Posts Tagged ‘Clive Cussler’

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Shock Wave”

Today we’re taking a look at Clive Cussler‘s Shock Wave, the thirteenth book in Cussler’s main series of books.

The events in this story loosely follow those from Inca Gold and the previous books.

Clive Cussler — Shock Wave

Shock Wave begins with a prologue that takes place in 1856.

Captain Charles “Billy” Scaggs is one of the top naval captains in England.  He’s in charge of the Gladiator, a transport carrying a cargo of prisoners bound for prisons in Australia when his ship is hit by a storm while sailing through the Bass Strait between Tasmania and southern Australia.  When the ship doesn’t arrive in its destination two weeks later, it’s presumed to be permanently lost at sea.

In reality, the Gladiator survived the storm but it was badly damaged.  The captain ordered the remains of the ship to be converted into a raft.  The prisoners and as many provisions as possible were transferred to the raft before the remains of the ship finally sank.  Captain Scaggs set a course for New Zealand, but it was an agonizing slow pace.  Food and fresh water began to run low, and the prisoners grew restless while sitting in the hot sun all day.  It was just a matter of time before they rebelled and tried to attack Captain Scaggs and his crew.  The rebellion was stopped, but most of the prisoners were killed, and nearly all of the captain’s crew was either killed or injured.

The remains of the raft and its crew finally land on a deserted island.  It takes two years before Captain Scaggs and a couple of able-bodied men can build a strong enough raft to sail to Australia.  Two of the convicts, Jess Dorsett and Betsy Fletcher, get married and remain behind on the island.  They have a couple of kids and discover a source of valuable diamonds.  Their sons ultimately receive passage to England where they both receive top educations, and Jess and Betsy begin a trading business with passing ships.  In time, their company will ultimately expand into the diamond exchange and become one of the richest companies in the world.

Fast forward to January of 2000.

The cruise ship Polar Queen has dropped a load of passengers off at Seymour Island, an island off the coast of Antarctica.  Led by marine biologist Maeve Fletcher, the small group of people go sightseeing at an old whaling station.  When they enter a cave that was used by the whaling crew, suddenly they’re hit by a mysterious “disease” that causes tremendous pressure on their head and ears.  The attack ends just as mysteriously as it began, and everybody who was inside the cave soon recovers.  However, the few people who were outside of the cave had died from the strange attack. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Inca Gold”

Last night I finished reading Inca Gold, the twelfth book in Clive Cussler‘s main series of books featuring adventurer / aviator / engineer / underwater explorer Dirk Pitt.

Clive Cussler — Inca Gold

Inca Gold begins with a prologue set in 1533 as a fleet of makeshift ships sails to an unknown island in a far away sea.  The ships are carrying a vast collection of gold and other treasures, all of which are meant to be hidden for a very long time.

The story then cuts to 1578 off the coast of Peru in South America.  Legendary seafaring explorer Sir Francis Drake on the Golden Hind captures a Spanish galleon, Concepcion, filled with treasures from the Inca Empire.  Drake decides to send a small crew on the Concepcion back to England with a bunch of the captured treasure.

As the crew sails away with the treasure on the Concepcion, an underwater earthquake creates a powerful tsunami.  The wall of water lifts and carries the Concepcion into the jungles on the coast of South America, never to be seen again.

Fast forward to today (1998).

In the Andes Mountains in Peru is an archaeological expedition that has recently discovered an ancient sinkhole that filled with water and eventually became a sacrificial pool.  Archaeologist Dr. Shannon Kelsey makes a dive into the sacrificial pool with veteran photographer Miles Rodgers.  When neither of them surface, a call is made over the radio for emergency assistance. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “The Race”

For the one hundredth book review here at Rellimzone, today we’re taking a look at Clive Cussler‘s action story, The Race.

The Race is the fourth book in the Isaac Bell series of novels.  Although it chronically follows The Spy, virtually nothing from The Spy relates to the story in The Race.

Clive Cussler – The Race

Set in 1909, The Race begins with Preston Whiteway, the owner of the San Francisco Inquirer newspaper, hiring the prestigious Van Dorn Detective Agency to protect Josephine Josephs Frost, a promising aviatrix.

