Rating: 3 out of 5
Clive Cussler’s works should not be a surprise. The good guy wins, the bad guy has a few odd eccentricities and no dearth of money to throw around. There is also generally no love lost between these bad guys — willing to sacrifice any number of other people to reach their nefarious goals — and the rest of humanity. Nevertheless, I was captivated if only for the prologue which captured again the sinking of the Andrea Doria.
In general, however, this was nothing special and that’s what I wanted: a quick and easy adventure where a swashbuckling fellow kicks in some heads and uncovers some mysteries. Kurt Austin serves this role perfectly and the additional characters that Mr Cussler has assembled at NUMA only serve to improve these adventures.
I should only add a note that insofar as theories of development go, this one with the touch of Carthaginian world trade networks was pretty thrilling. Those truly good sailors should be known in this modern day for something beyond having irked Cato the Elder — and this, even if mostly fictional, moves us a bit in that direction!
