My book-club non-fiction-lover friend, Denise, chose this book. She did it again! I would have NEVER chosen this book myself. Thank God for book club! It was really quite gripping. I was glued to the story. It had all the elements of suspense that a nonfiction mystery novel would've had. The writing was surprisingly fluid and descriptive without becoming bogged down with detail. That's what I most have trouble with in nonfiction...the details drag me into boredom! I disassociate! This one, not at all. Halfway through the book, I hadn't come to any pictures yet and to my delight, when I Googled these guys, I found a slew of interesting, connective facts and things they've done since the novel was written. I saw more on the sub's soldiers and their families. I found pics of the divers and their significant others who were described in the book. I saw more pics of artifacts found. I spent a couple of hours just digging around the internet and it really enhanced the read for me. It was really cool! Now, of course, I have to see the movie, "Hitler's Lost Sub" because it is directly about this book and was produced by the History Channel. It's on my new to-do list! Good read for sure...and I don't even go gaga for WWII history like a lot of people I know. Totally ambivalent.

"There might be, he thought, one scenario worse than watching his friend die in the wreck, and as Sunday drew near he knew that worst scenario to be allowing his friend to die while he stayed home and waited for the news."

An incredibly touching story of friendship and compassion. History exists because humans are so dear to one another. Will be thinking about John Chatterton and Richie Kohler and the members of the U-Who for the rest of my life probably!

Amazing story, and for the most part an audible page turner, but I felt at times the writing lacked the suspense the author could have drawn out.

“Life is a matter of luck, and the odds and favors of success are no way enhanced by extreme caution.”

-Eric Tot, U-Boat commander

Disclaimer: the 4 star review may also be because I listened to it as an audiobook, which sometimes makes books slightly less gripping for me.

What a story! Wow. I read the e-book (over 800 pages) in two days. Couldn't put it down. just a riveting, fascinating, totally consuming testament to the dangers of deep-sea diving and the wrecks that the divers discover in their exhaustive searches. In Shadow Divers that wreck just happens to be [ ]. You'll have to read it to find out.

This book was interesting and made me think of history in a completely different way in that, what is written in the history books may not be as accurate as I once thought.

I’ve only been diving a couple of times and really enjoy it, but these guys are SERIOUS and took some risks I don’t think I could’ve taken. When the author was talking about them changing regulators or almost running out of air or actually running out of air I could feel myself breathing for them (as of that would help ;)

I really enjoyed this book b/c it’s a biography/history/mystery/adventure story about diving! The persistence these men had to identify the U-boat was inspiring and it closed a chapter in lots of lives that had unknowingly been kept open for some for over 50 years. Amazing that there are still things to be discovered out there!

Is there a way to give it 10 stars instead of 5?
It’s one of the best books I read. And it’s hard for me to write a meaningful review because I am still full of excitement after reading it.
But if you love diving, history and reading about passionate and dedicated people this book is a must read.

The True story of a group of divers and their quest to identify a u-boat they discovered.
The book combines two of my favorite topics…...Diving and History.
As the book proceeds, the reader gets intensive diving information and we get to be part of the investigation that the divers conduct in order to identify the u-boat and then the diving efforts that are performed in order to confirm this.

tWhile recreation diving could be considered a slightly dangerous sport, deep diving and specifically deep diving in wrecks is very dangerous and the events in story are not an exception. I will not describe too many details to avoid spoilers.
tFrom the history point of view the events and discoveries of these divers literally rewrote history.

tSo…. even if you are not a diver, but you like a good story and are interested in WW2 history and specifically the u-boat warfare then read this book.

I listened to an abridged audio version of this book and am thankful to learn about what the two American divers learned. Very good and included an interview by the author with the two divers: John Chatterton and Rich Kohler. Maybe I did not read the entire book but got the added benefit of this interview. I did get a copy of the book and the photos included are astounding.

A German U-Boat was found off the shores of New Jersey in 1991.

BookBrowse Review(https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...)

