Clive Cussler - Dirk Pitt
Overview:
Genre: Action
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
Contains: Violence
Author's Website: Clive Cussler
My thoughts: These books a very easy to read, fairly standard formula, but entertaining. Good aeroplane or train books. The only thing that needs to be considered when reading the books in order is that Pacific Vortex was written first, but not published until much later.
The Books:
"The Mediterranean Caper" - Published 1973
May Day... May Day... We Are Under Attack...
It was impossible to believe that a World War 1 Albatross bi-plane could wreak such havoc and destruction. But as Pitt banked his lumbering World War II amphibious plane and Giordino braced himself, rifle in hand, at the open waist-hatch, the vintage marauder reappeared.
Flying out of the sun, Pitt had caught his quarry unaware. But the wily pilot of the Albatross recovered quickly, luring Pitt into a bizarre and lethal dog-fight.
Then the Albatross dipped in the traditional flyer's acknowledgment of defeat and vanished as suddenly and mysteriously as it had appeared.
In his efforts to uncover the source behind the sabotage of a scientific expedition, Pitt finds himself in the company of a psychopathic ex-Nazi; an unrelenting narcotics agent; a savage, bloodthirsty Greek strongman; a beautiful double-agent; and an amateur egg-head commando group.
This book was published as "MAYDAY!" in the UK.
"Iceberg" - Published 1975
The towering iceberg drifting in the North Atlantic was a floating tomb. Imbedded in the great gleaming mound was a ship, sealed so solidly in the ice that not even its mast protruded.
The crew of the coast Guard Patrol plane had spotted the blurred outline of the unknown vessel, dropping a red dye marker for identification. As soon as their aircraft disappeared, two men, camouflaged in white snowsuits, rose from a hiding place on the iceberg and started sending signals on their radio transmitter.
Later that week, official investigators Major Dirk Pitt of the Air Force and world-famous ocenographer Dr. Bill Hunnewell found that the red stains had been chipped off the berg. Someone wanted to prevent the discovery of the mystery ship and it macabre secret. Realizing they had failed, the unknown enemies resorted to brutal violence to prevent the major's helicopter from reaching Iceland.
So Dirk Pitt set out on a mission that was to bring him into conflict with conspirators who concealed their aims as well as their identities. It would send him, wounded and on foot, across the lonely tundras of Iceland, and it would take him far beneath the surface of the waters surrounding its shores. He would become involved with a hauntingly beautiful woman, with a few allies and with many enemies. His strength and skills, his reckless disregard of danger had become a legend, but would they be enough to end a cleverly plotted campaign of terror and cold-blooded murder?
ICEBERG is a bold novel told with cinematic immediacy, a superb blend of action and high drama with as many surprises as an unexploded hand grenade.
"Raise the Titanic!" - Published 1976
The Sicilian Project is the undercover plan of the decade. It is undoubtedly the best-kept secret since the atomic bomb. And it's the President's baby. If successful, it will create a defense network that will insure America's security from foreign attack for the foreseeable future. The sole hitch is that the project requires a quantity of Byzantium, an extremely rare element. In fact, it looks as though the only Byzantium in the world lies in the hold of R.M.S. Titanic, sunk in 1912 and still resting more than twelve thousand feet deep in the North Atlantic. The task is simple enough: Raise the Titanic! The man in charge of the mission is Dirk Pitt, jack-of-all-trades and master of-most. Using highly sophisticated submersible equipment, Pitt sets to work at his Herculean job. The presence of two Russian spies doesn't help, nor does the intervention of one very nasty lady, Hurricane Amanda. For balance, however, there is one very sweet lady who doesn't in the least resemble your average marine archaeologist.
"Vixen 03" - Published 1978
1954 Vixen 03 is down. The plane, bound for the south Pacific and bearing several canisters of a particularly virulent organism, vanishes. Believed ditched at sea, Vixen has in fact crashed into an ice-covered lake in Colorado.
