Best Selling Books by Peter Sasgen

The USS Rasher had an extraordinary record in World War II: she sank 18 enemy ships and destroyed 99,901 tons--the second highest tonnage of the war. Her fifth war patrol is the stuff of legends. In August 1944 during a single night surface attack on a Japanese convoy off the Philippines, she sank the escort carrier Taiyo and three marus, and later during that same patrol she sank another ship. Reading more like a novel than an operational history, this book covers all aspects of the Rasher''s combat history in a way that both the general reader and veteran submariner will appreciate. Author Peter Sasgen is the son of a Rasher crew member, and from his father''s perspective he follows the sub from the builder''s way through eight action-packed patrols to war''s end. His richly detailed descriptions of submarine operations include lively commentary by former shipmates and excerpts from patrol reports along with a close examination of patrol procedures, communications, life guarding, and other topics rarely covered in such detail. Sasgen also explores the essence of submarine combat--aggressive leadership--and its role in the Rasher''s success.

Thrilling submarine espionage and an inside look at the U.S. Navy''s "silent service" Stalking the Red Bear, for the first time ever, describes the action principally from the perspective of a commanding officer of a nuclear submarine during the Cold War -- the one man aboard a sub who makes the critical decisions -- taking readers closer to the Soviet target than any work on submarine espionage has ever done before. This is the untold story of a covert submarine espionage operation against the Soviet Union during the Cold War as experienced by the Commanding Officer of an active submarine. Few individuals outside the intelligence and submarine communities knew anything about these top-secret missions. Cloaking itself in virtual invisibility to avoid detection, the USS Blackfin went sub vs. sub deep within Soviet-controlled waters north of the Arctic Circle, where the risks were extraordinarily high and anything could happen. Readers will know what it was like to carry out a covert mission aboard a nuke and experience the sights, sounds, and dangers unique to submarining.

A United Nations-brokered détente between North and South Korea is about to make history when two powerful bombs rock Midtown Manhattan, killing the warring nations'' representatives as well as innocent bystanders. A renegade North Korean general is behind the violence and, with a political firestorm unleashed on Washington, D.C., Jake Scott is ordered by the president to infiltrate a secret island meeting of the North Korean rulers. Even with his best crew aboard the Reno, Scott is up against a monstrous enemy armed with hair-raising technology: miniaturized nukes stowed on board the Sang-o, or Red Shark -- a sub which handily dodges conventional sonar and satellite detection. The clock is ticking as Scott makes a chilling discovery -- the weapons are poised and ready to bring down Korea''s most despised foe: the U.S.A....

A heart-stopping true tale of a submarine mission aimed at destroying Japan’s merchant marine lifeline and ending World War II. By 1945, the U.S. Navy''s submarine force in the Pacific had sunk over a thousand enemy cargo ships and tankers supplying the food, weapons, and oil Japan needed to continue to fight. Yet this once mighty merchant fleet continued to thrive in the Sea of Japan, where, protected from American submarines by a seemingly impenetrable barrier of deadly minefields, they provided a tenuous lifeline for the Japanese. Senior American commanders believed that if these enemy ships were sunk, Japan would be forced to surrender. Here is the incredible story of Operation Barney, the daring plot to penetrate those minefields and decimate the enemy fleet. The brainchild of the dedicated sub commander Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood, the mission would hinge on a new experimental sonar system that would, with luck, guide American submarines safely past the mines and into the open sea. The nine submarines chosen, nicknamed Hellcats, were tasked with the impossible—the combined crews of 760 submariners all knew their chances of survival depended on an unproven technology and their own nerve. Based on original documents and the poignant personal letters of one doomed Hellcat commander, Sasgen crafts a classic naval tale of one of World War II''s most dangerous missions.

THE GREATEST DANGER HIDES IN THE DEPTHS OF DECEIT. In a Murmansk hotel, a U.S. naval officer is found dead along with a young Russian sailor in what is labeled a murder/suicide -- but American navy commander Jake Scott thinks otherwise. Assigned to escort the dead officer''s body back to the United States, Scott discovers that his predecessor had uncovered a secret that cost him his life -- and may cost Scott even more. Aided by alluring weapons expert Alexandra Thorne, Jake uncovers a conspiracy of betrayal, terror, and vengeance intended to target a tense summit meeting of the American and Russian presidents. Taking the helm of a Russian sub, Scott must race against the clock -- and face off against an unseen enemy under the waves -- if he hopes to prevent a nuclear strike that could ignite World War III.

In den Tiefen des Ozeans lauert der Tod. Er ist gekommen, um die Welt auszulöschen ... Terroristen planen einen Anschlag auf die Zivilisation. Ihre Waffe: ein Atom-U-Boot. Ihr Gegner: Commander Jake Scott. Für ihn beginnt ein ungleiches Rennen. Mit einem betagten russischen U-Boot jagt er die Gegner durch die Tiefen des Ozeans. Er muss alles auf eine Karte setzten, denn es gibt nur eine Alternative: Sieg oder totale Vernichtung.