Kurson brings considerable journalistic experience to his debut book, which combines the derring-do of a great modern-day adventure story with a 60 year old mystery. In other words, it's a book that can be enjoyed by a much wider audience than diving buffs (just as 'Into Thin Air' isn't just for climbers).

In 1991 John Chatterton and Rich Kohler, two deep-sea wreck divers, found an unidentified German submarine lying at 230 feet off the coast of New Jersey. Their seven year task of identifying what they found took them to Germany and Washington and, of course, to the darkest corners of the submarine. If you want to know exactly what they found, you'll have to read the book - I'm not going to spoil it for you!

230 feet doesn't sound particularly deep - it's less than the length of a soccer field; but to put it into context, amateur divers typically dive to less than 100 feet; diving much deeper than this requires special equipment including special gas mixtures to reduce the risk of diving related issues (see sidebar).

So there you are at 230 feet, with a limited amount of air, and therefore time, ready to explore a wreck - and not a wreck of a nice big ship but a small claustrophobic WWII submarine. It's pitch dark, except for any illumination you carry with you, and you have very little room to maneuver. In addition, at any moment you could bump into a part of the fragile wreck and the whole thing could cave in on you.

I don't know about you, but I'm very comfortable reading about all this from the comfort of my armchair!

4 stars

"Shadow Divers" tells the astonishing story of a small group of deep-sea wreck divers, and their discovery, exploration, and eventual identification of a World War II era German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. From their first dive to the wrecked submarine, the divers knew they were setting out on a life-changing experience. Several divers lost their lives on the wreck, and there were a few near-misses, but at last they found an artifact bearing the lost U-boat's identity, rewriting established history on the submarine's fate. Along the way in telling this thrilling adventure, Kurson explains the technology, motivations, and dangers involved in diving for wrecks more than 200 feet deep. A truly excellent book.

I enjoy true adventure stories and found this one to be well written and fascinating, despite not usually liking military/war-related books. I did do some skimming of the detailed descriptions of submarines etc, but the deep sea diving with all its inherent dangers and the tense dives at the end when the U-boat’s identification is imminent kept me quickly turning pages. The two main divers’ backstories and personal lives also were compelling. The amount of research the author put into this book was astounding.

Every year I seem to read at least one highly charged very masculine book. This definitely filled the bill this year. A fascinating tale of obsession, deep-sea wreck diving and German U-boats. A very high risk occupation with multiple deaths on the journey, a mystery involving WWII, two men dedicated to their craft of deep sea diving and committed to finding the truth of their discovery. Kurson put together a thrilling book which also seemed to have historical relevance. The men discovered a Nazi submarine off of the coast of New Jersey. They could not identify it because the records were incomplete and inaccurate. The proof was in the sub and the sub was very deep. In fact it pressed on the depth limits of safe diving during that time. John Chatterton and Richie Kohler worked tireless and risked their lives to solve the mystery.  What I found most jarring was the notion that a Nazi sub was sunk off the coast of the USA during the WWII. I never knew they were so close to our shores. Very naïve on my part. There were actually several Nazi subs sunk here. Kurson was thorough and was even able to get inside accounts of the sunken U-boat crew. a sailor got violently ill the day the boat embarked so he escaped death and survived long enough to provide accounts and memories of the crew (1996) Though Kurson worked really hard to lionize these two men as honorable and full of moral character, their obsession led to a deterioration of their personal lives. They sacrificed a lot to basically identify which specific sub sunk off of the New Jersey coast. To be honest, on the question of "was it worth it?"; I opt toward the idea that it was a little reckless and frivolous. Kurson says they are grown up Boy Scouts: patriotic, honorable and true. So basically, this was my 2020 "Himbo" book. But in spite of that sort of thing; it really was a riveting, engaging and excellent read. Highly recommended for an adventure!!

4 Stars

Read on kindle

I really liked this book. I knew nothing about the this history. I don't know a lot about diving, although I've done it a couple of times - and perhaps reading this book a few weeks before planning to do some diving isn't the best idea...

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed an interview at the end of it.