1988. Dirk Pitt, on holiday, discovers remnants of Vixen 03. The lethal canisters are raised - but they're not all accounted for. It turns out that two of them are in the hands of an African terrorist group. The group's mission: to attack nothing less than Washington, D.C. The catch is that the group is not aware that it will be firing anything but conventional missiles. But Pitt knows - and so does the president of the United States. To complicate matters further, the World War II ghost ship bearing the catastrophic warheads up the Potomac cannot be blown out of the water. Pitt's problems are compounded when he and his lady, a United States congresswoman, becomes the target of a vicious blackmail scheme.
"Night Probe!" - Published 1981
May, 1914. Two undercover couriers plummet to watery deaths in twin disasters, taking with them the only two copies of the North American Treaty, a precedent-shattering secret pact between the United States and Great Britain. On both sides of the Atlantic, stunned heads of state immediately order all mention of the treaty obliterated... forever. February, 1989. In the midst of an international crisis, Heidi Milligan, a beautiful, brilliant American naval commander accidentally discovers an obscure reference to the long buried North American Treaty - prompting the President of the United States to the shocking realization that the treaty offers the only salvation for an energy-starved, economically-devastated America. For the United States, possession of this document is suddenly worth billions. But to Great Britain, it's worth a war. The deadly race is on to locate and raise one of the signed copies of the treaty from its ocean grave - where it has been lying for 75 years. The only American for such a mission is Dirk Pitt, who proved invincible in Raise the Titanic! Now, with the future of virtually every person in the world at stake, he must survive a complex international mission far more dangerous than any he has ever undertaken. His quest: slash through a tangled web of cover-ups and perilous intrigue and - against all odds - recover the North American Treaty for the United States. In London, a daring counterplot is being orchestrated to secure the vital document for Great Britain. The treaty must not be implemented. Brian Shaw, a master spy who has often worked hand in hand with American agents against SMERSH, no confronts his most challenging command - stop Dirk Pitt. Pitt and Shaw, two of the most cunning men in the world, collide head-on in their frantic search. And caught in the middle is Heidi Milligan. In the throes of international uproar, her passions and her loyalty are put to a severe test when she finds herself enmeshed in a torrid love triangle with the two battling foes.
"Pacific Vortex!" - Published 1983
Dirk Pitt, death-defying adventurer and deep-sea expert, is out to the ultimate test as he plunges into the perilous waters of the Pacific Vortex - a fog-shrouded sea zone where dozens of ships have vanished without a trace. The latest victim is the awesome superb Starbuck, America's deep-diving nuclear arsenal. Its loss poses an unthinkable threat to national defense. Pitt's job is to find it, salvage it, before the sea explodes. In a furious race against time, Pitt's mission swirls him into a battle with underwater assassins and traps him in the arms of Summer Moran, the most stunningly exotic and dangerous woman ever to enter Pitt's life. As the countdown heads toward disaster, Clive Cussler plummets his hero onto an ancient sunken island - the astonishing setting for the explosive climax of Pacific Vortex!
"Deep Six" - Published 1984
Somewhere off the coast of Alaska, a sunken cargo poses a threat of unthinkable proportions. Potentially, the lost shipment of chemicals could destroy all life in the ocean - and perhaps the world - unless Dirk Pitt can find it first. But time is running out for the NUMA agent and his team. Pitt's main target is just one deadly component of a vast international conspiracy fueled by hijacking, bribery, and murder. And at the center of it all is a powerful Korean shipping empire with a chilling political agenda - to kidnap the President of the United States...
"Cyclops" - Published 1986
A wealthy American financier disappears on a treasure hunt in an antique blimp. From Cuban waters, the blimp drifts toward Florida with a crew of dead men - Soviet cosmonauts. Dirk Pitt discovers a shocking scheme: a covert group of U.S. industrialists has put a colony on the moon, a secret base they will defend at any cost. Threatened in space, the Russians are about to strike a savage blow in Cuba - and only Dirk Pitt can stop them. From a Cuban torture chamber to the cold ocean depths, Pitt is racing to defuse an international conspiracy that threatens to shatter the earth!
