From Publishers Weekly
Deep under the sea, U.S. submarine captain Jeffrey Fuller is still at it, dodging depth charges, launching torpedoes and otherwise foiling a reinvigorated Nazi Germany from taking over the world. Buff's latest breathlessly paced thriller, set in the year 2011, starts out where last year's Deep Sound Channel left off. The world has been overtaken by a Germany-South Africa alliance. France has fallen. Great Britain is starving. It's up to the United States to prevent nuclear destruction and restore order. Fuller, fresh off victorious duty in the South Atlantic, has now taken over command of the Challenger, the most advanced American sub. His mission is to rescue a disabled sub on the ocean floor near the Azores, then proceed to the Baltic, where he is to lead a secret strike force and destroy a German missile laboratory. Never one to fail, Fuller has only one worry. He knows Germany's high-tech supersub, the Deutschland, is lurking out there. And his arch rival, the ruthless Kurt Eberhard, is at the controls, eager to send Fuller and the Challenger to the bottom of the sea. Long-winded at points and weakened by a silly love affair, the second in the Fuller line nonetheless provides satisfying action for battle lovers. Buff's admiration for submarines and their crews comes across from the start. His meticulous attention to the details of life aboard the Challenger and the obstacles it faces help heighten the drama, particularly during the final fight scene in the Norwegian Sea. The jargon flies fast and heavy, but even readers unfamiliar with the terminology will be able to catch its drift after awhile. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This is the second in Buff's series of technothrillers devoted to a near-future war in which the United States and England are allied against Germany. As in Buff's first novel, Deep Sound Channel (LJ 5/1/00), two highly sophisticated submarinesAmerica's Challenger, again commanded by former Navy SEAL Jeffrey Fuller, and Germany's Deutschlandare the focus of the story. Despite almost nonstop action, however, this novel fails at several levels. The characters are not well developed, and their dialog is stilted. Worse, Thunder and its predecessor include premises that stretch plausibility. The first is that the fossilized Hohenzollerns could somehow regain control of Germany and reinstate both the monarchy and the militaristic Prussian aristocracy. The second is that both sides could explode tactical nukes like popcorn without any real concern about escalation toward mutually assured destruction. The book just doesn't work. For larger collections only.Robert Conroy, Warren, MI Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
“[A] breathlessly paced thriller ... provides satisfying action for battle lovers. Buff’s admiration for submarines and their crews comes across from the start. His meticulous attention to the details of life aboard the Challenger and the obstacles it faces help heighten the drama.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Once again the author out-Clancys Tom Clancy’s lust for detail ... the action lives up to the jargon.... Buff gives us terrific battle maneuvers.... Talk about fun.”
— Kirkus Reviews


Praise for Joe Buff and Deep Sound Channel:

“Nonstop and exhilarating ... chilling and fascinating. Joe Buff takes the reader on a frightening ride in harm’s way. A damn good story.”
— Eric L. Harry, author of Invasion and Arc Light

“Exciting battle scenes, fascinating naval maneuvers ... suspenseful submarine action ... [with] a satisfying, cliff-hanging ending.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Deep Sound Channel is a hell of a read.”
— David Hagberg, author of Assassin and Without Honor

“A page-turner that will keep technothriller fans at sea most of the night ... Buff’s fast-paced prose gets the job done.”
— Booklist

“Puts the reader in the hull of a deep-diving combat Virginia-class submarine on a mission to hell itself.... A superb high-water mark in naval fiction.”
— Michael DiMercurio, author of Threat Vector and Piranha Firing Point

“A great premise ... Buff knows weapons and warfare.”
— Library Journal

“An action-packed thriller that is all too real. Lots of action, lots of grit.”
— Dick Couch, Capt., U.S. Navy (Ret.), author of Rising Wind

“Notable ... formidable ... mounds of high-tech detail.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“A sobering look into the possible future of undersea warfare — the one environment where nuclear weapons can, and probably will, be used.”
— P. T. Deutermann, Capt., U.S. Navy (Ret.), author of Train Man and Scorpion in the Sea

“Deep Sound Channel demonstrates Joe Buff’s intimate knowledge of undersea warfare.... Nonstop action!”
— Barrett Tillman, author of The Sixth Battle and Warriors


From the Hardcover edition.


