The earliest chapters of this novel contain one of those imaginative scenes that will always, creepily stick with me: the lake-bed in Washington state littered with hundreds of lifeless, Chinese bodies. From this grotesque discovery during what was supposed to be his recovery vacation after barely surviving the volcano in Shock Wave, Dirk Pitt enters yet another adventure that ultimately requires his skill and bravado, not only to prevent another devastatingly malicious attack by another arch villain, but also to make sure that this villain—like all the others—pays for his crimes.

The story itself follows a human-trafficking scheme that is not only paid for  but also organized by the PRC, with the help of Hong Kong shipping magnate, Chin Shang and his China Shang Maritime Ltd. Pitt finds “love” once again, this time with a vibrant Chinese agent with the INS. Surprisingly, the story doesn’t end when it might have naturally tapered off, following a harrowing climax. Instead, it continues until its deadly end when Dirk Pitt uses a shipwreck’s treasure to draw his enemy, Ching Shang, like a spider to his web.

Early on in the book, it felt like Clive Cussler might be slipping a little bit from his artistic form. After all, the mark of a great adventure novel is that the reader gets so absorbed in the story that the author himself ceases to exist. Ignoring the consistently weird fact that Cussler writes himself into these novels—this time as the Bayou Kid—Cussler’s authorial presence was terribly noticeable in parts, and it really detracted from the story. For example, when Admiral Sandecker describes the current President (whom he actually names, which must be a Cussler first) to Rudy Gunn, he does so in such a stale, historically descriptive way that the entire scene of dialogue should have been scrapped in the very first rewrite.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention one of Cussler’s foibles that always makes me laugh for its ridiculousness, because he committed this one at least three times in this book alone. Often, when he follows the dialogue between foreigners in what’s supposed to be a foreign language, he sprinkles their conversations with English idioms instead of finding idioms with similar meanings in the other languages. And he draws attention to this by purposefully introducing the idiom with some silly line like, “How do they say in the West?” or “As the Americans are fond of saying…” I seriously chuckle every time.

I love that, although I’ve read this book before, I’d forgotten 97% of the story. It’s like watching the full series of Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 over again, ten years later.

©2018 E.T.

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