The "U-Who" and German soldiers' stories "have settled," Kurson writes, at the bottom of the sea, "where one uncovers the freeze-frames of final human experience." Critics compare Shadow Divers, a danger-filled adventure story that blends action, mystery, science, and military history, to Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Sebastian Unger's Perfect Storm. Like these true-adventure authors, Kurson, contributing editor to Esquire, definitely knows how to tell a story (some parts were previously covered in a PBS "Nova" segment). In vivid prose, he writes, "It is one thing to slither in near-total darkness through a shipwreck's twisted, broken mazes, each room a potential trap of swirling silt and collapsing structure. It is another to do so without knowing that someone did it before you and lived."Chatterton and Kohler both lived, though others died along the way. Kurson brings all the players back to life, recounting their perilous dives, jealousies, and life-threatening dangers with heart-stopping detail. The best parts recreate the lives of the German sailors aboard the "U-Who." Despite the book's riveting topic, a few critics complain that Chatterton and Kohler, whom Kurson made into business partners, hyped up their stories. But the most serious issue involves questions about the divers' ethics and motives, which Kurson doesn't address. These flaws, however, barely undermine a remarkable story about two men who risked their lives to uncover a lost piece of World War II history.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

This is a great adventure/mystery; a German U-Boat from World War II is found off the coast of New Jersey. But history records do not mention any such submarine in the area. In fact, historical records are shown to be replete with errors and mistaken identities. So which U-Boat is it? What was it doing there? How did it sink?

This is the story of two brave divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, and how they solved these mysteries. They risked their lives diving down to 230 feet over the course of years. Each dive brought them closer to the solution to the mystery. Both men are very experienced in diving at ship wrecks. But their goal is not to scavenge for artifacts. Their goal is to shed light on this mystery, and bring closure to the families of the dead sailors whose skeletons remain aboard the sunken wreck.

These two superb divers came together despite having completely opposite philosophies and experiences. They did not exactly "hit it off" together when they first met. Not until they hashed out their differences did they see each other as colleagues, partners, and friends.

The book interleaves the exploration of the shipwreck with a narrative of the lives of the sailors aboard the U-boat. The story is expertly told, giving the reader a true, intense feeling for the dangers aboard the U-boat, both for the sailors and for the exploring divers. Not a story to be missed!

Un libro que te engancha desde el principio, una grata sorpresa y lo mas fantástico es que es basado en la vida real, así que es novela histórica contemporánea. Es de esos libros que me encantan porque a través de la historia te brindan conocimientos sobre una profesión, en este caso de los buzos que se dedican a la búsqueda de pecios, que amplían tu cultura como lector. La manera que el autor contó la historia es para quitarse el sombrero, describiendo los acontecimientos y relatando la vida de los personajes, de como estos llegaron a esa época y como si estuvieran destinados a relacionarse con el descubrimiento del submarino. La descripción las actividades que se relacionan con la búsqueda de pecios es inmejorable: el oficio de los buzos, los peligros que conlleva la inmersión a profundidades alrededor de 70 metros, la influencia de las condiciones climáticas, lo delicado del ingreso a estructuras con muchos años sumergidas, la pasión de los buzos por develar la historia detrás de estos descubrimientos, los gastos que conlleva la investigación de los protagonistas para esclarecer la identidad del submarino, el impacto en la vida personal de las personas que se dedican al submarinismo de grandes profundidades; y muchas otras cosas que este libro nos enseña que para estas personas la búsqueda de pecios es una forma de vida.

Thanks for the recommendation Lori. There was no way I was ever going to read a book about scuba divers discovering a U-boat under 230 foot of water off the New Jersey coast without serious prodding. Nothing could have interested me less. And yet, I was gripped from beginning to end. The story was good enough in itself, but Kurson did a fantastic job of bringing the whole thing to life. One of those rare occasions when non-fiction is every bit as absorbing as fiction.

Audible audio. Very interesting and dramatically (albeit a little boring in the middle) told story of two divers who risked their lives for a great historical discovery. The narrator had an old timey style that fit the book, but wasn't my favorite.

What a great book. Well written and meticulously researched account of three men, deep wreck divers, and their quest to locate, explore and identify an unknown missing U-Boat found off the New Jersey coast. This book was recommended several years ago by two people whose opinions I respect and trust. My only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner.

Holy moly. I didn't think that this book would be as amazing as it was. I had thought it'd be a rather dry telling of an awesome discovery, but it was so much more than that.