"Treasure" - Published 1988
Charts of lost gold... breathtaking art and rare volumes... maps of hidden oil and mineral deposits that could change the world's balance of power. Now Dirk Pitt discovers the secret trail of the treasures of Alexandria - a trail that plunges him into a brutal conspiracy for total domination of the globe. Zealots threaten to unseat the governments of Egypt and Mexico, exposing America to invasion and economic collapse. Suddenly, from East to West, anarchists reach their deadly tentacles into the heart of the United States. And Dirk Pitt is up against the most feared assassin known to man. An international band of terrorists is making its play for world power on the high seas - and Pitt is the only man alive who can stop them!
"Dragon" - Published 1990
Japan, 1945: Two U.S. bombers take off with atomic bombs. Only one gets through.
The Pacific, 1993: A Japanese cargo ship bound for the United States is instantly, thunderously vaporized, taking with it a Norwegian vessel. Japanese fanatics have developed a chilling plan to devastate and destroy the Western powers. From the ocean depths to the discovery of cache of lost Nazi loot, Dirk Pitt is untangling a savage conspiracy and igniting a daring counterattack. While Washington bureaucrats scramble, a brutal industrialist commands his blackmail scheme from a secret island control center. And Pitt is taking on death-dealing robots and a human-hunting descendant of samurai warriors. Pitt alone controls the West's secret ace in the hole: a tidal wave of destruction waiting to be triggered on the ocean floor!
"Sahara" - Published 1992
1996, Egypt. Searching for a treasure on the Nile, Dirk Pitt thwarts the attempted assassination of a beautiful U.N. scientist investigating a disease that is driving thousands of North Africans into madness, cannibalism, and death. The suspected cause of the raging epidemic is vast, unprecedented pollution that threatens to extinguish all life in the world's seas. Racing to save the world from environmental catastrophe, Pitt and his team, equipped with an extraordinary, state-of-the-art yacht, run a gauntlet between a billionaire industrialist and a bloodthirsty West African tyrant. In the scorching desert, Pitt finds a gold mine manned by slaves and uncovers the truth behind two enduring mysteries - the fate of a Civil War ironclad and its secret connection with Lincoln's assassination, and the last flight of a long-lost female pilot... Now, amidst the blazing, shifting sands of the Sahara, Dirk Pitt will make a desperate stand in a battle the world cannot afford to lose!
"Inca Gold" - Published 1994
Nearly five centuries ago a fleet of boats landed mysteriously on an island in an inland sea. There, an ancient Andean people hid a golden hoard greater than that of any pharaoh, then they and their treasure vanished into history - until now.
1998, the Andes Mountains of Peru. Dirk Pitt dives into an ancient sacrificial pool, saving two American archaeologists from certain drowning. But his death-defying rescue is only the beginning, as it draws the intrepid Pitt into a vortex of darkness and danger, corruption and betrayal. A sinister crime syndicate has traced the long-lost treasure - worth almost a billion dollars - from the Andes to the banks of a hidden underground river flowing beneath a Mexican desert. Driven by burning greed and a ruthless bloodlust, the syndicate is racing to seize the golden prize... and to terminate the one man who can stop them.
"Shock Wave" - Published 1996
Tasman Sea, 1856 - A British clipper ship bound for Australia's penal colony is crushed in a raging typhoon. A few pitiful survivors wash up on a deserted island. Among them are Betsy Fletcher and Jess Dorsett, who discover an immense supply of exquisite diamonds...
