Three Miles Down

[psocoptera]

Three Miles Down, Harry Turtledove, 2022. What if the Glomar Explorer was actually trying to recover a UFO and not a Soviet sub? I primarily read this to make sure it didn't suck before giving it to my dad (which I am so eager to do that I am, gasp, giving him a hardbound book for Christmas despite my parents' strong anti-hardbound preferences - also nobody tell my dad, if you are someone reading this who also knows my dad) but I ended up liking it myself! I'm not sure it would hit quite the same if you are not someone whose dad has some significant biographical overlap with the protagonist, but if you like Cold War spy stories and want a historical-fiction take on first contact, here you go. I guess it can't count as "mundane science fiction" if there are aliens but it's trying to be "strictly realistic for 1974" about aliens.