Northern Escort. By Lieutenant-Commander J. E. Taylor, R.N.R. (Allen and
Unwin. 6s.) IT is impossible to read this book without recalling C. S. Forester's The Ship. Lieutenant-Commander Taylor describes the passage of a convoy to Murmansk by the same method of introducing various members of a ship's company (one of the escorting destroyers), giving each a quickly, but sharply, drawn character, and then making him the principal actor of the next incident in the story. It seems a successful method; chiefly, perhaps, because the quick change from one character to the next never allows the interest in any one to grow too deep and distract attention from the main theme—the convoy's battle with the U-boats and Luftwaffe. Forester spoilt his story by devoting a chapter to the happenings on board the enemy flagship and making the German and Italian admirals such ludicrous puppets that an element of pantomime crept in and upset the sincerity and suspense of his account. Lieutenant-Commander Taylor also introduces a fanatical Luftwaffe pilot ; it is a pity, but the result is less disastrous. His characters have not the subtlety of Forester's—they are too clearly labelled as conventional types— but he has the technical accuracy and first-hand knowledge that Forester lacked. Had he the latter's gift for story-telling as well this would have been a notable book ; as an impression of a Russian convoy it is well worth reading, and there are passages, when the ship is bombed, of excellent and vivid description.
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