Other editions of book The Night Boat

The Night Boat, Robert McCammon's third published novel, first appeared as a paperback original in 1980. Following on the heels of Baal and Bethany's Sin, it offered further proof that a writer of great narrative power and limitless potential - a writer who would achieve a significant position in modern popular fiction--had arrived. The story begins with a vividly written prologue in which a German U-boat--sometimes known as an 'Iron Coffin'--attacks an unsuspecting merchant vessel, and is itself attacked by a pair of Allied sub chasers. The action then shifts to the present day and to the idyllic Caribbean island of Coquina, where life is about to change in unimaginable ways. David Moore, a young man with a tragic and haunted past, is skin-diving in the waters off Coquina, searching for the salvageable remnants of shipwrecks. He accidentally detonates a long-unexploded depth charge, uncovering and releasing a submarine that has lain beneath those waters, virtually intact, for decades. The battered vessel that rises to the surface contains a bizarre and terrifying cargo that will transform a once peaceful island into a landscape of unrelenting nightmare. The Night Boat is a story of cannibalism, ancient voodoo curses, and shambling, undead entities filled with a bottomless rage and an equally bottomless hunger. But it is also the story of a past that refuses to die, that lies in wait just beneath the surface of the unsuspecting present. Furiously paced and viscerally frightening, this horrific early gem is both an outstanding entertainment in its own right and a harbinger of the masterpieces to come.

A German submarine is sunk during World War Two. How do you turn this gimmick into a horror novel? Which direction do you go? What's the creep factor? Robert McCammon, who took the premise of vampires in Los Angeles to its natural conclusion by having half the city turned into vampires and unleashed an Allied werewolf loose on a secret Nazi base, can be counted on to accomplish the task. The raising of the Nazi submarine is central to McCammon's story which delivers surprising twists and bloody confrontations. The U-boat was sunk off a Caribbean island, but under circumstances that leave it largely intact until a diver accidentally dislodges an unexploded depth charge which lets the sand-covered sub bob to the surface. This could result in a nice sale to museum. But soon, it's decided the sub would be better off back in the Big Drink. The problem is, see, the crew is not dead, thanks to a voodoo curse.

The Night Boat, Robert McCammon's third published novel, first appeared as a paperback original in 1980. Following on the heels of Baal and Bethany's Sin, it offered further proof that a writer of great narrative power and limitless potential--a writer who would achieve a significant position in modern popular fiction--had arrived.The story begins with a vividly written prologue in which a German U-boat--sometimes known as an 'Iron Coffin'--attacks an unsuspecting merchant vessel, and is itself attacked by a pair of Allied sub chasers. The action then shifts to the present day and to the idyllic Caribbean island of Coquina, where life is about to change in unimaginable ways. David Moore, a young man with a tragic and haunted past, is skin-diving in the waters off Coquina, searching for the salvageable remnants of shipwrecks. He accidentally detonates a long-unexploded depth charge, uncovering and releasing a submarine that has lain beneath those waters, virtually intact, for decades. The battered vessel that rises to the surface contains a bizarre and terrifying cargo that will transform a once peaceful island into a landscape of unrelenting nightmare.The Night Boat is a story of cannibalism, ancient voodoo curses, and shambling, undead entities filled with a bottomless rage and an equally bottomless hunger. But it is also the story of a past that refuses to die, that lies in wait just beneath the surface of the unsuspecting present. Furiously paced and viscerally frightening, this horrific early gem is both an outstanding entertainment in its own right and a harbinger of the masterpieces to come.