Preston Whiteway is hosting an air race across the country.  Called the Whiteway Atlantic-to-Pacific Cross-Country Air Race, the fastest pilot to cross the country along the designated route, and doing so in less than fifty days, shall receive the Whiteway Cup trophy along with a cash prize of $50,000, an insane amount of money in those times.  Preston is sponsoring Josephine as a way to boost the sales of his newspaper through coverage of the race.  The only problem is that Josephine, “America’s Sweetheart of the Air,” is currently being hunted by her soon-to-be ex-husband, Harry Frost.  Hence the reason for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, the best of the best when it comes to protection services.

Van Dorn Detective Agency owner Joseph Van Dorn accepts the protection mission, and he places chief investigator Isaac Bell in charge of the assignment.  Bell, in turn, assigns detective Archie Abbott in charge of Josephine’s personal safety as one of the requirements is to only have married detectives personally guarding Josephine.

In the book’s opening segment, Josephine was flying in upstate New York when she witnessed Harry Frost shoot and try to kill her friend, Marco Celere.  Harry then tried to shoot Josephine out of the air, but he failed.  He then fled and nobody found the body of Marco Celere. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Raise the Titanic!”

Published back in 1976, Clive Cussler’s adventure story, Raise the Titanic!, brings the legendary ship back to life.

Raise the Titanic! begins in April of 1912.  As the legendary passenger ship is making its fateful journey across the northern Atlantic Ocean, a mysterious passenger lies awake in fright.  He’s a hunted man, constantly looking over his shoulder and staying one step ahead of his assassins.

When the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink, the mysterious man forces a member of the Titanic‘s crew to escort him to one of the cargo holds.  Down in the depths of the sinking ship he opens and locks himself inside of a massive vault.  The secret, he believes, will remain with the ship on the bottom of the ocean.

Fast forward to today (1976).

Dr. Gene Seagram is the leader of the top secret Meta Section at the Pentagon.  One of the projects on the hot plate in Meta Section is the Sicilian Project, a highly advanced method of stopping Soviet ballistic missiles from reaching their target.  The science has been researched for the Sicilian Project.  The only problem is that the Sicilian Project requires a massive amount of energy to function.  Scientists believe that the rare mineral byzanium should provide enough energy, but it’s an extremely rare mineral.  So rare in fact that the only known source of byzanium is on a small island just of the coast of the USSR.

Taking an incredible risk, Meta Section sends geologist / scientist Sid Koplin to the island near the Russian coast.  Koplin locates a secret mine and determines that a group of miners beat everybody to the byzanium.  And those miners did it nearly seventy years ago, too.  A Soviet patrol stumbles onto Koplin, and he forced to run for his life.  Just as he’s being captured, Dirk Pitt kills the Soviet soldier and flies Koplin on a helicopter and back to an American ship.

Gene Seagram researches the expedition and follows a series of clues about the mysterious miners who already claimed the prize.  It turns out that the miners were a highly skilled set of men known as The Coloradans.  These men were originally hired by the French government to mine the mineral, but they were persuaded by the U.S. to double-cross them and give it to America.  The men attempted to escape and were pursued across Europe by a team of assassins.  By the time the group arrived in England, only one man was still alive.  He took the valuable cargo with him on board the Titanic. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Iceberg”

Published back in 1975, Iceberg is the second of the successful Dirk Pitt series of books written by Clive Cussler.

Iceberg opens with a Coast Guard aircraft flying a routine iceberg patrol flight over the frigid waters of the northern Atlantic Ocean.  The spotters notice that one of the icebergs has a peculiar look to it, so the pilots bring the aircraft down for a closer look.  Upon closer examination they see that entombed within the massive floating piece of ice is a ship.

How the ship got there is anybody’s guess.  The crew of the Coast Guard aircraft drop a red dye pack on the iceberg and report their discovery to their superiors.

Admiral James Sandecker, director of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency), dispatches Dirk Pitt and Dr. Bill Hunnewell on a top-secret mission to the iceberg.  Pitt is forced to lie to the commander of a Coast Guard ship, claiming that the ship entombed in the iceberg is a Soviet spy ship disguised as a fishing trawler.  The Coast Guard commander cooperates, and Pitt and Hunnewell use the Coast Guard ship as a launching point to fly their helicopter to the iceberg.

