Book 1

The War Beneath

by Timothy S Johnston

Published 18 December 2018

Living and working underwater can be a dangerous thing. First the bulkheads sweat, then there’s a trickle of water . . .

. . . and then in an instant you’re gone. The only thing left is a bloody pulp in the dark water and crushed bone fragments on the seafloor.

And you can’t bolt to the surface in an emergency. . . . The bends will get you.

But that’s not the worst. When you’re living underwater and also working as a spy for your city, that’s when things get really dangerous.

Truman McClusky has been out of the intelligence business for years, working the kelp farms and helping his city Trieste flourish on the shallow continental shelf just off the coast of Florida. Until his former partner shows up, that is, steals a piece of valuable new technology and makes a mad dash into the Atlantic. Before he knows it, Mac ends up back in the game, chasing the spy to not only recapture the tech, but to kill his former friend.

But when he learns the grim truth behind the theft, it sends his stable life into turmoil and plunges him into an even deadlier mission: evade the submarines of hostile foreign powers, escape assassins, and forge through the world’s oceans at breakneck pace on a daring quest to survive, with more lethal secrets than he thought possible in his pocket.

The future of the city depends on McClusky . . . if he can make it back home.


The Savage Deeps

by Timothy S Johnston

Published 5 December 2019

War has come to the darkest depths of the deepest oceans.

Mayor Truman McClusky of Trieste City is at war with the world's superpowers. Laying claim to the resources of the ocean and its floor is the only way to survive in a world where global warming and rising sea levels ravage the surface. But when a Trieste City spy ends up dead—his body beaten beyond recognition—Mac realizes that his city is in mortal danger. The occupying force in Trieste knows more about his plans for independence than he thought, and they will stop at nothing to control Trieste and her people.

Mac flees with a small team that includes scientist and newcomer to the underwater city, Dr. Manesh Lazlow. Together they head for a secret base in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where they plan to create new technologies to fight the superpowers for dominance over the oceans. But the French have picked up Mac's scent and will stop at nothing to kill him. Mac must elude the French, protect his citizens against sabotage and spycraft, and discover the identity of a spy in his midst if he is going to save his city and compete with the superpowers. But he's just a tiny player in the grand scheme of ocean politics . . .

. . . unless he can get his new deep-sea engine working. With it he'll be able to forge deeper than any other sub in the oceans. And if that happens, then all hell is about to break loose.

At six kilometers down.



A Blanket of Steel

by Timothy S Johnston

Published 1 August 2024