Something in the Water (ISBN 0892725176)

Don't Let The Subject Scare You Away...:
...enjoy the story. Peter Scott's "Something In The Water" often is characterized by genres ranging from WWII war novels to submarine warfare. Amazon's subject search includes: World War, 1939-1945; German naval operations; and submarines. Even the book's jacket focuses on hidden German U-2 boats and the Nazi threat. Such descriptions easily scare away most readers ~ and that's a shame. The book offers much more than this first impression. It is a story about people, relationships and the inner-workings of small, coastal-Maine fishing town, forced to deal with the start of WWII and its encroachment into their way of life. The war is not the subject matter. Instead, characters, families and the fishing village itself are the central elements of the story. I thought more of "Our Town" than "Das Boot," and that is why you will enjoy the book. Enjoy getting to know the characters and the community. Enjoy their relationships and other social customs prevalent at the time. Enjoy the nostalgia and the memories. Into that context, add the suspense of the subject matter: a stranger in a small town and German submarines off Maine's coastal shores. The ending may disappoint you. It is a bit stretched for my taste. However, the story telling is worth your time.