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From Publishers Weekly
This superlative journalistic narrative tells of John Chatterton and Rich Kohler, two deep-sea wreck divers who in 1991 dove to a mysterious wreck lying at the perilous depth of 230 feet, off the coast of New Jersey. Both had a philosophy of excelling and pushing themselves to the limit; both needed all their philosophy and fitness to proceed once they had identified the wreck as a WWII U-boat. As Kurson, a writer for Esquire, narrates in this debut, the two divers next undertook a seven-year search for the U-boat's identity inside the wreck, in a multitude of archives and in a host of human memories. Along the way, Chatterton's diving cost him a marriage, and Kohler's love for his German heritage helped turn him into a serious U-boat scholar. The two lost three of their diving companions on the wreck and their mentor, Bill Nagle, to alcoholism. (Chowdhury's The Last Dive, from HarperPerennial in 2002, covers two of the divers' deaths.) The successful completion of their quest fills in a gap in WWII history-the fate of the Type IX U-boat U-869. Chatterton and Kohler's success satisfied them and a diminishing handful of U-boat survivors. While Kurson doesn't stint on technical detail, lovers of any sort of adventure tale will certainly absorb the author's excellent characterizations, and particularly his balance in describing the combat arm of the Third Reich. Felicitous cooperation between author and subject rings through every page of this rare insightful action narrative. If the publishers are dreaming of another Perfect Storm, they may get their wish.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
Deep-wreck divers are used to operating with almost no headroom and in zero visibility, navigating by touch alone; it is a compliment to be told "When you die, no one will ever find your body." Despite the dangers, wreck divers are typically weekend warriors, men who leave families and jobs behind to test themselves at two hundred feet down. Kurson's exciting account centers on two divers, John Chatterton and Robert Kohler, who in 1991 found an unidentified U-boat embedded in the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey. The task of identifying it leads them to Germany, Washington, D.C., and the darkest corners of the submarine itself. Some of the most haunting moments occur on land, as when the divers research the lives of the doomed German sailors whose bones they swim among. Once underwater, Kurson's adrenalized prose sweeps you along in a tale of average-guy adventure.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

From Bookmarks Magazine
The “U-Who” and German soldiers’ stories “have settled,” Kurson writes, at the bottom of the sea, “where one uncovers the freeze-frames of final human experience.” Critics compare Shadow Divers, a danger-filled adventure story that blends action, mystery, science, and military history, to Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Unger’s Perfect Storm. Like these true-adventure authors, Kurson, contributing editor to Esquire, definitely knows how to tell a story (some parts were previously covered in a PBS “Nova” segment). In vivid prose, he writes,+“It is one thing Â… to slither in near-total darkness through a shipwreck’s twisted, broken mazes, each room a potential trap of swirling silt and collapsing structure. It is another to do so without knowing that someone did it before you and lived.”Chatterton and Kohler both lived, though others died along the way. Kurson brings all the players back to life, recounting their perilous dives, jealousies, and life-threatening dangers with heart-stopping detail. The best parts recreate the lives of the German sailors aboard the “U-Who.” Despite the book’s riveting topic, a few critics complain that Chatterton and Kohler, whom Kurson made into business partners, hyped up their stories. But the most serious issue involves questions about the divers’ ethics and motives, which Kurson doesn’t address. These flaws, however, barely undermine a remarkable story about two men who risked their lives to uncover a lost piece of World War II history.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Diving The "U-Who": A Challenge For The World's Elite Divers
"Shadow Divers" was given to me as a gift. Although I have an interest in World War Two and maritime engineering and technology, it is a book I would have likely passed over, but it would have been my loss. This book is an incredible recounting of the discovery of a World War Two German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey, and the divers who risked their lives trying to identify it.

The book centers on two divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, who live for discovery. The book details their lives, and how this cause furthered their friendship as they became more involved in the mystery of identifying the "U-Who." What would seem to be a fairly routine piece of investigation became extremely convoluted, and required years of research, trips to German and US archives, as well as numerous high-risk dives on the wreck. Through these pages I had my eyes opened about the types and degrees of risk associated with deep wreck diving (three divers were killed diving this U-Boat), and came to admire people who pursue historical wreck diving, particularly Chatterton and Kohler.

The tenacity and bravery of these man can't be underestimated, and I appreciate Robert Kurson for weaving the disparate elements of this story so skillfully into a book both compelling and comprehensible to non-divers like me. I thoroughly enjoyed "Shadow Divers" and recommend it without reservation.

A Great Story Well Told
Shadow Divers is one of those nonfiction history books that makes you wish you could have written it. Kurson starts with a great story of a mystery sub and then tells it in a compelling way. Along the way, you learn a lot about deep wreck diving and its dangers. Kurson also treats his focal characters as a novelist would and develops them with their faults and strengths.

I think the greatest compliment you can pay a nonfiction book is that "it reads like a novel." By that, I mean it's a interesting story with fascinating characters that holds my attention and won't let go. And Shadow Divers does all that.

Fascinating story
Well written story, very intense. Full of details and facts but told in a way to make it a very personal story and very readable.