Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Pacific Vortex!”
First published in 1983, Pacific Vortex! is the sixth book in the Dirk Pitt adventure series written by author Clive Cussler.
It’s noted that while this was the sixth book published, this was actually the first Dirk Pitt book that was written. Pacific Vortex! is more simple than the previous stories and moves along at a fast, but still very interesting, pace. There isn’t a problem whether you read this book first, as number six in the publishing order, or even later at your own pace. As far as I’m aware, none of the events or characters in Pacific Vortex! have an impact on later adventures.
Pacific Vortex! begins with a prologue telling how the Navy’s latest submarine, the Starbuck, is going through its sea trials north of Hawaii. Things are going well until one of the crew members spots a mysterious fog bank ahead on the horizon. What makes the fog mysterious is that according to the meteorological conditions in the area, there’s no way that fog should be able to develop.
The Starbuck‘s captain decides to risk his submarine to investigate the fog. While cruising towards it, another crew member discovers that the sea floor is rapidly rising. According to the charts, that area of the Pacific Ocean is supposed to be clear of underwater obstructions and seamounts.
And then the Starbuck disappeared with all hands on deck. An extensive search by the U.S. Navy revealed nothing. It’s as if the ship just vanished off the face of the Earth. The area where the submarine disappeared is nicknamed the Pacific Vortex as some thirty or so ships have been vanishing there for the past thirty years.
Fast forward to several months later.
Dirk Pitt is relaxing on an isolated beach in Hawaii when he spots a yellow object floating out in the sea. Recognizing it, Pitt risks a strong rip tide and swims out and retrieves the yellow capsule. Back on the beach he opens it and makes a startling discovery. In his hands are the last few days of the logbook belonging to the captain of the Starbuck. Listed in the paperwork are the submarine’s final coordinates along with a chilling description of what happened during the sub’s last few days.
Pitt takes the capsule to the naval base at Pearl Harbor and gives it to Admiral Hunter, the man whom the paperwork in the capsule was addressed to. Admiral Hunter doesn’t believe Pitt’s story at first until somebody in his office recognizes Dirk Pitt and tells the admiral his credentials. He’s the son of Senator George Pitt, and Dirk Pitt himself is the special operations operator with NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency.
After meeting with the admiral, Pitt returned to his hotel room for some rest. Pitt’s boss, Admiral James Sandecker, arrives to inform Pitt that he’s temporarily being transferred to Admiral Hunter’s command to aid with the search for the Starbuck. While NUMA is a civilian organization, Pitt still carries the active duty rank of Major in the Air Force, so there’s nothing he can do about being temporarily transferred to Hunter’s command.
In the hotel’s bar that night, Pitt is minding his business when he’s approached by a woman named Adrian Hunter. She’s one of his old flames who happens to be Admiral Hunter’s daughter. Adrian wants to get back with Pitt but he refuses her advances. While doing so they’re both approached by a gorgeous woman named Summer Moran. Summer takes Adrian out back and “convinces” her to leave so that she can be with Pitt.
Summer wins the fight and she and Pitt take a walk on the beach. While on the beach Summer tries to assassinate Pitt with a poisoned hypodermic needle, but Pitt manages to knock her out. He takes her back to his hotel room where she regains consciousness and manages to escape out the window and down to another balcony.
The next day, Dirk Pitt heads to a local museum to learn more about a hobby that he’s pursuing. While speaking with the museum’s curator he learns about the lost island known as Kanoli. It’s rumored that the island used to exist north of Hawaii, but all traces of it and the people who used to live there vanished hundreds of years ago.
After the museum, Pitt meets with Admiral Hunter in his new command post, an underground bunker built during the second world war. Hunter explains that the Navy has conducted extensive searches in the Starbuck‘s last reported area, but there was no evidence of the missing submarine. Nor has there been any reported evidence of the 38 missing ships that also vanished in that area. Pitt studies the map and it dawns on him that the Navy has been searching in the wrong area entirely. The clue was that nothing of any shape or size has been found. He tells the admiral that they need to instead search in the opposite direction, an area about a hundred miles away from the last reported location.
So that’s the plan.
A highly advanced salvage ship, the Martha Ann, heads on a mission based on Dirk Pitt’s theory. Sure enough, once in the search area they encounter a mysterious fog bank and an uncharted seamount. In the shallow waters on top of the seamount the ship’s crew begins discovering many sunken ships including the missing submarine Starbuck. The odd thing about the Starbuck, apart from being far away from her last reported location, is that the submarine looks like she’s still in top condition. There’s no sign of any damage and the submarine is settled on a lone patch of sand, as if it was intentionally set there.
It’s still daylight and Pitt insists on diving down to the Starbuck to investigate the submarine. A crewman named March makes the dive with Pitt, and the two men quickly reach the Navy’s newest submarine. Pitt finds a lockout chamber and opens a door into the submarine. Going on a hunch, he has March close the door and activate the chamber. The water lowers and Pitt is able to open a door into the submarine. Sure enough, the interior of the submarine is completely dry. The lights are on and equipment is humming. It’s as if the crew just vanished into thin air.