Mr. Kurson was able to tell John Chatterton and Richie Kohler's stories so that it read just like that, a story. His tone was honest and even, his research was obvious. There were points where I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction.

I truly appreciated the history that Mr. Kurson injected into this entire book. Not only the history of the sub and the men who lost their lives for their country, but the history of wreck-diving, Chatterton and Kohler's histories, and the history of Bill Nagle.

I kept reading through the different chapters thinking, "that's just craziness", or "no WAY!", but I couldn't put it down. The way Mr. Kurson described some of the last moments of wreck-divers that had been lost had me occasionally holding my breath and grieving the outcome. I think that's an amazing feat for a novel such as this. I was genuinely saddened by the losses of divers, and the reconstructed history and eventual loss of the men aboard the U-boat.

I'm amazed by the sheer dedication from Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Kohler. Not only did they want to figure this mystery out, they wanted to do so without giving in to the "treasure hunting" aspect and without disturbing the bones left behind. Their trips all over the world, their passion for discovering the truth, their desire to correct history (and how sad is this - they found that written history is not infallible, that sometimes assumptions were changed and presented as truth in order to make an assessor feel better about his job), and Mr. Kohler's desire to let the families of the U-Boat men know the truth is something that I appreciated, applauded and agreed with.

They risked so much to put an actual name to the boat, not settling for assumptions. They spent years on this project, refusing to quit when their family, friends and colleagues told them it was time to walk away. They didn't give in to the "easy", and instead focused on what was right, and that in itself made their story a magnificent read.

True story of the deep sea divers who discovered the identity of a German U-boat sunk off the coast of New Jersey at the end of WWII. OK, I confess: about halfway through the book I found pictures in the back that revealed the identity of the submarine. Peeking ahead didn't spoil the story for me.

Three divers died during exploration. It took from 1994 to 1997 for the mystery to be solved. The bravery of the divers who continued to search in spite of the danger was amazing.

Things that don't interest me:

--military history
--WWII
--submarines
--other ocean-going vessels
--maritime terminology
--scuba diving

Oddly enough, these are what this book is about and whenever real life forced me to set it down and walk away for awhile, I spent an absurd amount of time thinking about it and frantically wondering, "what next? Tell me more! I need to know more!" I think that means Robert Kurson might be a brilliant writer.

My husband is a U.S. Navy submarine veteran and belongs to a local base of crusty submariners (most of the members are WWII era gents) and whenever I've attended one of their events with him, the technical discussions about submarine qualifications and specifications bores me to tears. And yet I've been talking my husband's ear off all week about German U-boats. He keeps looking at me like he doesn't know me.

Shadow divers wants to teach you a LOT about deep sea diving and U-boats and it just wasn’t interesting to me. There’s lots of technical discussion on diving depths, charter boats, equipment, etc. There’s also a lot of inside baseball that emphasizes things that seem trivial or boring to me. The author puts great importance behind rivalries and cultural touch-points that really are frivolous to outsiders. It was hard to feel sympathetic for the characters who seem petty, callous, and reckless.

The real issue with this book is the writing, which is very basic and a little corny. It feels like the book is aimed at a very young audience. Really it was just horrible. Once you finally get into the meat of the story it’s very repetitive: new diving trip, what did they find. Rinse, repeat. The parts that should be tense or exciting didn’t always connect because the prose is so damn flat and juvenile.

The actual mystery is really interesting here so it’s a shame it wasn’t handled by a better author. Non-fiction is a minefield for me so I acknowledge I just may not be the target audience here. I want a significantly shorter story focusing on the history and identification of the u-boat. What I don’t want is all the repetition, narrative about the cardboard characters, and technical jargon.

The story lacks oomph in terms of thrills and bloats the historical mystery. Overall Kurson failed to transfer his passion for the subject to me.

This book is principally the story of two American divers who risk their lives to explore and identify the wreck of a WWII U-Boat.

Rich with adversity, adventure and war history, the author's enthusiasm for the tale (which in turn is lit by the dedication and determination of the divers themselves) lends the writing that elusive thrill of perfect retelling. The balance of back-story of the men who explored the wreck, the detail and technical information, the history, the suspense of the dives themselves and smattering of other, relevant wreck-diving tales is all melded into a chase story that enthrals as it informs.

Despite the incredible depth (sorry!) and breadth of Kurson’s research, the story is ultimately about the two men who proceed against the advice of friends, in the face of death, to prove to themselves who they are in the face of adversity, and to return the final story of the lost crew to their surviving relatives in Germany.

Non-fiction that reads like an adventure series - doesn’t get better than that!