Historical
Published in 1978 in New York under the title " The Shipkiller ”, this maritime thriller has been translated in France by Grasset & Fasquelle under the title "The Killer of the Seas" in 1979, then moved to the Livre de Poche edition under the n° 5399 in 1980.
Justin Scott grew up in the USA in a small town in Long Island, very prolix novelist, like "western" for his father, "Tales and short stories" for his mother. He turned out to be an incredible gift for writing. For him, Nothing was " more exhilarating than leading a story to a degree of extreme tension ”. He wrote under his name and several pseudonyms 23 novels and collections of suspense news. Under the pseudonym of Paul Garrison, He wrote five sea stories of 1998 down to 2004, whose first and more famous " Fire and Ice ”. None have been translated into French, It’s very regrettable.
Revelation
The Shipkiller was my first real sea novel, read straight through onboard a friend's boat in 1981, sailing in a weekend between Lorient and Ile de Groix. This handbook, that I always have in my hands, I have marked me so much that I have, repeatedly, tried to find it in the original edition, i'm not just. I have finally just acquired a reissue from Grasset, today again available. It is for this reason that I wanted to share it.
What is extraordinary, in this work, is not only the suspense held from the first on the last page, But also the incredible technical knowledge of the sea and the boats that the author demonstrates throughout the story, While never had any other marine activity in his youth than a short piloting experience on the Hudson. Both the descriptions of maneuvers and life on board the giant oil tanker, that that of different sailboats armed by the central character in history, provide proof of meticulous research work. This brings such credibility to history, Especially for a confirmed browser, that it becomes almost as real as if it was actually reading it from a news magazine.
I don't tell you more, run it. If I had to classify it with a note of 1 down to 10 In my sea library, This is the maximum note that he would get.