In reality, Pitt and Hunnewell are searching for a luxury yacht named the Lax.  The Lax was on its way on a top-secret mission to the White House when it mysteriously disappeared a year ago.

Finding the iceberg at sea turned out to be more of a challenge.  Pitt and Hunnewell had the coordinates and knew roughly where to find the iceberg when factoring in the currents and wind direction.  The problem was that the iceberg seemingly vanished.  The two went on a wild goose chase before realizing that somebody beat them to the iceberg and removed the red dye from the ice.

Pitt finally landed his helicopter on the correct iceberg, and after entering the ship, they found a chilling discovery.  Not only had somebody beat them there, but the entire inside of the ship was charred.  A fire of some sort killed the entire crew.  The odd thing was that the crew was still seated in their normal positions, as if none of them bothered to stand up and fight the fire.

It’s later revealed that the owner of the Lax, a billionaire named Kristjan Fyrie, had developed a new underwater probe.  This probe was said to be able to scan the ocean floor from the surface and detect what minerals and metals were just beneath the floor, all without the need to drill.  This type of equipment is priceless to drilling companies. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “The Mediterranean Caper”

While waiting for my computer to finish burning a few dual-layer DVDs (as part of a massive back-up project), I had time to finish reading Clive Cussler’s novel, The Mediterranean Caper.

First published all the way back in 1973, The Mediterranean Caper is the novel that started it all for author Clive Cussler.  This is the first of the Dirk Pitt series, the series of novels that made Cussler into the successful and widely published author that he is today.

The Mediterranean Caper takes place almost entirely in the Aegean Sea.  It’s there in the tropical waters (and skies) amongst the Greek islands where we’re introduced to hero Dirk Pitt.

The Mediterranean Caper begins with a bold attack upon a U.S. airbase in the Greek islands.  It’s the type of aircraft — an old World War One biplane — that makes the daylight raid even more perplexing.  The pilot strafed the airfield over and over, scoring hits on the parked aircraft and keeping the few troops stationed there pinned under cover.

Hearing the attack and calls for help on the radio, Air Force Major Dirk Pitt lends assistance.  He’s piloting a seaplane to assist a NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) research ship in the neighboring area when he changes course for the U.S. airbase.  With the help of Captain Al Giordino manning a rifle and firing through an open door, Pitt and Giordino are able to hit the biplane enough times to send it running for cover.  The enemy pilot flies away, skimming the islands and disappearing from view.

Pitt and Giordino are hailed as heroes, and it’s from that Greek island where the meat of The Mediterranean Caper really begins.  After swimming along a quiet beach, Pitt meets and seduces a young woman, Teri.  The woman claims to be the niece of Bruno von Till, a powerful owner of a shipping company and resident on the island.  She invites Pitt to meet her uncle later that day.  It’s at that meeting where Pitt once again faces death after meeting with von Till.

The Mediterranean Caper evolves from a story about a mysterious World War One biplane pilot to an international drug shipping ring.  It’s also an action-adventure story filled with many fights and several plot twists.  From escaping from an underground labyrinth to searching underwater for hidden caverns and a World War One submarine, Dirk Pitt finds himself risking life and limb over and over again.  It’s also up to him and whatever help he can find to stop the evil Bruno von Till, trapping him and his innovative way of smuggling heroin into the United States. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Sahara”

Sahara is the eleventh book written by Clive Cussler in his main series of novels.

Although this is the next sequential book after Dragon, a few of Sahara‘s previous references point back to Treasure.  The connections are mainly vague references, and it’s not really necessary to read both of those books before reading Sahara.

Sahara begins on April 2, 1865 as the Confederacy is about to lose the Civil War.  Sitting at a dock on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, is the Texas, an ironclad warship about to depart on a secret mission.  The Texas is loaded with Confederate gold, and just before it departs, a secret passenger is loaded onto the ship.  If the ship’s mission is successful, then the Confederacy will be restored.