Review
?[A] breathlessly paced thriller ... provides satisfying action for battle lovers. Buff?s admiration for submarines and their crews comes across from the start. His meticulous attention to the details of life aboard the Challenger and the obstacles it faces help heighten the drama.?
? Publishers Weekly

?Once again the author out-Clancys Tom Clancy?s lust for detail ... the action lives up to the jargon.... Buff gives us terrific battle maneuvers.... Talk about fun.?
? Kirkus Reviews


Praise for Joe Buff and Deep Sound Channel:

?Nonstop and exhilarating ... chilling and fascinating. Joe Buff takes the reader on a frightening ride in harm?s way. A damn good story.?
? Eric L. Harry, author of Invasion and Arc Light

?Exciting battle scenes, fascinating naval maneuvers ... suspenseful submarine action ... [with] a satisfying, cliff-hanging ending.?
? Publishers Weekly

?Deep Sound Channel is a hell of a read.?
? David Hagberg, author of Assassin and Without Honor

?A page-turner that will keep technothriller fans at sea most of the night ... Buff?s fast-paced prose gets the job done.?
? Booklist

?Puts the reader in the hull of a deep-diving combat Virginia-class submarine on a mission to hell itself.... A superb high-water mark in naval fiction.?
? Michael DiMercurio, author of Threat Vector and Piranha Firing Point

?A great premise ... Buff knows weapons and warfare.?
? Library Journal

?An action-packed thriller that is all too real. Lots of action, lots of grit.?
? Dick Couch, Capt., U.S. Navy (Ret.), author of Rising Wind

?Notable ... formidable ... mounds of high-tech detail.?
? Kirkus Reviews

?A sobering look into the possible future of undersea warfare ? the one environment where nuclear weapons can, and probably will, be used.?
? P. T. Deutermann, Capt., U.S. Navy (Ret.), author of Train Man and Scorpion in the Sea

?Deep Sound Channel demonstrates Joe Buff?s intimate knowledge of undersea warfare.... Nonstop action!?
? Barrett Tillman, author of The Sixth Battle and Warriors


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Challenger is the weapon of the future, a ceramic-hulled nuclear attack submarine whose electronic eyes and ears are the most advanced ever created. It is commanded by acting captain Jeffrey Fuller, a former SEAL turned submariner whose aggressiveness has made him a rising star - and sometimes scares the hell out of his crew. Fuller's mission is to rescue the Virginia-class fast attack sub Texas, now lying on the bottom of the Atlantic just off the Azores. But the enemy - a newly resurrected and fanatically militaristic Germany - knows where the Texas is, too, and knows the Challenger is coming. It is the Challenger the Germans want, dispatching their own high-tech supersub, the Deutschland, to destroy her. In this war your enemy is a blip on a console hardwired into an integrated nuclear weapons system. Ships are vaporized off the surface of the sea, nuclear shock waves unleash deadly tsunami waves, and smart submarines do battle with smart aircraft sent to hunt them down. For Jeffrey Fuller and the Challenger, for the men on board the Deutschland, the race beneath the ocean's surface across a horrific underwater war zone will demand every bit of courage and skill they can muster just to survive. Before it's over, the Challenger's mission is radically redefined: Fuller, his SEALs, and freedom fighter Ilse Reebeck are sent into Germany itself - to plant a nuke right in the gut of the enemy's power structure.

FROM THE CRITICS

Michael DiMercurio

Puts the reader in the hull of a deep-diving combat Virginia-class submarine on a mission to hell itself.... A superb high-water mark in naval fiction.

David Hagberg

Deep Sound Channel is a hell of a read.

Barrett Tillman

Deep Sound Channel demonstrates Joe Buff’s intimate knowledge of undersea warfare.... Nonstop action!

Dick Couch

An action-packed thriller that is all too real. Lots of action, lots of grit.

Eric L. Harry