Seymour Island, Antarctica, 2000 - Dirk Pitt rescues Maeve Fletcher, a descendant of Betsy and Jess, after an unknouwn cataclysm kills thousands of marine animals plus nearly two hundred people aboard a cruise ship. Pitt traces the carnage to the global diamond operations of Maeve's father, Arthur Dorsett, and her callous sisters. From a chilling escape at a high-security Canadian mine to a tiny boat adrift on lonely, shark-infested seas, the ingenious Pitt is racing to thwart Dorsett's ruthless plans - before an unthinkable disaster claims millions of innocent lives!
"Flood Tide" - Published 1997
Unknown waters, 1948 - The Princess Dou Wan, a sea-weary cruise ship covertly seized by Chiang Kai-shek, slams into a devastating storm that tears the hull apart and sends it and a mysterious cargo down into the depths, lost to all searchers for more than fifty years.
Pacific Northwest, 2000 - Dirk Pitt rescues a beautiful undercover immigration agent from Qin Shang, an insatiably greedy smuggler whose vast fortune is made selling Chinese immigrants into slavery around the globe. Shang's campaign contributions have bought him a collection of powerful U.S. politicians, but Pitt finds the secret behind Shang's vast and mystifying seaport in the Louisiana bayou to be shockingly sinister. From an adrenaline-pumped race against time and tide up the Mississippi River to a desperate dash to recover Chinese treasures, Dirk Pitt faces one of his most formidable foes - a madman bent on killing hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children with a catastrophic surge of mass destruction.
"Atlantis Found" - Published 1999
September 1858: An Antarctic whaler stumbles on an aged wreck, its grisly frozen crew guarding crates of odd antiquities - and a skull carved from black obsidian.
March 2001: A team of anthropologists gazes in awe at a wall of strange inscriptions, moments before a blast seals them deep within the Colorado rock.
April 2001: A research ship manned by Dirk Pitt and members of the U.S. National Underwater and Marine Agency is set upon and nearly sunk by an impossibility - a vessel that should have died fifty-six years before. Pitt knows that somehow all these incidents are connected, and his investigations soon land him deep in an ancient mystery with very modern consequences, up against a diabolical enemy unlike any he has ever known, and racing to save not only his own life - but the future of the world itself. The trap is set. The clock is ticking, And only one man stands between the earth and Armageddon...
"Valhalla Rising" - Published 2000
It is July 2003. In the middle of its maiden voyage, the luxury cruise ship Emerald Dolphin suddenly catches fire and sinks. What caused it? Why didn't the alarms go off?
What was its connection to the revolutionary new engines powering the ship? NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt races to rescue the passengers and investigate the disaster, but he has no idea of the bizarre chain of events that are about to engulf him. Before the next few weeks are over, Pitt will find himself confronted by an extraordinary series of monsters, both human and mechanical, modern and ancient. He will tread upon territory previously known only to legend. And at the end of it all, though many lives will be lost, and many saved, it is Pitt's own life that will be changed forever.
Clive Cussler - Dirk and Summer
Overview:
Genre: Action
Stars: 4 out of 5
Contains: Violence
Author's Website: Clive Cussler
My thoughts: Some people weren't so keen on Kurt and Joe (she types, cynically), so the long-lost children of Dirk arrived fully grown to take their places in the series hall of fame. They're much the same as the others! These books were co-authored with Dirk Cussler.
The Books:
"Trojan Odyssey" - Published 2003
At the end of Valhalla Rising, Dirk Pitt discovered, to his shock, that he had two grown children he had never known, 23-year-old fraternal twins born to a woman he thought had died in an underwater earthquake. Both have inherited his love of the sea: the girl, Summer, a marine biologist; the boy, himself named Dirk, a marine engineer. And now they are about to help their father in the adventure of a lifetime. There is a brown tide infesting the ocean off the shore of Nicaragua. The twins are working in a NUMA underwater enclosure, trying to determine its origin, when two startling things happen: Summer discovers an artifact, something strange and beautiful and ancient, and the worst storm in years boils up out of the sky, heading straight for them and for a luxurious floating resort hotel square in its path.