The Texas cruises down the James River and slips past the Union blockade.  By the time that the Union sailors recognize the Confederate ship, it’s too late.  The Confederate ship reaches the harbor and faces a line of Union ships blocking access to the Atlantic Ocean.  The Texas comes under fire and is almost sunk until the ship’s mysterious passenger makes an appearance on the upper deck.  When the Union sailors see the passenger they immediately stop firing.  They cannot believe their eyes.  The sailors can only watch as the Texas sails past the Union’s line of ships and reaches the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Fast forward to October 10, 1931.

Australia’s aviation ace Kitty Mannock is flying one final long-distance flight from London, England to Cape Town, South Africa when she experiences problems over the southwestern part of the Sahara.  She was trying to follow the Trans-Sahara motor track when she became disoriented when flying through a sandstorm.  Worse, the sandstorm damaged one of the cylinders in her Fairchild FC-2W’s engine.  The aircraft is losing power and Kitty is forced to make an emergency landing before night arrives in the desert.

Kitty makes a smooth landing in the Sahara until the aircraft suddenly plunges into a small ravine.  The impact seriously injures Kitty, and the woman is left to survive in the harsh and unforgiving elements of the world’s largest desert.  Search parties attempt to find the missing woman when she’s reported as overdue, but no traces of Kitty Mannock or her aircraft are found.

Sahara‘s main story begins in May of 1996.

An expedition carrying tourists through the Sahara desert stops at the small town of Asselar in Mali.  What should be a routine stop at the oasis town turns into a nightmare when the town’s residents, or what’s left of them, have gone crazy and brutally attack the tourists.  The tourists are all killed and some of them are actually eaten by the crazy residents.  The expedition’s leader escapes from the carnage, but he’s later captured and essentially silenced to cover up the massacre in the desert.

Over in Alexandria, Egypt, Dr. Eva Rojas, a biologist with the World Health Organization, is suddenly attacked by some men while she’s relaxing on a beach.  The men grab her and try to strangle the woman to death.  Before she passes out, a mysterious man fights off the attackers and saves Eva’s life.  That mystery man turns out to be Dirk Pitt, the Special Projects Director for NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency). Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Dragon”

Dragon, the tenth book in Clive Cussler’s main series of novels, takes readers into a dark organization in Japan that aims to blackmail the world through nuclear terrorism.

The story of Dragon begins on August 6, 1945, as a nuclear-armed B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Dennings’ Demons takes off from an airbase on Shemya Island, Alaska, and heads towards Japan.  Their primary target was the industrial section in the city of Osaka.

An engine problem developed in one of the four engines that powered the bomber, and the aircraft had to fly at a lower altitude.  As Dennings’ Demons approached the coast of Japan and begin climbing to its bombing altitude, the bomber was jumped and shot down by a Japanese Zero fighter aircraft.  The nuclear bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, and later that day a B-29 named Enola Gay made history as it dropped the first nuclear bomb to be used in combat.  World War II ended on August 15, six days after a second city, Nagasaki, was attacked with an atomic bomb.

Fast forward to October of 1993.

The Narvik, a Norwegian passenger-cargo ship, is cruising southeast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean and discovers a derelict Japanese car carrier ship.  The Japanese ship, the Divine Star, is listing and slightly damaged after surviving a typhoon.  It’s going to sink if nothing is done to correct the water pouring into the ship.  The crew of the Narvik want to board the Divine Star and try to prevent it from sinking.  If they can do so then the payout for salvaging such a ship, especially one like that packed with brand new cars, would be tremendous.