Pitt and March explore the submarine and locate the radio room. Pitt makes a radio call to the Martha Ann, letting them know that they’re safe inside the Starbuck. March heads off and explores the rest of the ship when Pitt makes a sudden encounter with one of the Starbuck‘s previous crewmen. The man warns Pitt against using the radio, claiming that the others will come back and kill them all. Pitt heeds his warning and tries to find March. He finds him but his shipmate from the Martha Ann has been murdered. Pitt battles two bad guys and then flees with the crewman from the Starbuck back to the Martha Ann.
That night the secret attacking force that captured the Starbuck tries to capture the Martha Ann. There’s a battle that leaves several people dead on both sides until Pitt is able to fly the surviving crew members back to Hawaii on the Martha Ann‘s helicopter. Once the chopper leaves, the Martha Ann receives a coded message that has the ship’s computers sail her back to Pearl Harbor.
Back in his hotel room, a frantic Adrian Hunter suddenly arrives. She’s panicking while telling Dirk that men appeared in her room and shot her companion. Adrian revealed that her companion was none other than Captain Orl Cinana, one of the men who worked for Admiral Hunter. While she’s resting in Pitt’s hotel room, the men who attacked the Martha Ann, and those who murdered Captain Cinana, suddenly appear in Pitt’s hotel room. Their leader is a large man who calls himself Delphi.
Adrian is kidnapped by Delphi’s men and Pitt is about to be killed. They set up his hotel room to make it look like he accidentally drowned in his bath tub. After Delphi leaves with Adrian, Pitt escapes and kills the two men still in the hotel room. He then returns to Admiral Hunter and informs him of his daughter’s kidnapping. Admiral Hunter isn’t exactly sympathetic to his daughter’s kidnapping and basically leaves her for dead. He knows that if she isn’t dead now then she’ll be dead soon enough anyway.
Admiral Hunter tells Dirk Pitt about the Joint Chief’s solution for dealing with mysterious seamount in the Pacific Vortex. The military is going to launch a nuclear missile, destroying the seamount and hopefully killing Delphi and his organization.
Knowing the danger, Pitt leads a bunch of submariners and some Navy SEALs on his own mission. His plan is to fly an old cargo plane to the seamount and make a water landing, ultimately ditching the aircraft. The Navy SEALs are to secure the Starbuck so that the submariners can sail the submarine back to Pearl Harbor. While that’s taking place, Dirk Pitt and his buddy Al Giordino are to swim underwater and locate the entrance to Delphi’s lair on the seamount. Once inside they’ll rescue Adrian Hunter from Delphi.
There’s a theory that the uncharted seamount is really the lost island of Kanoli. It’s believed that tectonic forces sunk the island, but the islands numerous underground caverns would still be intact. Pitt believes that Delphi used rouge scientists to pump out the seawater and convert the underground (now underwater) tunnels and caverns into a liveable fortress.
They arrive at the location in the Pacific Ocean and Pitt makes a successful water landing. The dive teams head in their respective directions. As the Starbuck is re-captured by the Navy SEALS, Giordino and Pitt discover one of the entrances to Delphi’s lair. Pitt and Giordino are captured and have to fight their way out of the fortress as the nuclear missile arrives on time. It’s a chaotic scene as seawater floods the tunnels and rocks tumble down from the ceiling.
Delphi, really known as Frederick Moran, is ultimately killed during the chaos. Giordino swims Adrian Hunter to the surface as Pitt tries to save Summer Moran. Summer stays behind in the fortress and is presumed to have died when the remaining part of the structure finally collapses upon itself.
As a whole, Pacific Vortex! is a great action-adventure story set in Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean. When you consider that this was the first book in the series written by Clive Cussler (as opposed to The Mediterranean Caper, the first book published by Cussler), Pacific Vortex! is even better.
Perhaps the first thing readers will notice about Pacific Vortex! is that the book itself is very short. The paperback edition only clocks in at 270 pages. Despite its shortness, Pacific Vortex! is a real page-turner, and you’ll be racing through the story in no time at all.
Another major difference between Pacific Vortex! and the other novels in the Dirk Pitt series is that this one lacks Admiral Sandecker for the most part (he’s only there for a few pages), and Al Giordino doesn’t arrive until close to the end of the story. Almost all of the scenes are being driven by the hero, Dirk Pitt.
My only real problem with Pacific Vortex! was that besides Pitt guessing correctly too many times, the grand revealing of Delphi’s sinister plot involved information we weren’t told about earlier in the book. It was new information that we learned about all of the insurance claims against the missing ships along with the stolen cargo being sold in foreign ports. It seems like more of that sub-plot should have been woven into the main story instead of us simply being told about it in the end.
On a side note, it would have been great if the story involved more of Summer Moran. Her character deserved more time in the book.
Those are just minor issues with an otherwise great story. This book could easily be made into a major Hollywood movie as long as they stick to the story (unlike 2005′s Sahara). Fans of Dirk Pitt and Clive Cussler will feel right at home with Pacific Vortex!
