Douglas Reeman Novels

The Douglas Reeman novels are published by Arrow Books in the United Kingdom and by McBooks Press in the United States and are available online and in fine bookshops. The titles are listed below in the order in which they were published.

A PRAYER FOR THE SHIP

North Sea, 1940 ... Memories are short on HMS Royston — they have to be. As mother ship to a battered, war-torn bunch of MTBs she must carry out her vital role whatever the conditions, whatever the risks. Sub-Lieutenant Royce's predecessor has only been dead forty-eight hours, and already the crew has forgotten him. Now with only three months' sea-experience behind him, Royce must learn the job the hard way – in the tough school of combat.

A Prayer For The Ship UK

UK Edition

A Prayer For The Ship US

US Edition

HIGH WATER

Post World War II ... With his own boat, the motor-yacht Seafox, former naval officer Philip Vivian had hoped to earn a living free from the petty restrictions of everyday life, close to the sea he loved. Now, however, his dream is threatened by financial difficulties. So when a profitable — if legally dubious — proposition is put to him by an old naval comrade-in-arms, Vivian is willing to listen. But what starts out as a harmless adventure soon turns into something altogether more sinister. And Vivian finds himself trapped in a treacherous web of violence and crime, dangerously torn between his stubborn sense of past loyalties and his duty to a society he has always despised.

High Water

UK Edition

SEND A GUNBOAT

Hong Kong, 1950s ... HMS Wagtail: river gunboat. A ship seemingly at the end of her useful life, lying in Hong Kong dockyard, awaiting her last summons to the breakers' yard. Commander Justin Rolfe: also seemingly at the end of his useful naval life. An embittered man, brooding and angry from a court-martial verdict. Then the offshore island of Santu is threatened with invasion from the Chinese mainland. On the island: a small British community that must be brought out. Commander Rolfe and the Wagtail are ordered to the island. The job is regarded with sullen resentment by his crew, but to Rolfe, and even the ship, it is a job that offers the chance of a reprieve and a restoration of self respect.

Send A Gunboat Cover UK

UK Edition

Send A Gunboat Cover US

US Edition

DIVE IN THE SUN

Adriatic, 1940s ... Curtis was the pro. He could steer a sub through a saloon and no one would notice. Duncan was the grumbler, more at home in the Aussie Outback than twenty fathoms under the Adriatic. Jervis was the spit-and-polish man, who knew the correct way to die. And George, the Cockney, was the toughest of them all. Four men in the Royal Navy's smallest sub, preparing the way for history's largest invasion. They had three tasks: slip into a closely guarded harbour, attach a time-charge to the Jerries' biggest dry-dock, and escape with their lives if possible. The first two tasks were orders. The third was optional.

Dive In The Sun

UK Edition

THE HOSTILE SHORE

South China Sea, 1960s ... The Sigli had been just an old passenger launch, but when the Japanese invaded Singapore during World War II everything that could float was pressed into service. And so, crammed with refugees, harried and bombed by enemy planes, the Sigli had struggled south in a desperate attempt to escape. Rupert Blair's family had been among the passengers on that fateful journey in which the ship and all aboard had disappeared. Twenty years later, Blair still hasn't forgotten — has never abandoned his obsession to discover exactly what had happened. Now Rupert Blair embarks upon a journey of his own — one that will take him to a primitive, savage island in search of the truth.

The Hostile Shore Cover

UK Edition