From the Depths

After a gripping opening, Doyle's debut degenerates into a routine science fiction thriller. Early one morning, Dr. Christine Myers, a forensic scientist for the CIA, receives a call from her superior to investigate a bizarre crime: the crew members of a North Korean submarine intent on defecting to the U.S. have all been killed, some by chlorine gas, which may have formed accidentally, but others bear marks of violence that suggest they turned on each other. Accompanied by a team of navy SEALs, Myers arrives by helicopter on the sub off the Virginia coast and starts reconstructing the fatal events. What appears to be an interesting locked-room murder mystery takes a detour into X-Files territory when Myers finds evidence that the sub was transporting a powerful bioweapon that may have transformed one of the sailors into a superhuman monster. The book lapses into a less than engaging takeoff on the movie Alien , redeemed somewhat by an unconventional ending. (Nov.)