THE MISSION: Sink an unsinkable warsub.

It seems futile.

It's a vessel created to start --- and end --- wars: a dreadnought.

At over four hundred meters long with a crew of six hundred, it's the largest submarine in the world.

Sixty—eight torpedo tubes. Twenty nuclear ballistic missiles with one hundred and sixty warheads. Mines. Grapples. A revolutionary propulsion system.

And a brand new weapon: The Tsunami Plow.

The warsub has just devastated the United States Submarine Fleet HQ on both the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts. Thousands are dead and the subsequent environmental disaster has pushed the US economy to the breaking point.

Now Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste City on the shallow continental shelf just off the coast of Florida, has given his team an impossible task: infiltrate the enemy warsub, blend in with a hostile crew, damage the vessel from within, and hope to hell they can escape before it takes them all down.

But they have no choice. They have to sink the warsub, or die trying.

Because its next target is the one that would spell doom to The Rise of Oceania: Trieste City.

Timothy S. Johnston's profile page

"Military sci-fi readers who enjoy tense action from the start, strong characters who react to and analyze their environments, and portraits of determined captains on all sides of the rising crisis will appreciate Timothy S. Johnston's attention to nonstop action and detail… These details weave nicely into an unpredictable plot filled with social and political twists and turns as the survivors of a changing environment once again find their lives at risk… Exquisite in its combination of futuristic vision, military maneuvering on all sides, conundrums facing survivors who keep encountering new situations, and political struggles that affect all communities above and below the tides of change, Fatal Depth: The Rise of Oceania is both a powerful addition to the series and a fine stand-alone read accessible to newcomers who may not have prior experience with this setting. Maps, a timeline, and succinct description paint all the background necessary to thoroughly enjoy this thriller, which should be on the shelves of any library strong in nautical cli-fi or science fiction powered by political and military clashes."
— Midwest Book Review

"The excitement factor in Fatal Depth is no joke. You could almost compare it to a tsunami plow. The threads in the story culminate in an almighty push that will carry you all the way to the end in a dizzying rush. I read the second half of the book in one sitting.
"Johnston strives to develop his characters just as thoroughly, introducing new folds and wrinkles into his existing cast while adding new names and faces. Heroes to cheer for and villains to growl at. Old faces pop up now and again, too. Friend and foe and every character is an emotional body rather than a cardboard cut-out. They have goals, motivations, and conflicts.
"I especially appreciate the way Johnston writes women. They're as tough and strong as his male characters but also read as female. They're allowed to be scared and unsure and emotional, as are the men. They're allowed to be women. It's a fine distinction and not always easy to carry off. But it's part of why all the characters in this series matter and why I look forward to catching up with them in each new novel."
— SFcrowsnest