The peril for everybody concerned is incalculable and desperately Pitt, Al Giordino and the rest of the NUMA crew rush to the rescue, but what they find in the storm's wake makes the furies of nature pale in comparison. For there is an all-too-human evil at work in that part of the world, and the tide is only a byproduct of its plan. Soon, the work will be complete - and the world will be a very different place. If Summer's discovery is to be believed, the world as we know it is already a very different place...
"Black Wind" - Published 2004
In the waning days of World War II, the Japanese tried a last desperate measure - a different kind of kamikaze mission, this one carried out by two submarines one bound for the West, and one for the East Coast of the United States, their cargo a revolutionary new strain of biological virus. Neither sub made it to the designated target, but that does not mean they were lost.
Someone knows about the subs and what they bore, knows too where they might be, and has an extraordinary plan in store for the prize inside - a scheme that could reshape the world as we know it. All that stands in the way are three people: a marine biologist named Summer, a marine engineer named Dirk, and their father, Dirk Pitt, the new head of NUMA.
Pitt has faced devastating enemies before, and has even teamed up with his children to track them down. But never has he looked upon the face of pure evil - until now.
"Treasure of Khan" - Published 2006
Genghis Khan-the greatest conqueror of all time, who, at his peak, ruled an empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea. His conquests are the stuff of legend, his tomb a forgotten mystery. Until now.
When Dirk Pitt is nearly killed rescuing an oil survey team from a freak wave on Russia's Lake Baikal, it appears a simple act of nature. When the survey team is abducted and Pitt's research vessel nearly sunk, however, it's obvious there's something more sinister involved. All trails lead to Mongolia, and a mysterious mogul who is conducting covert deals for supplying oil to the Chinese while wreaking havoc on global oil markets utilizing a secret technology. The Mongolian harbors a dream of restoring the conquests of his ancestors, and holds a dark secret about Genghis Khan that just might give him the wealth and power to make that dream come true.
From the frigid lakes of Siberia to the hot sands of the Gobi Desert, Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino find intrigue, adventure, and peril while collecting clues to the mysterious treasure of Xanadu. But first, they must keep the tycoon from murder-and the unleashing of a natural disaster of calamitous proportions.
Clive Cussler - Kurt Austin
Overview:
Genre: Action
Stars: 4 out of 5
Contains: Violence
Author's Website: Clive Cussler
My thoughts: Dirk was getting a bit old; new blood was needed. Dirk became the director of Numa and Kurt was invented. Kurt is blond-haired and blue-eyed, where Pitt was Dark-haired and green-eyed, and Kurt collects guns rather than cars, but otherwise, the formula is the same :) They are co-authored with Paul Kemprecos.
The Books:
"Serpent" - Published 1999
When Kurt Austin, the leader of a courageous National Underwater & Marine Agency exploration team, rescues beautiful marine archaeologist Nina Kirov off the coast of Morocco, he becomes the next target of Texas industrialist Don Halcon. A madman bent on carving a new nation out of the southwestern United States and Mexico, Halcon's scheme hinges on Nina's recent discovery involving Christopher Columbus, and a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria. Only Kurt Austin and his crack NUMA team stand between Halcon and the Andrea Doria's silent steel hull - and if their deadly mission fails, Halcon will ride to power on a wave of death and destruction.
"Blue Gold" - Published 2000
An investigation into the sudden deaths of a pod of gray whales leads National Underwater & Marine Agency leader Kurt Austin to the Mexican coast, where someone tries to put him and his mini-sub permanently out of commission. Meanwhile, in South America's lush hills, a specially assigned NUMA team discovers a mysterious tribe, a mythical white goddess, and a murderous cadre of bio-pirates intent on stealing medicinal secrets worth millions.
Soon, Austin and his crew realize they're working opposite ends of the same grand scheme and must race against time to save the world's freshwater supply from a twisted eco-extortionist. But every step toward salvation takes them deeper into a dense jungle of treachery, blackmail, and death.
