Cussler Clive

The seventh Oregon Files adventure thriller begins on December 7, 1941, when five boys encounter tragedy while looking for buried pirate treasure on a small island off the coast of Washington State. Flash-forward to today: Juan Cabrillo, captain of the Oregon (a high-tech vessel posing as a tramp freighter), is in Argentina, trying to recover a downed NASA satellite. Well, don’t you know, Juan stumbles on something he totally didn’t expect to find, and soon he’s chasing after the secrets of an ancient curse that might still be causing trouble. Fast-paced and a lot of fun, the latest Cabrillo novel delivers the wallop Cussler’s fans have come to expect. Cabrillo himself—he shares his name with a sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer, by the way—makes a fine protagonist, sharp-witted and two-fisted. Considering the Oregon Files novels involve action, exploration, and high-tech gadgetry, it’s surprising no one has turned them into movies yet. The prolific Cussler, who, like James Patterson, now employs coauthors (Du Brul in this case), is often accused of writing by the numbers, but this time those numbers add up to entertaining fare for high-adventure fans.

In the dependably entertaining if less than top-notch fifth Oregon Files thriller from bestseller Cussler and Du Brul (after Skeleton Crew), Capt. Juan Cabrillo, who heads the Corporation, a covert military company for hire, and the multifaceted crew of the Oregon, a high-tech ship disguised to look like a tramp steamer, take on a group known as the Responsivists. The Responsivists publicly espouse a program of global population control, but are secretly planning a devastating attack on the human race utilizing a virulent virus found aboard an ancient ship that may be Noah's Ark. The authors are up to their usual high standards when in fighting mode, though the chief villain, the doctor who heads the Responsivists, falls short of Juan's billing as the single-most-evil human being I have ever met. Readers may wish that next time out the bad guys put up more of a struggle.

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.

In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples at sunset, when a crew member spots a sheen of black oil ahead of them. But it is not oil. Like a horde of army ants, a swarm of black particles suddenly attacks the ship, killing everyone aboard, while the ship itself goes up in flames. A few hours later, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are on their way to the Indian Ocean. What they will find there on the smoldering hulk of the ship will eventually lead them to the discovery of the most audacious scheme they have ever known: a plan to permanently alter the weather on a global scale. It will kill millions . . . and it has already begun. Filled with the boundless invention unique to Clive Cussler, this is one of the most thrilling novels yet from the grand master of adventure.

Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the BaghdadMuseum, 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 . . . Rich with all the hair-raising action and endless invention that have become Cussler’s hallmarks, The Navigator is Clive’s best yet.

The key to eternal life has been found beneath two thousand feet of icy water in an area known as the "Lost City." To a family of ruthless French arms dealers the Lost City is the key to world domination. To Kurt Austin, leader of NUMA's Special Assignments Team, and his colleague Joe Zavala, it may be their greatest—and deadliest—challenge of all.   From Publishers Weekly Kurt Austin, leader of the National Underwater and Marine Agency's Special Assignments Team, battles international evildoers again in the fifth installment of this excellent series. There are several parallel plots: a mysterious aviator has been found frozen in a massive glacier; a mutant seaweed is threatening to choke the world's oceans; a giant submarine is roaming the thermal vents of the deep sea area known as the Lost City; and the secretive, arms-dealing Fauchard family, run by ruthless black-widow Racine and her homicidal son, Emil, is up to no good. Also there's a mysterious 16th-century helmet, a search for the philosopher's stone and an island of filthy, mutant cannibals. Austin's love interest is lush, sensual Skye Labelle, an archeologist specializing in arms and armor ("She had a good body, but it would never make the cover of Sports Illustrated"). Kidnappings, hair's-breadth escapes, fierce battles, strange science, beautiful women and plenty of action add up to vintage Cussler. Of course, one of the secrets of the genre is to waste no time on ancillary details: "Before long, a cigar-shaped object came into view"; "Before long, they were stepping out of the cockpit onto the deck." Readers will find that, before long, they're racing through the pages as Austin and his band of merry men fight to stop the Fauchards from reaching the ultimate evildoer's goal: world domination.

Hailed as a hero for the new millennium, Austin is the leader of NUMA Special Assignments Team--and the threat before him now is definitely special. 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 just barely survives, it seems certain he is 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…Rich with all the hair-raising adventure and endless imagination unique to Cussler, White Death is an exceptional thriller from the grand master of adventure fiction.

Clive Cussler's dazzling new Dirk Pitt(r) adventure. Nobody has been able to match Cussler yet for the intricate plotting and sheer audacity of his work, and *Black Wind* sets the bar even higher. 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 bound for the West 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. Filled with dazzling suspense and breathtaking action, *Black Wind* is Cussler at the height of his storytelling powers.

