time. Gradually, he works to lure her into his own story so that his expedition could begin, and perhaps to land her interest.
From there, people involved in the sub’s fate come out of the woodwork to fill in the details of the story, to try and trespass and take claim to the wreckage, and friendships change and weave within the narrative. All the while the reader is hoping Jerry and Greg get everything they are seeking, and that Ashley catches the stardom for which she reaches, but first they need to get out of exposing this conspiracy alive.
Rutledge fleshes out the characters’ back stories nicely without them reading like digressions. Moreover, he cleverly uses Ashley’s lack of military expertise to allow for Jerry to more clearly explain the convoluted logic that is involved in the military strategy. Simultaneously, Rutledge portrays Ashley as having an acute ear and razor sharp logic, a fine nuance that avoids the negative stereotype some authors might inadvertently give women.
Rutledge’s respect for his characters reveals his evolved sensibility as an author, and his capability to integrate the finer semantic distinctions of the human psyche. All the while, he has no problem to poke a little fun.
Taking place in areas surrounding Portsmouth, Portland and Boston with several mentions of the Portsmouth Naval Yard, Rutledge will immediately engage the reader familiar with seacoast locales.
From the action packed first chapter, Rutledge hooks the reader in like a seasoned fisherman, and does not let up on the questions, the facts, and the speculations that make this read so compelling. As with any novel with a tough guy at the center, there is romance and flirtation tastefully infused for some narrative flavor.
Fans of Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, and Clive Cussler will appreciate the details and research the author has put into this story, and will enjoy the opportunity to look just beyond their back yard knowing that is where it all happens. It will surely be compulsively read from page one.
Photo caption: Cover of Coverup by Jack Rutledge. (Courtesy photo)
Book Review Editor
NEW ENGLAND –
Jack Rutledge’s Coverup is a cool story. In two hundred pages the author crams World War Two conspiracy theories, submarines, scuba diving, investigative journalism and a potential “oil slick the size of Texas” into one compact novel.
The opening chapter depicts the covert mission of a doomed French vessel manned by a German Valkyrie mission hoping to inform the United States of an internal plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. As a commercial American plane spots it outside of Cape Cod, the allied forces go in to sink it after a similar ship approached London indicating surrender and attacked instead. The American forces succeeded in sinking the friendly vessel.
Years later, a roughed up Maine scuba diver and history buff named Jerry Scott is asked to help a fisherman untangle his equipment from an unexpected obstacle outside of Cape Cod. Thus begins Jerry’s journey to uncover what he figures are French Nazi-sympathizers in a sunken submarine that the Navy has long obscured. Scott reasons this was to maintain the calm of the American public from the proximity we came to an “Atlantic Pearl Harbor,” or to mask a fatal error.
In order to get funding for this deep sea excavation he and his friend Greg Rivers intend to execute, they needed some publicity to generate interest in their possible discovery. In comes the beautiful, young, and hard-headed reporter Ashley Powell.
Ten years younger, Jerry knows there is no chance, and she is not one for unclean fishermen who carry the stink of booze, misery and the sea. But she is intrigued by a man who knows what he’s talking about.
When he mentions that the ocean is filled with sunken tankers from the war that are slowly leaking, she is all ears. Her story in progress is an exposé of said oil that she figured was coming from modern oil tankers, and she is sure this is her ticket to the big time. Gradually, he works to lure her into his own story so that his expedition could begin, and perhaps to land her interest.
From there, people involved in the sub’s fate come out of the woodwork to fill in the details of the story, to try and trespass and take claim to the wreckage, and friendships change and weave within the narrative. All the while the reader is hoping Jerry and Greg get everything they are seeking, and that Ashley catches the stardom for which she reaches, but first they need to get out of exposing this conspiracy alive.
Rutledge fleshes out the characters’ back stories nicely without them reading like digressions. Moreover, he cleverly uses Ashley’s lack of military expertise to allow for Jerry to more clearly explain the convoluted logic that is involved in the military strategy. Simultaneously, Rutledge portrays Ashley as having an acute ear and razor sharp logic, a fine nuance that avoids the negative stereotype some authors might inadvertently give women.
Rutledge’s respect for his characters reveals his evolved sensibility as an author, and his capability to integrate the finer semantic distinctions of the human psyche. All the while, he has no problem to poke a little fun.
Taking place in areas surrounding Portsmouth, Portland and Boston with several mentions of the Portsmouth Naval Yard, Rutledge will immediately engage the reader familiar with seacoast locales.
From the action packed first chapter, Rutledge hooks the reader in like a seasoned fisherman, and does not let up on the questions, the facts, and the speculations that make this read so compelling. As with any novel with a tough guy at the center, there is romance and flirtation tastefully infused for some narrative flavor.
Fans of Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, and Clive Cussler will appreciate the details and research the author has put into this story, and will enjoy the opportunity to look just beyond their back yard knowing that is where it all happens. It will surely be compulsively read from page one.
Photo caption: Cover of Coverup by Jack Rutledge. (Courtesy photo)
