From Publishers Weekly
In a captivating account of sport diving, Chowdhury chronicles the tragedy of Chris and Chrissy Rouse, an energetic father-son dive team who met with disaster while attempting to explore a German U-boat 230 feet deep in the waters off New York. Conway reads with a raspy voice and dark intonation, and he revels in bringing alive the book's dramatic moments, such as when Chrissy slithers through cold, murky waters inside the submarine's cramped hull. Though highly competent in perilous underwater cave diving, the Rouses lacked experience on the open sea, leaving them unprepared for a cruel convergence of deadly circumstances. Aside from telling the Rouses' story, Chowdhury does an excellent jobAreinforced by Conway's audio skillsAof introducing listeners to the history, equipment and dangers of diving at extreme depth. The streamlined audio abridgment omits some of this information, along with a handful of alluring anecdotes, but it also does away with some of the obsessive personal details of the Rouses that occasionally bogged down Chowdhury's narrative. Though this makes for a few clumsy moments (the tape mentions, for instance, how Chrissy had once saved his father's life, yet the story of the machine-shop explosion to which it refers has been edited out), its overall effect is to create a crisp storyline that listeners will appreciate. Simultaneous release with the HarperCollins hardcover (Forecasts, Sept. 25). (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Extreme sports, such as climbing Mount Everest, are becoming increasingly popular in this country. Among these activities is extreme scuba diving deep diving, wreck diving, and cave diving, often using nonair gas mixtures. Chowdury chronicles the world of these divers, using his own story and that of a father-and-son dive team that died following a penetration-wreck dive at 230 feet using air. Excellently written and a real "grabber" to read, the book includes much information about the history, equipment, and people who make up the world of extreme or "technical" diving. This book should be read by any diver thinking of getting involved in wreck, cave, deep, or mixed-gas diving. One hopes it will change their minds, for there's absolutely no margin for error in these risky ventures. There is also much meat here for those interested in the psychology of extreme sports. Strongly recommended for libraries of all types with interests in scuba diving, sports (especially extreme sports), and the psychology of sports and risk-taking.DMargaret Rioux, MBL/WHOI Lib., Woods Hole, MA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Chowdhury was friends with the father and son who die here. He's felt the fascination of the deep wrecks. He knows the "Martini Law," which states that for every 50 feet down it's as if the diver has had one martini on an empty stomach. The author tells us how he nearly perished while exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria. When he writes about how Chrissy Rouse gets trapped in the mystery U-Boat at 230 feet, we hear the boy thumping the hull. We feel a father's terrible panic. Kevin Conway's voice is a rich, full-throated instrument. The abridgment is superb. Don't operate heavy machinery while listening to this book. B.H.C. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Two hundred feet underwater is a nightmarish place for things to go wrong. Scattered among majestically fallen ships and submarines on the ocean floor are deep-sea divers who bit off more than they could chew. Bernie Chowdhury, himself a survivor of a near-fatal case of the bends, unmasks the culture of deep-sea diving in his riveting book The Last Dive. With remarkable perspective on the perils of his sport, Chowdhury delivers a thrilling tale with powerful emotional resonance.

The crux of The Last Dive is the story of an oft-bickering father and son. Chris Rouse is a demanding perfectionist; his son Chrissy is free-spirited and cavalier. Chris and Chrissy share an intense love of diving and for each other. Referee to their co-dependence is Sue Rouse, wife of Chris and mother of Chrissy. Chris and Chrissy are fabulously talented divers who graduate from cave diving in controlled waters to wreck diving in the open seas. Even the best of divers, however, suffer the worst of fates. Such is the nature of the game.

The Last Dive does for wreck-diving what Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air did for climbing the Himalayas: It uses a dramatically failed expedition to expose a dangerous extreme sport. Each time Chowdhury takes us underwater, whether it be to Florida caves; the Italian luxury liner Andrea Dorea, the "Mount Everest of scuba diving"; or to the elusive German submarine "U-Who"; he creates a setting of tension of dread, of being there. As with Krakauer, Chowdhury's storytelling ability matches his formidable sporting talents.