A salvage crew boards the Divine Star, and they’re puzzled why the interior of the ship is in such good condition.  It’s as if the crew suddenly ran from their posts and abandoned the ship.  Pieces of the mystery materialize as crew members examine the cars and begin to get tremendously sick.  The sickness is overpowering and men begin to fall.  As one security guard is dying, he pulls out his pistol and begins shooting randomly at the cars, taking out his anger with a few gunshots.  One of those bullets strikes home and the Divine Star is obliterated in a nuclear explosion.  The explosion also wipes out the Narvik, sending the Norwegian ship plunging to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Several miles away is the Invincible, a British oceanographic research vessel.  The Invincible recently launched an underwater exploration vehicle nicknamed Old Gert onto a mission to the sea floor.  On board the Old Gert are Craig Plunkett, the vehicle’s chief engineer and pilot, Dr. Raul Salazar, a marine geologist, and Stacy Fox, an underwater photographer.  The three of them become trapped on the ocean floor as the nuclear explosion heavily damages the Invincible and quickly sends it into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Recognizing the dire problem, the crew of the Old Gert try to jettison their weights and float back to the surface.  That fails as part of the vessel was filled with water and the rest of it was not buoyant enough to float back to the surface.  The crew is doomed and it’s just a matter of time before they suffocate from a lack of breathable air. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Treasure”

Clive Cussler’s Treasure, the ninth book in Cussler’s famous Dirk Pitt series of adventure books, takes readers from the days of the Romans in Egypt to a conspiracy today designed to overthrow two countries’ governments.

Treasure‘s story begins in A.D. 391 as a Roman named Julius Venator is tasked with overseeing a very important, and even more secretive mission.  That year, Pope Theophilus allegedly ordered the destruction of the Library of Alexandria as its vast collection of artwork and information was created under a different religion than the Catholic Church.  Julius Venator was hired to secretly remove as much of the scrolls, artwork and other museum pieces as possible and relocate them, hiding them for future generations.  Venator used a small fleet of ships to transport a great deal of the library’s contents to a far away country, a place never seen before by anybody from Europe.  It would be a place that would guarantee the safety of the library’s artifacts.

Out in that unknown land, Venator’s team of slaves dug a massive underground chamber in one of the hills, and the items from the Library of Alexandria were successfully stored in the new location.  Along with the slaves, a team of legionaries led by a man named Severus also made the long journey from Rome and Egypt.

The day before the completion of moving the library’s artifacts into the chamber, some of the legionaries attacked the local barbarians, killing some of them and kidnapping a few young women.  Word of the attack spread among the local populations, and the next day a massive swarm of thousands of barbarians attacked the Romans.  The legionaries tried to fight their way to the ships, but upon arrival at the coast all but one of the ships were burning.  One ship managed to sail away as the rest of the Romans, the slaves, the legionaries, Severus, and even Venator were all killed by the barbarians.

Fast forward to today.

An envoy to the U.S. President is sent on a secret mission to speak with the leader of the growing Aztec movement in Mexico, a man named Topiltzin.  Topiltzin has plans of leading the movement and overthrowing the Mexican government, restoring it to its former self before the arrival of Europeans hundreds of years ago.  This includes seizing the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, returning them to Mexican control.  If the states are not returned, then Topiltzin plans on sending millions of Mexicans pouring across the U.S.-Mexico border and taking the land that way.

The envoy tries telling Topiltzin that the president will never give in to those demands.  Topiltzin has his men kill the envoy in a sacrificial ritual once used by the ancient Aztecs.  The envoy’s body is then butchered and his entire skin is sent back to Washington, D.C. as a stern message to the president.

Over in London, England, a special flight by the UN leaves for New York City.  On board the flight is Hala Kamil, an Egyptian woman who was selected to become the next UN Secretary General.  It’s a bold move as she’s a woman from a country that does not approve of women holding such positions of power.  Hala is well aware that her country may recall her at any point, and there are death threats against her as well. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Cyclops”

Last night I finished reading Cyclops, the eighth book in Clive Cussler’s main series involving Dirk Pitt.

Cyclops continues after the events in Deep Six, though the two stories aren’t really connected with each other.  The main reference point is when we’re reminded early in Cyclops that the current president of the United States was placed there because of the actions and sinister Russian plot in Deep Six.  Otherwise, it’s business as usual for Dirk Pitt, Admiral Sandecker, Rudi Gunn and Al Giordino in this story.

Like most Clive Cussler novels, Cyclops begins with a prologue involving a mysterious incident at sea.  This time around the incident involves a cargo ship named the Cyclops and its sudden sinking somewhere near the Bahamas in 1918.  A large rogue wave is the suspected culprit, but as one of the characters discovers, the cargo for the ship may be more mysterious than what caused its sudden demise.

