Three Miles Down

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: George Guidall

From New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove, the modern master of alternate history, a novel of alien contact set in the tumultuous year of the Watergate scandal.

It's 1974, and Jerry Stieglitz is a grad student in marine biology at UCLA with a side gig selling short stories to science fiction magazines, just weeks away from marrying his longtime fiancée. Then his life is upended by grim-faced men from three-letter agencies who want him to join a top-secret "Project Azorian" in the middle of the north Pacific Ocean—and they really don't take "no" for an answer.

Further, they're offering enough money to solve all of his immediate problems.

Joining up and swearing to secrecy, what he first learns is that Project Azorian is secretly trying to raise a sunken Russian submarine, while pretending to be harvesting undersea manganese nodules. But the dead Russian sub, while real, turns out to be a cover story as well. What's down on the ocean floor next to it is the thing that killed the sub: an alien spacecraft.

Jerry's a scientist, a longhair, a storyteller, a dreamer. He stands out like a sore thumb on the Glomar Explorer, a ship full of CIA operatives, RAND Corporation eggheads, and roustabout divers. But it turns out that he's the one person in the North Pacific who's truly thought out all the ways that human-alien first contact might go.

And meanwhile, it's still 1974 back on the mainland. Richard Nixon is drinking heavily and talking to the paintings on the White House walls. The USA is changing fast—and who knows what will happen when this story gets out? Three Miles Down is both a fresh and original take on First Contact, and a hugely enjoyable romp through the pop culture, political tumult, and conspiracies-within-conspiracies atmosphere that was 1974.

©2022 Harry Turtledove (P)2022 Recorded Books

Boring, just boring

Wayyyy too much nothing happening. Took a flier on this. Didn’t work. You might like it.

was ok -worth a credit but somewhat disappointing

It was ok - i wanted more of the scifi and less of the other stuff - worth a credit but barely

A good story, great references to Golden Age of SF

I enjoyed this book and was sorry when I finished it. The story is interesting, the characters compelling and I am old enough to remember the Nixon/Watergate era in which it takes place. My favorite thing was the frequent references to classic SF writers, books and magazines. It was liking hearing about old friends for the first time in years. Oddly I was initially put off by George Guidall as narrator. He is one of my long-time favorites but seemed slightly off at first. This passed quickly.

Harry Turtledove often writes sequels and series and I hope there is another novel coming that follows these characters.

Fantastic as usual !

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been reading Harry Turtledoves books all my life ! I’ve purchased them on audio so I can enjoy them as if for the first time yet again . They’ve kept me awake on many a long Drive .

Interesting premise

I am not a fan of alternate history fiction. Somehow the premise of this story intrigued me. It wasn't so far back in time, and I recall how the world was back then. I figured he would weave the story into our timeline, so I hated the ending.