Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I dnf’ed at 320 pages.
I feel so bait and switched with this book. It opens as treasure hunt for lost confederacy spoils, then spends the entire book looking for a poison source while dealing with corrupt African country governments.
Like… I signed up for treasure hunting not a political thriller.
While the action is there… it just wasn’t enough to keep me entertained.
Just watch the movie. At least that has Matthew McConaughey.
I feel so bait and switched with this book. It opens as treasure hunt for lost confederacy spoils, then spends the entire book looking for a poison source while dealing with corrupt African country governments.
Like… I signed up for treasure hunting not a political thriller.
While the action is there… it just wasn’t enough to keep me entertained.
Just watch the movie. At least that has Matthew McConaughey.
Book Two in my three-book mission to get some nonsense off of my shelves. This one was 100% better than the last Cussler book I read (The Mediterranean Caper), but that still only gets us to two stars. The misogyny was down somewhat, only to be replaced by some gratuitous violence that I don't remember from Dirk Pitt books I've read in the past. I've always equated Pitt with a character like TV's decidedly unmurderous MacGyver. ("This fellow Pitt, he thought, was most observant." --p.396) Not so in this book. In one scene, Dirk and Al shoot first in mowing down the entire Beninese Navy while cruising up the Niger River. Later, in the book's climax, there's a protracted battle between some UN commandos (fighting with Dirk) and the Malian bad guys that leaves nearly 1,000 dead on both sides. Again, not what I thought I'd be reading.
Still, the prologue is a stirring re-imagining of some Civil War history that ends up helping Pitt solve his predicament 150 years later, the first chapter is full of darkly ethereal suspense, and there are some evocative passages describing a death-defying trek that Dirk and Al take across the Sahara desert about midway through the book. And as lame as the threat was in The Mediterranean Caper, our protagonists this time were battling a vicious red tide that threatened to destroy ecosystems all throughout the Atlantic Ocean -- nothing like an environmental catastrophe to get my heart racing! If this trajectory continues, we'll be at three stars before we know it. But to be clear, we're not there yet.
Top quotes
-- "His tongue had swelled like a dry sponge and felt as if it was dusted with alum…They came to a narrow river of sand that ran through a valley of boulder-strewn hills. They followed the riverbed until it turned north, and then climbed its bank and continued on their course. Another day was breaking…Pitt saw a murderous environment, an open holocaust where shade did not exist. There could be no resting during the fiery heat of the day…They would have to keep going and endure heat with the ferocity of an open flame. Already the sun was bursting into the sky and signaling another day of hideous torture. The agony wore on and a few clouds appeared, hiding the sun, giving the men nearly two hours of grateful relief. And then the clouds drifted on an dissipated and the sun returned, hotter than ever. By noon Pitt and Giordino were barely clinging to life." (p.372)
Still, the prologue is a stirring re-imagining of some Civil War history that ends up helping Pitt solve his predicament 150 years later, the first chapter is full of darkly ethereal suspense, and there are some evocative passages describing a death-defying trek that Dirk and Al take across the Sahara desert about midway through the book. And as lame as the threat was in The Mediterranean Caper, our protagonists this time were battling a vicious red tide that threatened to destroy ecosystems all throughout the Atlantic Ocean -- nothing like an environmental catastrophe to get my heart racing! If this trajectory continues, we'll be at three stars before we know it. But to be clear, we're not there yet.
Top quotes
-- "His tongue had swelled like a dry sponge and felt as if it was dusted with alum…They came to a narrow river of sand that ran through a valley of boulder-strewn hills. They followed the riverbed until it turned north, and then climbed its bank and continued on their course. Another day was breaking…Pitt saw a murderous environment, an open holocaust where shade did not exist. There could be no resting during the fiery heat of the day…They would have to keep going and endure heat with the ferocity of an open flame. Already the sun was bursting into the sky and signaling another day of hideous torture. The agony wore on and a few clouds appeared, hiding the sun, giving the men nearly two hours of grateful relief. And then the clouds drifted on an dissipated and the sun returned, hotter than ever. By noon Pitt and Giordino were barely clinging to life." (p.372)
I would say this is Cussler's second best Dirk Pitt book after "Atlantis Found" and is the subject of a movie with Matthew McConaughey. Entertaining from start to finish- great light book to read on a plane or vacation.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
I do not know how I would survive in such harsh conditions. However, Dirk seems to always have a trick or two up his sleeve to save him and his friend.
Fun adventure across the desert. Follows the usual pattern.
Want to know what would happen if a racist Victorian wrote a modern thriller? Read this book to find out!