In Moscow the suicide of a powerful Washington facilitator and the assassination of a Russian banking official blows the cover of a CIA spy inside the Kremlin. Her exposure reveals a sinister international conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. and Russia.The blow up snares Berlin-based spec-ops officer Claire Hayden in a treacherous mission to infiltrate Belarus where the spy, Valentina Surkova, great-granddaughter of White Russians massacred by the Bolsheviks, has fled from her pursuers who will do anything to keep their secrets. Fighting to prevent Valentina''s capture, Hayden, hardened veteran of clandestine operations, survives a double-cross meant to eliminate anyone with knowledge of the conspiracy. Dogged by American and Russian assassins, Hayden vows to unmask the conspirators and destroy her would-be killers. Fearless, undaunted by betrayal and murder, she tracks them down across Berlin from its glittering high-rises to its Nazi-era network of subterranean bunkers. Yet when face-to-face with her enemies Hayden is forced to confront the terrible price she''s paid for a life haunted by lies, blood, and death.

Berlin, November 1945. Yuri Nosenko, a Russian army officer awaiting execution for a crime he didn''t commit, is released from an NKVD prison and sent to Berlin with orders to find and kill Heinrich Müller, head of Gestapo. Müller has top secret Soviet documents that prove Joseph Stalin ordered the Katyn Forest Massacre of 15,000 Polish officers. He aims to swap them for immunity from prosecution as a war criminal, and for sanctuary in the West. Their disclosure could shatter the flimsy postwar peace between the United States and the USSR, even sabotage the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.Trapped between American and Russian occupiers, pawn of the NKVD, Nosenko stumbles through the ruins of Berlin searching for Müller. Haunted by the horrors of the Eastern Front, he''s consumed by memories of his missing wife and children whom he has vowed to find. Dogged by Russian assassins, Nosenko''s dual quest evolves into a perilous and deadly trek that propels him to a final reckoning with his past, his future, and the days of killing.

CIA Special Operations Officer Clair Hayden returns in a sequel to The Blood of Lost Empires. Once again she recruits ex-Stasi colonel Max Reinmann, this time to help foil a plot to arm rebel factions fighting the Assad regime in Syria. The scheme, if successful, would not only prolong the war in that country but also subvert diplomatic efforts to end it, dragging Assad''s patron, Russia, ever deeper into a Middle East quagmire. The conspiracy thrusts Hayden and Reinmann into a web of treachery and betrayal linked to the recovery of a stolen painting worth millions, and the murder of a Russian oligarch with connections to the exiled Romanov family of Tsar Nicholas II. When the Russians stumble onto the plot, they concoct a plan of their own to tie the weapons deal to the U.S. and in the bargain score a propaganda coup. As Hayden and Reinmann crisscross Europe in search of the plotters, the trail leads to a showdown with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and an old nemesis, ex KGB agent Andrei Kozlov. Ordered by the Kremlin to kill Hayden and Reinmann, Kozlov seizes the opportunity to settle old scores. Instead, Hayden snares Kozlov and the Russians in a deadly trap that scuttles Moscow''s dream of victory.

With the Axis in its death throes, Japan pleads with Germany for help to defeat their mutual enemy, the United States. Adolf Hitler approves a secret plan, code-named Kondor, for a U-boat to deliver biological weapons to Japan for use against American forces. In exchange, the Japanese will give Hitler gold bullion which the Reich needs to mount a final stand against the Allies.Kapt�inleutnant Horst Bekker, Germany''s top U-boat skipper is ordered to undertake the mission. A battered and cynical survivor of the U-boat wars, Bekker mourns his wife and daughter killed in a Berlin air raid, and is haunted by guilt over their deaths and his survival. He agonizes over issues of loyalty to a F�hrer and a regime he despises, and doubts the morality of a scheme to win the war by unleashing deadly strains of anthrax and plague. Nevertheless, Bekker and his crew sail for Japan aboard the U 233. Alerted to the Nazi plan, the Allies dispatch a task force to find and destroy Bekker''s U boat and its deadly cargo. When they learn that a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest levels of Britain''s MI-6, the discovery sets off a race to prevent the cargo from falling into Russian hands.Hunted by American, British and now Soviet forces, Bekker and his men fight a series of underwater battles where survival depends on stealth, deception, and extraordinary courage. Faced with an uncertain future, Bekker must decide whether to carry out a mission that will prolong the war or to consign the Reich''s weapons to the North Atlantic deep. His decision could alter the course of history.The Last U-boat published in Germany as Red Alert.

When Claire Hayden, a ruthless CIA Special Operations Officer, recruits ex-Stasi colonel Max Reinmann to find the killer of a Kremlin insider with ties to American intelligence, she opens the door on a secret operation at the heart of Vladimir Putin''s regime.Teamed with an old nemesis, ex-KGB agent Andrei Kozlov, Hayden''s and Reinmann''s search for the killer blazes a trail of murder, revenge, and betrayal across Europe to a Ukraine fighting for independence from Moscow''s dream of a new Russian empire built from the wreckage of the old USSR. Their search leads to a secret CIA black-ops site virtually on Russia''s doorstep, to the killing of a young woman trapped in a world of sex and drugs where life is meaningless, and to Reinmann''s discovery that Hayden''s cold-blooded methods are driven by a past she can''t outrun. Snared in Hayden''s scheme of treachery and deceit, helped by a fearless Ukrainian woman determined to thwart Russian tyranny, Reinmann employs half-forgotten Stasi cold war tradecraft to survive and to settle accounts between old and new adversaries.