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A review by vermidian
Night Probe! by Clive Cussler
2.0
This is not a book I would choose to read again. For that reason, I feel 2 stars is accurate.
The plot is interesting enough, but more than anything it’s inconsequential to the overall series as the final discovery never seems to be mentioned again. This is something I find to be a failing of the books. While they make several mentions of the Vixen affair in this book, no one mentions anything in later books about the grand merger.
As per usual, the sexism is pretty thick. It wasn’t nearly as bad, granted, but I still found myself wondering if Clive Cussler had ever met real women before. His women seem to be doll-like and mostly there to flatter the egos of strong, male characters. Heidi falls into bed with two of them while the only other female character, the Canadian PM’s wife, was passed around by three assholes the whole book. Oh, the PM wasn’t that bad you say? Shut it. He literally helped enact his own wife’s murder with a contract killer. I don’t see how any of the men in this book are in any way desirable. Sure, Dirk Pitt may be handsome and a daredevil, but his personality is sorely lacking. Shaw gets a pass, I guess, if it doesn’t bother you that he repeatedly used Heidi for his own purposes.
All in all, this book is passable. Good? Eh. Not really for me. Just passable. I know Cussler can write, and his writing does seem to be improving, but it’s not quite there yet for me.
The plot is interesting enough, but more than anything it’s inconsequential to the overall series as the final discovery never seems to be mentioned again. This is something I find to be a failing of the books. While they make several mentions of the Vixen affair in this book, no one mentions anything in later books about the grand merger.
As per usual, the sexism is pretty thick. It wasn’t nearly as bad, granted, but I still found myself wondering if Clive Cussler had ever met real women before. His women seem to be doll-like and mostly there to flatter the egos of strong, male characters. Heidi falls into bed with two of them while the only other female character, the Canadian PM’s wife, was passed around by three assholes the whole book. Oh, the PM wasn’t that bad you say? Shut it. He literally helped enact his own wife’s murder with a contract killer. I don’t see how any of the men in this book are in any way desirable. Sure, Dirk Pitt may be handsome and a daredevil, but his personality is sorely lacking. Shaw gets a pass, I guess, if it doesn’t bother you that he repeatedly used Heidi for his own purposes.
All in all, this book is passable. Good? Eh. Not really for me. Just passable. I know Cussler can write, and his writing does seem to be improving, but it’s not quite there yet for me.