Deep underwater lurks a mysterious man-made illness. It has gone by many names over the years – Satan’s disease, diver’s palsy, the chokes – but today, medics call it decompression sickness. You know it as the bends.
In the winter of 2012, British diver Martin Robson joined an expedition to southern Russia which sought to find a submerged cave system never seen by the human eye. On their final day, as Robson attempted to surface after reaching a record depth in the Blue Lake, disaster struck: just seventy-five feet down, he was ambushed by the bends. Forced to gamble on an underwater practice most doctors believe is a suicidal act, he sank back into the water. Soon, his only hope for survival was a dramatic mercy mission organised at the highest levels of the Russian government.
Between the Devil and the Deep is the first book to tell the terrifying true story of what it feels like to get the bends, taking you inside the body and mind of a man who suffered the unthinkable. Writer Mark Cowan also explores the fascinating history of decompression sickness, the science behind what causes the disease, and the stories of the forgotten divers who pushed the limits of physical endurance to help find a solution.
About the author
Mark Cowan is a journalist with over two decades’ experience in newspapers and television. He spent twelve years as a crime correspondent for tabloid, broadsheet and Sunday titles in Birmingham, and was embedded with the British Army in war-torn Kosovo. Cowan has also worked on crime documentaries for the BBC and ITV, and is a technical and cave diver. To bring Martin Robson’s dramatic story to the page, Cowan has drawn on hundreds of documents and dozens of interviews collected over five years of reporting, combined with unprecedented access to the people involved in this true life-or-death thriller.
Martin Robson is one of the world’s leading instructors on technical, cave and rebreather diving. A former Royal Marine Commando, he has been cave diving for more than twenty years, leading explorations and tours of systems in Europe and North America. In 2003, he discovered a new passageway in the Durzon cave, France, more than a mile into the cave and one hundred metres underwater. Only a handful of people have ventured there since.
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