Shadow Divers

The author must have Circus Barker blood somewhere in his family tree. He really has a ‘flair for dramatics' in telling the story. He also seems to have taken excellent notes or really good recordings of second hand sources to retell what someone no longer alive was thinking. I prefer the less wordy and dramatic flair of [a:Jon Krakauer 1235 Jon Krakauer https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1430856379p2/1235.jpg], but still applaud the level of work involved in the telling of this story... and what a contrast! Kurson is ocean themed, Krakauer has many mountain themes.I enjoyed the mystery and especially the research! I lived in Washington for a while, in the Navy Yard neighborhood no less, so I'm familiar with the National Archives and the Navy Yard Museum. I'd always wondered what researchers do when they're behind the closed doors of an archive and after the Trade Tower bombing and Navy Yard shooting, the Navy Yard is no longer as accessible as it once was.

I was apprehensive about this book. I don't like the idea of people diving to a wreck and desecrating remains so they can scavenge and grave rob, and I was worried this book was going to be a glorification of that behavior.

It wasn't at all. It's a story about modern-day adventurers who risked their lives so they could identify U-869 without any bureaucratic red tape. From their telling, they were respectful to the dead, and the epilogue of the book had me holding back tears.

What you'll also learn in this book is what divers put themselves through when diving to these wrecks, and how even a few extra minutes can cost them hours of decompression.