Fast forward to today, October of 1989.

Dirk Pitt, hero and special projects director for NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency, is off the coast of south Florida and competing in a windsurfing race.  He’s working his way to the front of the pack and going for the win when suddenly a massive blimp coasts overhead.  The airship appears to be pilotless and drifting towards a resort hotel on the beach.

Dirk abandons the race and grabs one of the blimp’s mooring lines and hangs on, trying everything in his power to climb into the control cabin and shut down the engines.  He’s knocked back into the water but still holds one of the ropes.  As the airship arrives at the beach, hundreds of shocked onlookers come to Dirk’s aide and together they stop the blimp before it crashes into the hotel.  Dirk is able to climb inside and shut down the engines.  The sight inside the control cabin is rather horrific as three dead people are still strapped to their seats.

The president of the United States is out on a golf course when he’s surprised by a man disguised as his usual golf caddy.  The man delivers the president news about a secret organization that managed to not only sneak scientists to the Moon after Apollo 17, the last manned lunar mission by NASA, but the scientists have built a colony and been living there for the past seven or eight years.  The secret lunar colony is simply known as the “Jersey Colony.” Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Deep Six”

Last night I finished reading Clive Cussler’s Deep Six, the seventh book in the popular Dirk Pitt series.

Deep Six begins in 1966 as a woman named Estelle Wallace boards a ship named the San Marino.  The San Marino is an old Liberty ship that’s been reconfigured for civilian use.  There are just two problems with Estelle Wallace’s journey:  1) Her name is really Arta Casilighio, and 2) the ship really isn’t sailing from San Francisco, California, to Auckland, New Zealand.

The fact that Arta Casilighio goes by a different name and recently embezzled the bank where she used to work doesn’t really matter.  It’s just the woman’s bad luck that she picked the wrong vessel to make her grand escape from the pursuing law enforcement.  The woman is drugged and thrown overboard with the rest of the ship’s crew, and the criminals hijack the San Marino and its valuable cargo.  The ship then sails off the radar and supposedly becomes lost at sea.

Fast forward to today.

The Coast Guard cutter Catawaba intercepts a derelict crab fishing boat called the Amie Marie off the coast of Augustine Island, Alaska.  The Catawaba‘s captain sends a small party over to the fishing boat, and the sailors discover that the crew of the Amie Marie is all dead.  They’re still positioned at their last duty station.

Moments later, the Catawaba‘s boarding party fails to respond to their captain.  The captain sends over a medic to investigate the fishing boat, and the medic makes a startling discovery — the Catawaba‘s boarding party is already dead from an unknown virus.  The medic feels the virus start to affect him, so he radios the captain and lists all the symptoms as the virus quickly kills himself, too.  The area is quarantined and an investigation is launched to discover the point of origin of the deadly poison.

Meanwhile, Dirk Pitt, the special projects director at NUMA (the National Underwater and Marine Agency) and his assistant, Al Giordino, are finishing a project involving the Cumberland, a Union frigate sunk during the Civil War.  Dr. Julie Mendoza, an agent with the Environmental Protection Agency, visits the site of the shipwreck and takes Dirk and Al with her on a special assignment to Alaska.

Upon arriving off the coast of Alaska, Pitt and Giordino run underwater search patterns for a missing ship believed to be carrying the deadly poison.  EPA agents periodically take water samples and they determine which general direction to head to locate the source of the spillage.  Pitt, thinking a step ahead, analyzes a satellite map and determines that they ship they’re seeking is actually buried on a nearby coastline.  It’s nearly perfectly camouflaged, but there are slight traces of it on the satellite map.

Sure enough, a ship named the Pilottown is discovered lying on the coast and almost completely covered by volcanic ash.  Pitt, Giordino, Dr. Mendoza and some scientists enter one of the cargo holds and locate the barrels of poison that originated from a top secret government laboratory.  One of the barrels had a leak, and water was slowly running through the cargo hold and out into the sea.  That leaking poison was responsible for the deaths of not only some people but thousands of marine life including fish and birds. Read more…

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. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “The Spy”

Clive Cussler’s adventure novel, The Spy, returns ace detective Isaac Bell back into another deadly game with a criminal mastermind.  This is the third book in Cussler’s Isaac Bell series.

