This being the first installment to Clive Cussler‘s The Oregon Files, it took me a little while to get used to Juan Cabrillo and his whole team of former intelligence masters as they wreak havoc on the world’s evil forces from the deck of their super-ship, The Oregon.
Setting the vast majority of this book at a dinner party, however, was a stroke of genius by the authors, because it gave me plenty of opportunity to befriend the characters and learn their quirks, without all the convoluted and around-the-globe plot confusions that otherwise make Cussler’s books so exciting.
The story of Golden Buddha pits the Dalai Lama of Tibet against the political forces of China and Russia, using a closely guarded golden artifact as the key to Tibet’s independence. Cabrillo’s “Corporation” is a refreshingly diverse group of characters, though it seems their expertise comes a bit too close to perfection, and their specially-outfitted ship proves to be impossibly limitless.
Part of Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino’s appeal has always been their inevitable missteps and close scrapes, where the reader thinks, “Now how in the world are they going to get out of this one!?” (a particular Cuban bathtub fitted with an outboard motor comes to mind). Giordino always gets shot; Pitt always gets captured; yet their struggles also always keep the pace of the story moving. Setbacks simply didn’t exist for The Corporation in Golden Buddha, but it’s only the first installment for them, and I’m sure they’ll get theirs eventually.
Overall, the book was exciting and The Oregon crew will be a good group of people to learn more about as the books progress (like in the second book, The Sacred Stone). It’s doubtful I’ll ever get to review all the Cussler books I’ve read in the past (probably a good thing, since they’d all end up sounding the same over time…much like a Cussler novel!), but this one stuck out as a worthwhile entrance into another great series.
©2014 E.T.
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Read More from Clive Cussler:
Dirk Pitt Adventures:
1. Pacific Vortex! (1983)
2. The Mediterranean Caper (1973)
3. Iceberg (1975)
4. Raise the Titanic! (1976)
5. Vixen 03 (1978)
6. Night Probe! (1981)
7. Deep Six (1984)
8. Cyclops (1986)
9. Treasure (1988)
10. Dragon (1990)
11. Sahara (1992)
12. Inca Gold (1994)
13. Shock Wave (1996)
14. Flood Tide (1997)
15. Atlantis Found (1999)
16. Valhalla Rising (2001)
17. Trojan Odyssey (2003)
18. Black Wind (2004)
19. Treasure of Khan (2006)
20. Arctic Drift (2008)
21. Crescent Dawn (2010)
22. Poseidon’s Arrow (2012)
23 Havana Storm (2014)
24. Odessa Sea (2016)
25. Celtic Empire (2018)
Isaac Bell Adventures:
1. The Chase (2007)
2. The Wrecker (2009)
3. The Spy (2010)
4. The Race (2011)
5. The Thief (2012)
6. The Striker (2013)
7. The Bootlegger (2014)
8. The Assassin (2015)
9. The Gangster (2016)
10. The Cutthroat (2017)
11. The Titanic Secret (2019)
12. The Saboteurs (2021)
Kids:
1. The Adventures of Vin Fiz (2006)
2. The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy (2010)
Nonfiction:
1. The Sea Hunters (1996)
2. The Sea Hunters II (2002)
3. Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (1998)
4. Silent Killer: Submarines and Underwater Warfare (2011)
5. Built for Adventure (2011)
6. Built to Thrill (2016)
NUMA Files:
1. Serpent (1999)
2. Blue Gold (2000)
3. Fire Ice (2002)
4. White Death (2003)
5. Lost City (2004)
6. Polar Shift (2005)
7. The Navigator (2007)
8. Medusa (2009)
9. Devil’s Gate (2011)
10. The Storm (2012)
11. Zero Hour (2013)
12. Ghost Ship (2014)
13. The Pharaoh’s Secret (2015)
14. Nighthawk (2017)
15. The Rising Se (2018)
16. Sea of Greed (2019)
17. Journey of the Pharaohs (2020)
18. Fast Ice (2021)
19. Dark Vector (2022)
20. Condor’s Fury (2023)
21. Desolation Code (2024)
Oregon Files:
1. Golden Buddha (2003)
2. Sacred Stone (2005)
3. Dark Watch (2005)
4. Skeleton Coast (2006)
5. Plague Ship (2008)
6. Corsair (2009)
7. The Silent Sea (2010)
8. The Jungle (2011)
9. Mirage (2013)
10. Piranha (2015)
11. The Emperor’s Revenge (2017)
12. Typhoon Fury (2017)
13. Shadow Tyrants (2018)
14. The Final Option (2019)
15. Marauder (2020)
Fargo Adventures:
1. Spartan Gold (2009)
2. The Lost Empire (2010)
3. The Kingdom (2011)
4. The Tombs (2012)
5. The Mayan Secrets (2013)
6. The Eye of Heaven (2014)
7. The Solomon Curse (2015)
8. Pirate (2016)
9. The Romanov Ransom (2017)
10. The Gray Ghost (2018)
11. The Oracle (2019)
12. Wrath of Poseidon (2020)
13. The Serpent’s Eye (2025)