"Fire Ice" - Published 2002
In the heart of the old Soviet Union, a mining tycoon has proclaimed himself czar of Russia. Claiming Romanov ancestry and backed by billions of dollars, he is determined to overthrow the already shaky Russian government - and U.S. opposition doesn't bother him one bit. A little crisis of their own should distract the Americans for a while, and he knows just the thing. All along the eastern seaboard lie pockets of methane hydrate, a notoriously unstable compound known as "fire ice." What if somebody should set them off, say, outside a major city? Think of the explosions. Think of the earth tremors. Think of the tidal waves...
"White Death" - Published 2003
A confrontation between a radical environmentalist group and a Danish cruiser has forced Austin and colleague Joe Zavala to come to the rescue of a shipful of trapped men, but when the two of them investigate further, they discover that something far more sinister is at work. A shadowy multinational corporation is attempting to wrest control of the very seas themselves-no matter what havoc results, and is killing anyone who attempts to stop them. When Austin's boat blows up and he only barely survives, it seems certain he was supposed to be the next in line to die, but he cannot stop now. For the environmental disaster has already begun, and only he and NUMA® stand in the way...
"Lost City" - Published 2004
An enzyme that will dramatically prolong life has been discovered two thousand feet down in the North Atlantic, in an area known as "Lost City." But why are the people attempting to harvest it getting killed? Why are the scientists in a remote Greek laboratory disappearing one by one? What does this all have to do with a body found frozen in the ice high up in the Alps? For Kurt Austin, leader of NUMA's Special Assignments Team, and his colleague Joe Zavala, it's clear they have their work cut out, but it may be even bigger than they think - in fact, it may be their greatest challenge ever...
"Polar Shift" - Published 2005
Polar shift: It is the name for a phenomenon that may have occurred many times in the past. At the very least, it disorients birds and animals and damages electrical equipment. At its worst, it causes massive eruptions, earthquakes, and climatic changes. At its very worst, it would mean the obliteration of all living matter, and if that happens-exit Earth.
Sixty years ago, an eccentric Hungarian genius discovered how to artificially trigger such a shift, but then his work was lost, or so it was thought. Now, the charismatic leader of an anti-globalization group plans to use the work to give the world's industrialized nations a small jolt, then reverse the shift back again. The only problem is, it cannot be reversed. Once the shift starts, there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Austin, Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team certainly have faced dire situations before, but never have they encountered anything like this. This time even they may be too late.
"The Navigator" - Published 2007
Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second very nearly is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.
What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top-secret scientific project that could change the world forever.
And that's before the surprises really begin...
Clive Cussler - Juan Cabrillo
Overview:
Genre: Action
Stars: 4 out of 5
Contains: Violence
Author's Website: Clive Cussler
My thoughts: These books focus on "The Oregon" - a high-tech advanced ship desguised as a decrepit tanker, under the leadership of Juan Cabrillo. The first two books were written with Craig Dirgo, the next rest with Jack Du Brul. Kurt Austin and Dirk Pitt make a cameo in "Skeleton Coast".
The Books:
"Golden Buddha" - Published 2003
In Golden Buddha, Juan Cabrillo embarks on his first mission in 'The Oregon Files'. The team is hired to find and recover a stolen statue, called the Golden Buddha, stolen in 1959. The success of the team will determine the future of Tibet. Whilst playing the Russians off against the Chinese, the team must put their lives at risk in order to complete the mission. In their state-of-the-art vessel, disguised as a rusting heap of junk, they sail from Puerto Rico to Macau, and there the team use their cunning and wit to outsmart a billionare - Stanley Ho - and the Macau police.
"Sacred Stone" - Published 2004
In the remote wastes of Greenland, a young scientist has unearthed an artifact hidden in a cave for a millennium - a 50,000-year-old meteorite known as the Sacred Stone, which possesses potentially catastrophic radioactive power. But the astounding find places him in the crosshairs of two opposing terrorist groups who seek the stone for themselves.
