Shadow Divers By: Robert Kurson (360 pages, 45 photos) Reviewer: James Healy Overall Rating: Four Stars: Highly recommended. An excellent book. This is a true story about men obsessed. Two in particular who could not rest until they uncovered the identity of a newly discovered shipwreck—a German U-boat right off the New Jersey coast. Richie Kohler and John Chatterton are (among other things) souvenir divers and each has a unique reputation among the diving community. First antagonists, they later become diving partners—each with a slightly different ultimate goal. This is not a story about some secret U-boat mission of World War II. The triumph and tragedies of the German submarine force during World War II have been well documented—1167 U-boats built; 859 left on patrol; 648 ships never returned; 30,000 dead out of 55,000 crewmen. While identifying the U-boat helps sustain reader interest (and the reader learns much about U-boats and its sailors), it is most of all about the dangers of—and solutions to—diving on deep wrecks. Such issues for many divers as the onset of narcosis at 66 feet (under a pressure two times atmospheric pressure); or a 25 minute tour at 200 feet would require a one hour gradual return to avoid decompression sickness—out-gassing of nitrogen in the body. Kohler and Chatterton eventually adopt trimix (oxygen/helium/nitrogen) breathing to minimize narcosis during their search of the interior spaces of the sub. And while dangerous, deep diving depends much more on planning (and sticking to it) and keeping equipment fit than it does a daredevil spirit. The author Robert Kurson is a writer for Esquire and he has worked as a features reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. His writing turns a modern-day true story into a novel-like book that will make the palms of your hands sweat as he describes what it is like to move inside a sunken submarine at dangerous and murky waters, 230 feet (and at 7 atmospheres) below the surface of the ocean. Availability: Through you local book dealer.