BookBrowse Reviews The Oceans and the Stars by Mark Helprin

Mark Helprin's novel The Oceans and the Stars introduces readers to Captain Stephen Rensselaer – "of senior rank, expert in nuclear strategy, an experienced combat veteran and SEAL" as well as the recipient of a Ph.D. from Harvard. Currently serving as an aide to the Secretary of the Navy, his promotion to admiral all but assured, Rensselaer has been tasked with talking the President of the United States out of retiring a class of vessel known as a Patrol Coastal. Rensselaer manages to infuriate the Commander in Chief instead, and, because the man is vindictive, Rensselaer ends up in command of the Athena, one of the very ships in question – a marked demotion. When war breaks out with Iran, the president goes further, ordering the little Athena into battle, which all expect will be a suicide mission. What ensues is an epic tale of increasingly dangerous sea encounters where ...