By MICHAEL J. TOUGIAS (St. Martin’s Press; 2026)
A true-life account of ocean survival by an author who’s written several such books. How IN DEEP WATER ranks with previous Michael J. Tougias publications like THE FINEST HOURS and FATAL FORECAST I don’t know, but taken on its own terms it’s a banger, delivering all the excitement and suspense of a Hollywood movie (which I understand this book is currently in the process of becoming).
The opening chapters are admittedly somewhat uninspiring. We’re introduced to three Empire, Louisiana based men: Paul Le, Lu Nguyen and Sonny Nguyen. All are active outdoorsmen born to Vietnamese immigrants, with Tougias making sure to fill us in on the particulars of their respective lives leading up to October 8, 2022, when this intrepid trio embarked on a what seemed like a routine Gulf of Mexico fishing expedition in Paul’s boat.
Included are numerous topographic and historical digressions, such as an account of the 1942 bombing of the VIRGINIA tanker by a Nazi U-boat, interspaced with Paul, Lu and Sonny’s exploits. That all this isn’t as compelling as it could be is indicated by the frequent doom-laden portents the author includes to maintain reader interest, in lines like “Soon, however, one of the most promising days of Paul’s life will turn into something quite different.”
That “something” involved the sinking of Paul’s boat, which occurred so quickly the men were unable to send an SOS. They found themselves stuck on the open sea with only a cooler to cling to and life jackets they just barely managed to fumble onto their torsos. Their shared ordeal lasted 28 hours, with the men having to contend with exhaustion, hypothermia, jellyfish stings and, yes, sharks.
Compounding the unpleasantness was the lack of cell phone reception in the ocean, and the fact that the coast guard had its hands full with another three person boating disaster in the area. The guys, it seemed, had a one percent chance of survival, yet an unexpected twist of fate (which I won’t reveal here) turned things around, leading to a most improbable rescue that occurred quite literally in the nick of time.
In addition to the three protagonists, Tougias includes voluminous info on the men’s wives and the Coast Guard members whose coordinated efforts resulted in Paul, Lu and Sonny’s miraculous rescue. It’s all related in a protracted minute-to-minute manner that is, again, not terribly compelling initially, but the detail-heavy treatment and elementary prose gain a cumulative power, leading to a white knuckle climax that rivets despite the fact that we know how it all concludes.