A novel from the bestselling master storyteller of the sea. January 1944. On the vast grey waters of the Atlantic the balance of power has shifted. For Rudolf Steiger, ace U-boat commander, there is a new sense of urgency. Dedicated, ruthless, fanatical, he has become a legend in his own time, a symbol of Germany's greatness. But now, as he takes the U-boat flotilla, "Meteor," out into the bitter winter seas, he faces a new and deadly enemy -- his own nagging doubts about the outcome of the war. Steiger knows that his destiny may be to court heroic death rather than suffer ignominious defeat.