There are many similarities between mountain climbing and deep-sea diving. Just as climbers get "high" at altitude, so divers wobble under the hallucinatory effects of "Martini's Law": every 50 feet underwater has the effect of one martini on an empty stomach. Many divers descend five martinis deep.

Mountain climbers suffer from altitude sickness; divers suffer from the bends. "Getting bent" occurs when divers ascend from the ocean depths too quickly. Nitrogen bubbles form in the bloodstream, causing extreme pain, paralysis, or death. In order to avoid the bends, a diver must adhere to decompression schedules, stopping underwater at various depths to help the body adjust. Troubles with air tanks or, more commonly, mishaps in exploration cost the diver valuable decompression time. And the mishaps are many: Just as mountain climbers suffer limited visibility in snowstorms, so divers must contend with clouds of silt that limit visibility on wrecks. Divers' equipment is easily tangled with the shards and remnants of sunken ships. In a stressed and drunken state, it is easy for divers to lose the anchor line back to the ship. Searches for the anchor line burn invaluable breathing air. A diver forced to ascend without the necessary "deco" is in a perilous state.

Just as with climbing Everest, egoism, heroism, greed, selflessness, and, finally, tragedy are brought into clear relief by sport-diving ventures. Divers don't think twice of jumping into the frigid ocean to help a bent diver aboard. Sufferers of the bends, such as Chowdhury, have been saved by rushed evacuations to hospital decompression chambers, where doctors risk their own lives to save the victims.

The diving community has its share of eccentric characters and personalities. When not underwater during lengthy exploration assignments, Glenn Butler used to spend his time in a cylindrical bell. "No prison on earth has ever been so remote: Butler could not leave his pressurized world for the freedom beyond the habitat's tiny viewing port, for to do so would have meant excruciating death from the bends." Marc Eyring, a former Green Beret and a highly respected diving instructor, is now named Karen: "I realized that all of my extreme behavior was just a way to overcome my feelings and desires to be a woman."

Chowdhury asks himself the hardest question faced by deep-sea sports divers. With obligations to loved ones, why does he continue to risk his life? Young divers are often driven by the compulsion for artifacts, which they stuff into underwater "goodie bags." The experienced diver John Chatterton put his life at extreme risk to finish the Rouses' job and discover the real identity of U-Who. Chowdhury himself no longer needs to fill his trophy case, nor will he take reckless chances for glory. He will continue to dive, however. Like the bends, it is in his blood. (Brenn Jones)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What price are you willing to pay for adventure and knowledge? Spurred on by a fatal combination of obsession and ambition, Chris and Chrisy Rouse, an experienced father-son scuba diving team, hoped to achieve widespread recognition for their outstanding and controversial diving skills by solving the secrets of a mysterious, undocumented, World War II German U-boat that lay only a half day's mission from New York Harbor. Chris and Chrisy Rouse found the ultimate cost of chasing their personal challenge: death from what divers dread the most—decompression sickness, or "the bends." In this gripping recounting of the Rouses' tragedy, author Bernie Chowdhury, himself an expert diver, explores the thrill-seeking, high-risk world of deep sea diving, and its legendary figures, most celebrated triumphs, and notorious tragedies. By examining the diver's psychology through the complex dynamic between father and son, Chowdhury offers a modern morality tale that illuminates the explorer's willingness to risk it all for the pure, raw adrenaline rush of the unknown and the extreme, and the desire to expand our knowledge and the limits of human endurance.

FROM THE CRITICS

Daniel Hays

While reading The Last Dive I could feel myself hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface. I had dreams where I felt the pressure and floated in the beauty. The story is well told and once I started, I could barely come up for air.

Patrick Dillon

Meticulously detailed and dramatically paced, a tragic story told deftly and with the rare authority that comes only from personal experience.

Sherry Sontag

Going as deep as the most daring military divers, but without the military's advanced technology or life-saving support, a father and son explore realms as alien as any in space. They swim for the sheer joy of exploration into a mesmerizing adventure undertaken at overwhelming cost.

Tampa Tribune

Superbly written and action-packed, "The Last Dive" ranks with such adventure classics as "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air.

Philadelphia Enquirer