Why am I passionate about this?

My fascination with underwater adventure began as a teenager, when I accompanied a Russian expedition to the deepest archaeological site on the planet. I descended three miles deep into the Bermuda Triangle aboard a Soviet-era submersible to explore a mysterious wooden shipwreck inadvertently discovered during the search for astronaut Gus Grissom’s lost space capsule Liberty Bell 7. Since then, I’ve contributed to a number of historic shipwreck discoveries, including World War II treasure ships, lost Nazi U-Boats, Admiral Balchen’s HMS Victory, and the treasure steamship SS Connaught. These adventures and others serve as the inspiration for my novels.


I wrote

The Wrecking Crew

By Taylor Zajonc,

Book cover of The Wrecking Crew

What is my book about?

“Fans of action-packed thrillers with nautical settings will be more than satisfied with Zajonc’s accomplished debut, which kicks off a…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Hunt for Red October

Taylor Zajonc Why did I love this book?

If you’ve only seen the movie, you’re missing out.

The Hunt for Red October is the godfather of submarine adventure novels: a tense, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse driven by unforgettable characters, breathless twists, and painstaking real-world accuracy. Any good list of modern submarine fiction should start with the runaway bestseller that put author Tom Clancy on the map and spawned a thousand imitators. 

By Tom Clancy,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Hunt for Red October as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Also Available as an Audio Edition from Audible

Tom Clancy's rich imagination and his remarkable grasp of the capabilities of advanced technology give this novel an amazing ring of authenticity. It is a thriller with a new twist, a "military procedural" with an ingenious, tightly woven plot that revolves around the defection of a Soviet nuclear submarine--the USSR's newest and most valuable ship, with its most trusted and skilled officer at the helm.

A deadly serious game of hide-and-seek is on. The entire Soviet Atlantic Fleet is ordered to hunt down the submarine and destroy her at all costs. The…


Book cover of Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

Taylor Zajonc Why did I love this book?

Is it possible to read this book without sitting on the edge of your seat? Maybe, but that wasn’t my experience.

Shadow Divers became an instant nonfiction classic featuring a macho cadre of limit-pushing recreational scuba divers and a mysterious unidentified submarine lost in 230 feet of water off New Jersey. The mystery drew in two of the best divers of their generation, both operating at the ragged edge of dive science, all in an effort to solve one of the most fascinating and dangerous mysteries of the Second World War.

By Robert Kurson,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Shadow Divers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller 

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the…


Book cover of Blind Man's Bluff : The Untold Story of Cold War Submarine Espionage

Taylor Zajonc Why did I love this book?

The Cold War wasn’t always so cold, especially not in the icy depths where American and Soviet submarines faced off on a daily basis.

Taking an anthology approach to narrative nonfiction, Blind Man’s Bluff covers the wildest, most ambitious, and deadly stories of the era, including tapping undersea cables, secret spying operations, nuclear close calls, and how the CIA enlisted eccentric innovator Howard Hughes to steal a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine off the bottom of the ocean.

By Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Blind Man's Bluff as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

__________________________
Adventure, ingenuity, courage and disaster beneath the sea: the remarkable reality of Cold War submarine warfare

In Blind Mans Bluff, veteran investigative journalist Sherry Sontag and award-winning New York Times reporter Christopher Drew reveal an extraordinary underwater world. Showing for the first time how the American Navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables, Sontag and Drew unveil new evidence that the Navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared with all hands at the height of the…


Book cover of Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II

Taylor Zajonc Why did I love this book?

Brilliantly told and deeply tragic, Iron Coffins recounts the Battle of the Atlantic from the firsthand perspective of one of the few surviving German submarine captains.

Herbert A. Werner’s service took him on multiple tours, including the Mediterranean and various battlegrounds in the Atlantic, where he sank ships, dodged sub hunters, and watched the Third Reich crumble, all the while as his personal losses and wartime guilt mounted.

By Herbert A. Werner,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Iron Coffins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The former German U-boat commander Herbert Werner navigates readers through the waters of World War II, recounting four years of the most significant and savage battles. By war's end, 28,000 out of 39,000 German sailors had disappeared beneath the waves.


Book cover of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Taylor Zajonc Why did I love this book?

A classic, and the first of its genre, Jules Verne’s 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea remains a gripping read to this day.

The adventures of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus bring the reader into fantastic underwater perils and wonders against a backdrop of grief and revenge. I dare anyone to read the description of the gold-laden wrecks of Vigo Bay and not fall in love with the romance and adventure of treasure hunting as I did.

By Jules Verne,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With an exclusive introduction and notes by David Stuart Davies.

Translation by Louis Mercier.

Professor Aronnax, his faithful servant, Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner, Ned Land, begin an extremely hazardous voyage to rid the seas of a little-known and terrifying sea monster. However, the "monster" turns out to be a giant submarine, commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo, by whom they are soon held captive.

So begins not only one of the great adventure classics by Jules Verne, the 'Father of Science Fiction', but also a truly fantastic voyage from the lost city of Atlantis to the South Pole.


Explore my book 😀

The Wrecking Crew

By Taylor Zajonc,

Book cover of The Wrecking Crew

What is my book about?

“Fans of action-packed thrillers with nautical settings will be more than satisfied with Zajonc’s accomplished debut, which kicks off a promising series” - Publishers Weekly, starred review

In exchange for his freedom from a secret Moroccan prison, deep-water salvage diver Jonah Blackwell agrees to lead a covert search for a missing research team in the dangerous coastal waters of Somalia, an area plagued by pirates and a deadly red tide killing all marine life within its reach. But when his expedition threatens the ambitions of a billionaire industrialist Charles Bettencourt, Jonah’s survival depends on hijacking a hostile submarine and assembling an unproven crew to face down the private army responsible for the plague.

Book cover of The Hunt for Red October
Book cover of Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
Book cover of Blind Man's Bluff : The Untold Story of Cold War Submarine Espionage

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What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

Book cover of What You Made Me Do

Barbara Gayle Austin Author Of What You Made Me Do

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Barbara's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Willem and Jurriaan have a miserable childhood thanks to their cruel, controlling mother—Louisa Veldkamp, a world-renowned pianist. Dad turns a blind eye. One day, Louisa vanishes without a trace during a family vacation.

Adoptee Anneliese Bakker survives a toxic childhood and leaves home, vowing never to return. While searching for her biological mother, she meets the adult Willem, and they fall in love. Pregnant and engaged, she moves into the family mansion, wanting nothing more than to create a loving family for her child. But the Veldkamps are cold and distant. And why is Louisa a taboo subject?

As Anneliese…

What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

What is this book about?

An expectant mother gets more than she bargained for when she marries into a seemingly perfect family in this gripping debut novel–a must read for fans of A. J. Finn and B. A. Paris.

After surviving a nightmarish childhood, Anneliese Bakker is on the mend and searching for her birth mother. But when she meets Willem, she falls madly in love and finally finds a safe place to land. Engaged and expecting her first child, she moves into the Veldkamp mansion on a stately, tree-lined avenue in Amsterdam. And yet, nothing about Willem’s family is as it seems. Instead of…


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