The Good Shepherd

By: C.S. Forester

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Good Shepherd is now a major motion picture, Greyhound, scripted by and starring Tom Hanks, directed by Aaron Schneider, and produced by Gary Goetzman.

A convoy of 37 merchant ships is ploughing through icy, submarine-infested North Atlantic seas during the most critical days of World War II, when the German submarines had the upper hand and Allied shipping was suffering heavy losses.

In charge is Commander George Krause, an untested veteran of the US Navy. Hounded by a wolf pack of German U-boats, he faces 48 hours of desperate peril trapped the bridge of the ship. Exhausted beyond measure, he must make countless and terrible decisions as he leads his small fighting force against the relentless U-boats.

©1955 C.S. Forester (P)2020 Podium Audio

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd is about eight hours of listening in unabridged format, written by C.S. Forester way back in 1955, ten years after the end of WWII. The story takes place in 1942. The Good Shepherd is fiction, although the circumstances are based on fact. The United States did escort thousands of men and supplies in convoys of ships to Europe. The convoys were protected by destroyers leading them across the North Atlantic through the Wolf Packs of German U-boats.

This is the story of one such journey and the captain of the lead destroyer, his strengths, weaknesses, faith, experience. The Good Shepherd takes place primarily on the bridge of the destroyer from the viewpoint of the captain. Decisions, constant fear, and vigilance, ship movements, stealth, strategy, are all riveting.

FYI, The Good Shepherd is the basis for the Tom Hanks movie, Greyhound. Hanks portrays Captain Krause, the main character - and the main motivation for reading. The book to movie script is very well done. It is rarely a toss-up as to which is better, book or movie - it is always the book. But, in this case, both are superb.

Nicely narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, no issues, and released by Podium Audio in May of 2020.

Recommended.

One More Precious CS Forrester

I'm a hopeless fan of CS, so I won't bother spelling out moments... they were all favorites.

I will say if you love Hornblower or African Queen, you can't but love this book too. Different tone, but the same old CS with his knack for detail, pace, and character study.

Like so many books by C. S. Forester

Drops you right in the middle of the story and build suspense, knowledge, and triumph.

Great from beginning to end

This is an old fashioned sea yarn. C.S. Forester was a master of this genre. The realism and drama of the Battle of the Atlantic are front and center here, Capt. Krause’s interior dialogues tell the story of a man dedicated to his country and the Navy. They don’t tell stories like this anymore.

A good read.

A story of a destroyer captain defending a convoy from the US to Britain. His struggles with the U boats and his personal worries of inadequacy make this a very compelling story that is much more than another WW2 book. This is his first command and his junior officers have been in the war for two years. Hard book to put down.

The Navy as it once was, and still should be!

A minute by minute chronicle of a North Atlantic convoys harrowing journey through U-Boat infested waters and the destroyer CO trying desperately to keep them safe and his outsized sense of duty and sacrifice that kept him going through days on his feet and without sleep. Accurate in every detail of life aboard a Navy destroyer in nearly non-stop battle for days on end. The only criticism is with the narrator, who at times seems dyslexic, reversing the digits of compass bearing non-sensically saying things such as "steer course 709" instead of " ...079". Doesn't anyone proof Audibles narrations? The story took me back to my days standing bridge watches at sea on a more modern destroyer in the 1970's. Anti-sub warfare never changes much.

Makes Greyhound look dull.

A really good book. Way better than the movie Greyhound. The character development matched with action is superb.

Narration made this book come alive

loved it. I am sure this is going to be a great movie, not sure how all the inner thoughts of the captain will be included. Going back to read more from CS Forester

Difficult to put down.

I was not familiar with Naval jargon or Naval battles during WWII other than the fact that a good many convoys were destroyed. But, that didn’t stop me from enjoying this story. Interesting and enjoyable.

Forester fan

A bit of a slow start, but a great examination of the weight of command while performing escort duty in the North Atlantic during WWII. Further the coordination of a four ship escort group. This is reminiscent of a novella in length and scope. It is the short view of single convoy and mainly the period of combat action associated fatigue it creates. For a great book on the same topic read “The Cruel Sea” by Monserrat.