Reviewed by Barbara Buhrer, MyShelf.com
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Arriving back to his base after an extended patrol, Captain Hans Kruger is hoping to rest. Instead he is assigned to a new experimental U-Boat. U2317 is the first of its type, with a radical design, to be operational. Kruger, Germany's most highly decorated submarine commander still in sea duty, has been given the job of delaying the end of the war to enable Germany to dictate surrender terms that will not fatally damage their country.

Kruger will do his duty as he is a member of the Navy. He has no politics and has doubts about the conduct of many of the Nazis. He will do his utmost to sink as many of the enemies' naval vessels and shipping. Since U2317 runs quieter and faster and can dive deeper than any previous submarines, Kruger's campaigns are extremely successful - so successful that the British Admiralty attributes the devastation to a wolf pack.

It isn't until Captain David Ralston escapes on the way to a German prison camp and returns to England to describe Kruger's sub that they realize the truth. Ralston had been rescued by Kruger when Kruger sank his ship, and so had the opportunity to observe the new submarine. A task force is assembled with Ralston in command. Its purpose is to seek and destroy U2317.

This becomes a race to determine who is the hunter and who is with hunted. McDaniel has successfully evoked the spirit of the people and places during the last days of the Third Reich. The characters are finely drawn and face the dilemma of killing as a duty while deploring the act itself. The action is suspenseful; the battles realistic. This is the best naval warfare book I have read in a long time.

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