One to watch
- Depth Charge by Jason Heaton
A ship sunk off the coast of Sri Lanka during World War II provides the starting point for this full-throttle adventure to discover a secret cargo which has lain undisturbed on the ocean floor for the past three-quarters of a century. A young and determined archaeological diver, seeking to uncover the facts, stumbles upon a dastardly plot.
Echoes of Ian Fleming’s Thunderball pleasantly haunt the well-realised underwater scenes which are central to the narrative of this enjoyable book. The protagonist, an archaeological diver named Tusker, is fleshed-out well enough for me to care about him and his marine exploits. Sam, his number two is also perfectly credible, as is Tusker’s Sri Lankan love interest. The plot is inventive and I liked the time-shifts at the beginning of the book – the author has a flair for writing the historical passages and links them well to the main narrative. The description is good too, attention is given to sights, sounds and smells and the scene setting worked well for me – I’ve visited Galle, one of the locations in Sri Lanka where a part of the story is set and I was convincingly transported back there by the author.
Jason Heaton is already a professional writer, a technical author who writes for a number of notable magazines about diving, adventure, dive watches, wristwatches and other gear. This obviously gave him a head start with his debut novel and his first-hand diving experience, expert knowledge in his field and familiarity with the story’s location enriches the text with a detail that lends great authenticity to his writing. The resulting quality of the prose is reliably good and is also well-polished. Here’s an example of how the author is able to conjure up vivid and sensory scene-setting in Captain Fonseka’s office using only a few choice words:
‘..dark green metal filing cabinets that were rusting at the corners from the humidity.’
There is a stand-out scene early on in the book which takes place in a temple. What happens here is unexpected and the author very neatly turned this reader’s expectation on its head. One of the things I liked too about this temple scene is that it manages to accommodate some necessary exposition without it really feeling so much like exposition – this isn’t always an easy thing for a writer to accomplish. Intrigue is also set up very well and as a result of this scene, we realise that there’s a fair bit going on in the story. Later on, contained within a breakaway scene, there’s also an insightful social history narrative which lends the book some political weight.
So far so good then, but I do have a couple of gripes – small ones. I did feel at one point in the story that the pacing wasn’t quite right and also that the dénouement felt a little too similar to an earlier scene – though I do get why both scenes needed to be there. I’m a picky reader but that’s the sum total of my criticism for the whole book so I don’t think that’s too bad, especially for a debut novel.
Heaton has an existing following among the diving community, wristwatch aficionados and readers of his magazine articles. The book has been well received by this captive audience and has reportedly sold well across international markets. And rightly so because Depth Charge is, I think, a good novel. It has a great plot, the writing is solid, the characterisation is good, scene-setting very good also and the historical element of the story is well crafted. I enjoyed reading Heaton’s book enormously. Depth Charge is a strong debut and I think the author has a lot more to give. I look forward to reading more from him.
Author, Jason Heaton. Photo credit: Swimpruf Press
About the author
Jason Heaton has a decade-long history of adventure, travel, wristwatch, and gear writing, and his work has appeared in Outside magazine, Gear Patrol, Men’s Journal, Wired, Australian Geographic, and Hodinkee. The New York Times once called him, “a test pilot for the world’s most illustrious undersea timepieces.” He is also the co-host of the popular podcast, The Grey NATO.
A certified technical diver, Heaton has been underwater all over the world, from the Galapagos to New Zealand to the Caribbean, and since 2015, he has been a member of the prestigious Explorers Club. He lives with his wife, Gishani, and their two cats in Minneapolis. Depth Charge is his first novel.