When a tsunami hit a Spanish treasure galleon, all trace of a golden hoard greater than that of any pharaoh's vanished into history. Until NUMA agent DIRK PITT dives into an ancient sacrificial pool far into the Andean jungle in order to rescue two archaeologists, and plunges into a vortex of corruption, betrayal, and death. 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. Nothing will stop their ruthless and murderous drive to recover the gold. Nothing, that is, until Pitt and his team place themselves square in the path of danger....   From Publishers Weekly A chance rescue of two divers trapped in a Peruvian sinkhole leads series hero Dirk Pitt ( Raise the Titanic! ; Deep Six ) into a search for lost treasure that involves grave robbers, art thieves and ancient curses. Cussler's latest adventure novel features terrorists who aren ' t really terrorists and a respected archeologist who is not what he seems; it all boils down to a race between Pitt and some unscrupulous crooks for a cache of Inca gold hidden away from the Spanish and lost since the 16th century. The villains, a society of art and antiquity smugglers called the Solpemachaco, want to get their hands on the Golden Body Suit of Tiapollo, which contains in its hieroglyphics a description of the Inca treasure's hidden burial place. Pitt ends up searching for a jade box containing a quipu, an Inca silver-and-gold metalwork map to the treasure. The box was stolen from the Indians by the Spanish, stolen from the Spanish by Francis Drake and then lost in the South American jungle, but readers who know Pitt know that that a 400-year-old missing clue is only a minor obstacle. Master storyteller Cussler keeps the action spinning as he weaves a number of incredible plotlines and coincidences into a believable and gripping story. It's pure escapist adventure, with a wry touch of humor and a certain self-referential glee (Cussler himself makes a cameo appearance), but the entertainment value meets the gold standard.

The President's secret task force develops the ultimate defensive weapon. At its core: byzanium, a radioactive element so rare sufficient quantities have never been found. But a frozen American corpse on a desolate Soviet mountainside, a bizarre mining accident in Colorado, and a madman's dying message lead DlRK PITT~ to a secret cache of byzanium. Now he begins his most thrilling, daunting mission -- to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century! In a daring gamble, DIRK PITT locates the Titanic -- and suddenly his crew is in deadly jeopardy. Sabotaged by Russian spies and savage storms, Pitt must stop a diabolical plan for Soviet world supremacy -- or see the mighty Titanic blasted out of existence!

A PLUNDERED TREASURE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS . . . A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IN THE PACIFIC . . . AN EVIL PLOT TO BRING THE WEST TO ITS KNEES! A Japanese cargo ship bound for the United States is instantly, thunderously vaporized by Japanese fanatics with a chilling plan to devastate and destroy the Western powers. While Washington bureaucrats scramble, a brutal industrialist commands his blackmail scheme from a secret island control center. But from the ocean depths, NUMA agent DIRK PITT is igniting a daring counterattack. Battling 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!

Cussler's most dazzling bestseller. Dirk Pitt's most dangerous adventure. ****Dirk Pitt proved invincible in *Raise the Titanic!* Now, with the future of virtually every person in the world at stake, he is enlisted to spearhead his most daring mission yet—the rescue of a vital document for the United States. To an energy-starved, economically devastated America, possession of this document is worth billions. But to Great Britain, it’s worth a war. Pitt’s quest plunges him into a head-to-head confrontation with Britian’s most cunning secret agent—and into the throes of a torrid love triangle. As time runs out for a desperate America, Dirk Pitt races toward an underwater clash more terrifying than anything Clive Cussler has ever created—the breathtaking climax of **Night Probe!****

It is called zero point energy, and it really exists — a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and thus all but unlimited. Nobody has ever found a way to tap into it, however — until one scientist discovers a way. Or at least he thinks he has. The problem is, his machines also cause great earthquakes, even fissures in tectonic plates. One machine is buried deep underground; the other is submerged in a vast ocean trench. If Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala and the rest of the NUMA team aren’t able to find and destroy them, and soon, the world will be on the threshold of a new era of earth tremors and unchecked volcanism. Now, that can’t be good.

AN UNDERWATER GRAVEYARD IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST... A MYSTERIOUS SEAPORT IN THE LOUISIANA BAYOUS... A DIABOLICAL PLOT TO DESTROY AMERICA! When NUMA agent DIRK PITT rescues a beautiful undercover agent in a daring underwater operation at Orion Lake, just north of Seattle, he confronts a sinister network run by Qin Shang, a ruthless smuggler who sells Chinese immigrants into slavery. Shang's campaign contributions have bought him a collection of powerful U.S. politicians, but Pitt is not a man to be subverted by politics. As he moves to probe Shang's mystifying seaport in the Louisiana bayous, his investigation involves him in an adrenaline-pumped race up the Mississippi River and a desperate dash to recover sunken Chinese treasures lost half a century before. And in Qin Shang, Pitt faces ones of his most formidable foes -- a madman bent on killing thousands of innocent civilians with a catastrophic surge of mass destruction.  

The outstanding new novel from the #1 New York Times — bestselling grand master of adventure.   Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Mexico, when they come upon a remarkable discovery — the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot, and within the pot, a Mayan book, larger than anyone has ever seen. The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them — as the Fargos are about to find out. Before their adventure is done, many men and women will die for that book — and Sam and Remi may just be among them.