Operation: Snare Drum

A WWII Submarine Adventure Novel (USS Bull Shark Naval Thriller, Book 1)

By: Scott Cook

Narrated by: Dave Alexander

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

December 7, 1941 - America is attacked by the Japanese and dragged into a worldwide struggle for power unlike anything ever seen on Earth.

While the United States and the Navy reel from the devastation of Pearl Harbor, the Nazis begin a brutal campaign within sight of the shores of the nation. U-boats prowl the American coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, sinking shipping seemingly unopposed!

Now, one young and untested captain is given an experimental new submarine and sent on a top-secret mission. The German operation "Drumbeat" is well under way, and it's up to Lt. Commander Arthur Turner and the crew of the USS Bull Shark to draw a thin blue line.

Somewhere off our shores, a secret Nazi ship lurks. This disguised enemy vessel is directing the U-boat attacks and she must be stopped. Can Captain Turner and his untried boat and crew sink the Nazi plan before Germany cripples the American war effort in the Atlantic?

Exciting combat, deadly intrigue and a desperate struggle for power bring Turner and the Nazis together in an explosive and very personal contest that can have only one victor!

©2021 Scott W Cook (P)2024 Scott W Cook

Brilliant and Riveting

Fabulous storytelling and exhaustive attention to naval details by the author. A nonstop joy to anyone who loves this genre. Dave Alexander is one of the best narrators of any audible books, reminds me of a Mike Rowe with multiple personalities.

germans don't start every word with the letter z

Premis was good but all the z's when the germans spoke drove me crazy.

A good WW2 submarine story although some

implausible plot points diminish it . It seems unlikely that the Germans would go to any trouble to kidnap a skippers wife for example .
The author seemed to have plenty of good detail on the workings of submarines. Someone with more experience than I have might find fault with his descriptions but I thought he pushed the story well in that regard .
The narrator has a good voice but his German accent made me feel I was listening to the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show from years ago . And all southerners don’t sound like hicks and simpletons.

Compelling and exciting

What a great story! What I really enjoyed, aside from the obvious fun of nail-biting submarine combat, was that the story looked at a more obscure part of WW2. It also involved a personal story and was more than just a submarine going around torpedoing Japanese ships - which is great fun, too!

The author takes some dramatic license here and there and weaves a compelling, thrilling and exciting tale with great description, good character development and a narrator who really brings the world of 1942 to life. I highly recommend this book.

Edge of my seat!

This is exactly what I was looking for after reading everything else available. Excellent story well done. I could hardly stop listening. Look forward to book 2.

Good story line.

Good story very engaging. I did not enjoy the narrator’s phony German accents otherwise it wasn’t a bad listen.

Fun story and great character development But...

The narrator was very good with American, British male and female voices but horrible with German accents - cringeworthy comes to mind. They don't even sound like Germans speaking English. The story although farfetched was fun and creative right down to the captain's wife on the sub during action. Historically, my only fault would be that the secret of Ultra messages was one of the best kept secrets of the war and in no way would it be discussed by or even known by anyone in this story for fear of the enemy getting knowledge of it from captured combat officers.

A gripping book

Operation Snaredrum. This submarine book grabbed me in the first pages and held me till the last. sentence.
A good vs bad guys tale.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily left this honest review.

Joan

I didn't like the part where Joan was kidnapped and then her playing a part in the rest of the story it detracted from the main story

Great idea! (but a circular run)

I know how much work goes into something like this and how important good reviews can be, so I genuinely want to be a cheerleader.. but holy cats. The submarine service is fertile ground for intense drama, so this is going to be one of those things that might be enjoyed by someone with a passing interest in WWII. If you are just a bit well-versed on the topic, though, probably not so much. The weird anachronisms are frustrating. The author does a fine job with some things; his explanation of the problems with torpedo exploders is rather good. That is unbalanced, though by random weirdness. For example - for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, he found it necessary to equip this c.1942 US fleet submarine with a snorkel. (?!?) Timeline liberties for the purpose of historical fiction? Fine - understood. But that one was just weird, and really served no purpose in the plot other than perhaps to annoy WWII history geeks.

As for the narration... somewhere there must be a memo or email, a practical joke unfortunately taken seriously, in which a producer declared that all characters were to be voiced as over-the-top cartoons. I sincerely hope that any Japanese characters in subsequent books are not given the same treatment that Germans were in this one. If you haven't experienced it yet, just think of Mel Brooks doing his best farcical Hitler schtick.) That can't have been Dave Alexander's idea. Very distracting, and coupled with the occasional historical faceplant, makes it hard to get into the story, much less take it seriously.