One is a group of Muslim extremists who have stolen a nuclear device. With the power of the meteorite, they could vaporize any city in the West. The other group is led by a megalomaniacal industrialist who seeks to carry out the utter annihilation of Islam itself.
Caught between two militant factions bent on wholesale slaughter, Juan Cabrillo and his ship of high-tech mercenaris known as the Corporation must fight to protect the Sacred Stone - and prevent the outbreak of World War III.
"Dark Watch" - Published 2005
Cabrillo and his motley crew aboard the clandestine spy ship Oregon have made a very comfortable and very dangerous living working for high-powered Western interests. But their newest clients have come from the Far East to ask for Cabrillo's special brand of assistance: a consortium of Japanese shipping magnates whose fortunes are being threatened by brutal pirates trolling the waters of Southeast Asia.
Normally, such attacks on the high seas are limited to smaller ships and foreign-owned yachts-easy targets on the open ocean. Now, however, giant commercial freighters are disappearing. But when Cabrillo confronts the enemy, he learns that the pirates' predations hide a deadly international conspiracy - a scheme of death and slavery that Juan Cabrillo is going to blow out of the water.
"Skeleton Coast" - Published 2006
Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the covert combat ship Oregon have barely escaped a mission on the Congo River when they intercept a mayday from a defenseless boat under fire off the African coast. Cabrillo takes action, saving the beautiful Sloane Macintyre - who's looking for a long-submerged ship that may hold a fortune in diamonds. But what surprises Cabrillo is her story about a crazy fisherman who claims to have been attacked on the open sea by giant metal snakes in the same area.
What begins as a snake hunt leads Cabrillo onto the trail of a far more lethal quarry - a deranged militant and his followers who plan to unleash the devastating power of nature itself against all who oppose them.
"Plague Ship" - To Be Published 2008
A Juan Cabrillo novel. No Information
Clive Cussler - The Chase
Overview:
Genre: Action
Stars: Unread
Contains: Unread
Author's Website: Clive Cussler
My thoughts: A stand-alone Novel, and the first book written by just Clive Cussler in about 4 years.
The publisher says: A turn of the century adventure novel about a ruthless bank robber, who leaves no one alive behind robbing bank after bank by non intrusively first blending into a town, then fading away unnoticed, therefore not missed by a soul. Justice is pursued by Isaac Bell, a charismatic detective, wealthy enough to spend his days in leisure, but too young for inactivity, whose vocation in life is catching criminals who think their wits give them license to break the law and get away with it. Cussler is in his best form and setting aside Dirk Pitt, does not seem a setback at all. Those with a taste for fast cars will not be disappointed as Clive masterfully shifts to locomotives’ chase. Step by step he tantalizes the reader to an unexpected conclusion.
The Books:
"The Chase" - Published 2007
April 1950: The rusting hulk of a steam locomotive rises from the deep waters of a Montana lake. Inside is all that remains of three men who died forty-four years before. But it is not the engine or its grisly contents that interest the people watching nearby. It is what is about to come next...
1906: For two years, the western states of America have been suffering an extraordinary crime spree: a string of bank robberies by a single man who cold-bloodedly murders any and all witnesses and then vanishes without a trace. Fed up by the depredations of the "Butcher Bandit," the U.S. government brings in the best man they can find - a tall, lean, no-nonsense detective named Isaac Bell, who has caught thieves and killers coast to coast.
But Bell has never had a challenge like this one. From Arizona to Colorado to the streets of San Francisco during its calamitous earthquake and fire, he pursues what is quickly becoming clear to him is the sharpest criminal mind he has ever encountered, and the woman who seems to hold the key to the bandit's identity. Using science, deduction, and intuition, Bell repeatedly draws near only to grasp at thin air, but at least he knows his pursuit is having an effect. Because his quarry is getting angry now, and has turned the chase back on him. The hunter has become the hunted. And soon it will take all of Isaac Bell's skills not merely to prevail... but to survive.