Another in the highly popular "My Story" series. Most of these are of a high quality, readable and engagingly informative, using the traditional historical novel technique of place a character in a minor role in the centre of larger events.
This particular example is no different. North Atlantic convoy duty during World War Two. Hard, tough men in an unrelenting environment. Unfortunately, and this is unusual for this series, the subject is too much for the author in 160 pages. The characters and circumstances are believable enough but two of the side-plots are distracting from the major storyline and the main impressions being created.
This is an easy read and useful enough for year 5-7 but rather lacks depth, largely due to the brevity. It is a novel that gives a picture of the time and circumstances but needs to be used at the above level. Anyone looking for a more detailed, realistic and truer picture is far better to examine the likes of "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat. A good year 7 would find the latter far more satisfying.
U-Boat Hunter serves as a reasonably exciting introductory novel for an average reader and cannot be faulted as such but others have handled the same material better, with more reality and detail.
6 out of 10. Light.
Don't judge this very good series by this slightly disappointing example. The let-down is due to the ambitious attempt to cover the whole of World War Two in the North Atlantic theatre rather than focus on a narrower period and provide a novel with more satisfying substance. One slightly off apple does not the barrel ruin.
Published by Scholastic
Reviewed by David
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