This novel is not so much about the exploits of a recently bereaved fourteen year old boy called Todd but intrinsic to bereavement itself and how death affects different people in very different ways. Todd attempts to overcome his grief by focusing his attention on a mystery surrounding Rolf Schnee the sole survivor from a war time submarine who escaped and left his shipmates to die. Schnee returned to Germany without making any attempt at a rescue. Laden with guilt he suffers a Life in Death punishment as a recluse ceremoniously returning once a year to the wrecked submarine to revive his dead shipmates in the most macabre manner. Todd, with the help of a disabled fisherman called Pepe and an amateur schoolgirl biologist discover the location of the wrecked submarine. Pepe’ investigates the interior of the sub and discovers the dead seamen wired to their work stations.