Book One of the "Winning the Battle" series, Running Deep: A Novel Of Submarines, SEALs And Souls by Robert Evan Stevens is a tense, deftly written nautical thriller with a cast of characters possessed of hidden secrets, agendas, doubts and fears. A superbly presented, high impact novel that capture's the reader's attention and holds it fast through trauma conflict, Running Deep is a very exciting read from first page to last.

This has the potential for 5 stars, but the clerical errors throughout will become distracting to the reader who pays attention to detail. The prose is riveting from beginning to end. The slice-of-life activities of Bable and his buddies keeps you turning the pages to see what will befall them next. The sketches and vivid descriptions with remembered dialogue all help to make you feel their pain and frustration right along with them. It was a revelation, too, that the rumors were actually true what I'd heard about General MacArthur's reprehensible role during that time. After reading this book, I can believe it all.
SSGT Bable grabs you right off with humor in the first pages, and then he's able to keep you entertained while recalling some of his lowest and discouraging days in some pretty scary places. I'm just glad he made it home and filled in a journal to make this book. It's a slice of history we shouldn't forget.