“This plot is as thick as clam chowder” – Paul Trout, Chapter 49
This installment to The NUMA Files started off in such a cloudy mess of befuddlement, stretching across time in who knows how many locales around the world, that I had a hard time getting my bearings at first. I’m no enemy to the convoluted plot, but such a plot (which always inevitably makes sense in the end) has to draw the readers in like bait, not get them so confused that they give up early on.
Luckily, I’m such a fan of Clive Cussler that I didn’t give up too easily, so I was able to learn (once again, from the man who changes history every step of the way) that the earliest visitors to these beautiful ‘merican shores weren’t Spaniards or Portuguese or even Asians. They were the descendants of King Solomon and Queen Bathsheba’s illicit love affair (of course!).
As one might guess from that little spoiler, Cussler delves a bit into “biblical” (or would it be Mormon?) history throughout this novel, though as he’s done in a few others, he gets the true historical accounts all wrong—for the sake of the plot. In this particular instance, his antagonists claim that Moses was a man with pagan leanings who wanted to convince the Hebrews towards his new religion. Thus, he wrote an original set of paganized Ten Commandments on a golden tablet (“mistakenly” referred to as “the golden calf” in Exodus), which his true followers passed down for generations until King Solomon, fearing that its truths would disrupt his monotheistic kingdom, let them be secreted back to Africa through the efforts of his and the Queen’s illegitimate son. It’s that very bloodline that runs through the veins of Kurt Austin’s current nemesis (a man with a fancy for jousting, of all things), and as it turns out, also his current lover.
Not shockingly, The Navigator was not my favorite Cussler novel. In fact, I’d say it ranks right down there with Black Wind, the only book of his that I’ve given up on. I’m hoping that its follow-up, Medusa, fares better.
©2015 E.T.
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)