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sequel to "Run Silent, Run Deep"
Forget the movie "Run Silent" from 1958 - "Dust" is a sequel to the very original book, faithful to everything about it not kept in the film. In the book (which follows Ed "Rich" Richardson throughout his career in the early days of WWII, rather than on a single cruise), Rich avenges himself on "Bungo Pete", a near-mythical IJN officer whose mastery of the science of subhunting has dearly cost the USN. one of the victims is Jim Bledsoe (played by Burt Lancaster in the film, but otherwise sharing no resemblence to Beach's creation) "Run" ends with Richardson executing the crew of Pete's ship - presumbly including Pete himself, knowing that Pete will remain a danger as long as he's alive. "Dust" opens where "Run" left off - with Rich returning to Pearl, with conflicting emotions over the morality of his act. It's the inner moral dilemma that haunts Rich throughout the book, even as the story - which returns Rich to the battle-waters of the South Pacific - has little to do with it. Instead, in "Dust", Rich has his ship essentially commandeered by his commodore and joined to others in an experiment in "wolfpacking" the Japanese. Rich's superior quickly shows signs that he's got his own problems, but Rich's demons (which also include a burgeoning love for Jim Bledsoe's widow even as he romances another woman in Hawaii, a lapse that will come back to Haunt Rich in "Cold is the Sea".) prevent him from thinking or acting forcefully against the commodore. There's a gratuitous subplot involving Rich's capture by a brutal Japanese naval commander on a lower order than Bungo Pete - it doesn't do much for the plot, while the character's unrelieved meanness makes it clear that the story needed some idiot to kick around. Getting back to the war, Beach artfully and magnificently mixes on-board intrigue with the sea battle going on around Rich's sub. Beach's flaws (characters are on the whole just decent people, making the imperfect ones look unnneccessarily unlikable; rather than dialog, Beach has his characters speak in large, unbroken paragraphs, so instead of conversations, Beach's officers engage in miniature briefings; that made sense in "Run" which had a first person narrative, but doesn't work in "Dust" which reverts to 3rd person) are outbalanced by his expertise, even for those unfamiliar with the science of submarine warfare, and easily so for those who know a thing or two.

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Dust on the Sea: Edward L. Beach
This is the definitive work of fiction set in WWII aboard an American submarine. Beach's character development does, however, while improved since Run Silent, Run Deep, is a reflection of his actually commanding submarines and not investing a lifetime as a professional fiction writer. The plot is a hoot, but some readers should remember that this book was written several years ago by a man who fought the Japanese. Beach's depiction of the Japanese is not as sensitive to the unique Japanese culture as is currently popularized by some. Beach wrote this book as an adventure story and not to pursue an agenda. Oh, the Bungo Suido is not in the Yellow Sea.