Set in 1908, The Spy begins with Yamamoto Kenta conducting a black ops mission at the Washington Navy Yard.  His ultimate target is Arthur Langner’s office.  Using his specialized skills, Yamamoto forges a suicide note and places a small amount of explosives in Langner’s piano.  He then makes his escape from Langner’s office and then has to avoid the soldiers guarding the Navy yard.  A soldier surprises him, but Yamamoto manages to make a getaway.

The next day, Arthur Langner has a meeting with some co-workers in his office.  He beings playing the piano to mask their voices in case somebody is trying to listen to their conversation.  Once the piano hits a certain note, the explosives detonate, killing Arthur Langner and injuring the other people in his office.  The police find the suicide note and consider it a closed case.  But when Langner’s daughter goes to the elite Van Dorn Detective Agency and pleads her case, Isaac Bell is sent to investigate her father’s death.

The problem is that Arthur Langner is a gifted engineer who specializes in designing the cannons on battleships.  His latest designs are going to put the American navy’s firepower ahead of rival navies in Great Britain, Germany and Japan.  According to character witnesses, Arthur Langner was a happy person and not depressed or suicidal.  Isaac Bell begins to believe his daughter was correct as more and more evidence supports her theory.

We quickly find out that Yamamoto is working for a man who keeps his identity concealed.  You’ll keep guessing throughout The Spy as the mastermind’s true identity won’t be revealed until nearly the end of the story.

The master spy isn’t here in the U.S. to steal ideas or conduct espionage.  Instead, this person is set about humiliating the country and destroying future naval projects.  In a word, sabotage. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Night Probe!”

Today I finished reading another of Clive Cussler’s books, Night Probe!

Another book review?  Why are there so many of them lately?

The movie and marketing reviews will return soon.  For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a major project that has been requiring most of my attention.  I’m still reading here and there, and today I happened to finished my third book for the month of August.  Figured I might as well spend a few minutes talking about it before working on the next project.

Night Probe! is the fifth book in Cussler’s popular Dirk Pitt series of adventure novels.  The novel’s title is a term that divers commonly use (or at least they were still using back in 1981 when this story was first published) when exploring the dark of underwater caves.  That’s important for an event near the end of the story.

Night Probe! begins with a prologue set in 1914.

One night in May of 1914, there’s a robbery and hold up in a train station by the Hudson River in southern New York.  Held captive by the robbers, the two workers are unable to run outside and warn the approaching steam train, the Manhattan Limited, that the bridge over the Hudson River is out.  Supposedly the bridge was destroyed by the storm.  The train races past the station and crashes into the river, killing everybody on board including a passenger carrying a special document.

The only problem is that nobody could find the wreckage of the train.  Divers and crews checked up and downstream, but it appears that the train has simply vanished.  To make matters worse, on many nights a phantom train can be seen racing along those same tracks and stopping where the old bridge used to stand.

The same night that the Manhattan Limited crashed into the Hudson River, the ship RMS Empress of Ireland is sailing up the St. Lawrence River.  Suddenly, the Empress of Ireland is accidentally rammed amidships by a Norwegian ship.  The impact cuts a gaping hole into the side of the Empress of Ireland, and the ship sinks to the bottom of the St. Lawrence River in a matter of minutes.  Like the Manhattan Limited, the Empress of Ireland was also carrying a passenger with a very special document.

Fast forward to 1989. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Vixen 03″

Earlier today I finished reading Vixen 03, book number four in the popular Dirk Pitt series of books written by Clive Cussler.

First published back in 1978, Vixen 03 begins with the tale of an ordinary Air Force cargo plane on a highly secret mission back in 1954.  The C-97 Stratofreighter, code named “Vixen 03,” has its crew awakened for an urgent night flight in the middle of the winter.  Its cargo – secret.  The Navy admiral in charge of the cargo informs the crew that in the event of an aircraft malfunction, they are not to bail.  They are required to stay with the aircraft at all costs.

