Title and Author: HMS Ulysses by Alistair MacLean

Plot Overview: The HMS Ulysses is the fastest and luckiest cruiser in the Royal Navy - but the approaches to Murmansk are long, and the convoys she guards are prime targets for Nazi U-boats. A routine escort mission becomes a battle against cold and the enemy, and there’s always the risk of the German battleship Tirpitz coming out to hunt...

Compelling Aspects: The most compelling aspect was the tension; MacLean is a master of building and maintaining tension throughout his story, and even though there are a few moments of comedy that serve as a bit of relief, that tension never really goes away through the entire book.

Personal Review: There was no real big disappointment in the book; some of the characters seemed a bit contrived, and there were some parts that, for an otherwise realistic novel, seemed really out-there (like a ship ramming a U-boat and exploding), but overall there’s nothing really that bad about this book.

Cover: The cover does a good job of both being eye-catching and telling what the book’s about; there’s a ship, in rough seas, with an explosion in the background, and that is very fitting.

Star Rating: 4.5/5