The C-97 is fully loaded and barely has enough power to lift off a runway in Colorado.  Minutes into the flight there’s engine trouble.  One of the propellers is thrown from the engine, cutting a gash into the fuselage.  The C-97′s pilot tries to turn back to the airfield, but the aircraft just isn’t going to make it.  The flight crew spots a clearing in the Colorado mountains and they make a belly-up landing on the snowy field.  Unfortunately, they didn’t land on a field.  The ice cracks and before anybody can flee, the C-97 suddenly sinks into a deep lake.

There the C-97 and its deadly cargo sit and wait until fate places the right person in the right place at the right time for its discovery.

Vixen 03 jumps ahead to September of 1988.

Dirk Pitt, the special projects director for NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) is spending some time with Loren Smith, a Congresswoman who represents a rural portion of Colorado.  They’re in a rustic cabin that was built and used frequently by Loren’s father, a man who was tragically killed in an explosion three years ago.

One day while looking for fishing poles, Dirk enters the cabin’s garage and spies some most unusual equipment.  He finds an oxygen tank and front landing gear from an aircraft hidden underneath a tarp.  Loren shrugs it off, claiming that her father was always tinkering with things.  Such a find is so unusual that Dirk’s curiosity drives him to investigate the peculiar aircraft parts. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “The Chase”

Last night I finished reading Clive Cussler’s novel, The Chase, part of the Isaac Bell series of novels.

Opening and closing in 1950 on a lake in Montana, The Chase primarily takes place in 1906 San Francisco and the surrounding area.

Banks throughout the region are in turmoil.  A particularly brutal bandit nicknamed the “Butcher Bandit” has been robbing banks and killing the workers.  He strikes without warning, disappearing immediately after the crime and leaving the local sheriffs no evidence.  To further complicate matters, each town seems to have a different description of the possible suspect.  The Butcher Bandit is thought to have killed at least thirty-three people and amassed a small fortune.

It’s up to the elite Van Dorn Detective Agency and lead detective Isaac Bell to stop the Butcher Bandit and bring him to justice.

Isaac Bell is the latest of heroes by author Clive Cussler.  He’s an intelligent person, ready to use his firearms as likely as his fists, and backed by a large family fortune.  He’s also an adventurer and automobile enthusiast, much like one of Cussler’s most famous characters, Dirk Pitt.

Highlights in The Chase include fantastic descriptions of steam locomotives and train companies, terrific action sequences, and the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  The earthquake occurs in a pivotal part of the story, setting up the ending and elaborate train chase across the western part of the United States. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “The Wrecker”

Earlier today I finished reading Clive Cussler’s adventure story, The Wrecker, the second book in the Isaac Bell series of novels.

Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I read a Clive Cussler novel.  I read most of the Dirk Pitt series a few years ago, but it feels like it’s been eons since I last picked up and read one of his books.  Thankfully, the most recent Cussler book I read happened to be a great one!

The Wrecker is part of Cussler’s Isaac Bell series of novels and set in the early twentieth century.  Specifically, most of this story takes place in the American west during the Fall of 1907.  And it involves steam locomotives — lots of them!

The Isaac Bell character is an elite detective, similar to Sherlock Holmes.  He’s as quick with his wits as he is with his fists, and he’ll stop at nothing to solve the crime and catch his man.

The Wrecker tells the tale of the Southern Pacific Railway and owner Osgood Hennessy as he strives to complete his latest expansion of the railway.  The problem is that somebody intends to stop him in his tracks.  A mysterious saboteur known as “The Wrecker” has a nasty habit of derailing and destroying locomotives owned and associated with the Southern Pacific Railway company.  Many people are killed in a series of not only train wrecks but other attacks against the railroad company and its construction projects.  Determined to stop the Wrecker and finish construction of his expansion, Hennessy hires the elite Van Dorn Detective Agency to solve the case.  Along comes lead detective, Isaac Bell.

It’s up to Isaac Bell to use his wits, fists, and some gunplay to identify the Wrecker and stop his evildoing before more people die and the Southern Pacific Railway goes bankrupt.  Along the way he’ll use telegraphs and every bit of early twentieth century technology to help him and his fellow detectives solve the case. Read more…