When I returned to Skeleton Coast recently, I was glad to find that I remembered nothing of the tale except its location (which isn’t all that impressive, I guess, since it’s located on the “Skeleton Coast”). This fourth book in The Oregon Files is actually the first I ever read, probably back almost a decade ago, and it’s also my first return to the series after a very long absence, during which I tried to catch up on every Dirk Pitt novel. Now it’s time to fill in the blanks of any Oregon stories that I’d failed to review, of which there’re at least four.

I don’t think this book stands out as the Cussler-du Brul team’s best. The diamond-smuggling sub-plot that bookends this novel wasn’t memorable, and I basically forgot it all as I got caught up in the major plot of eco-terrorism and hurricane creation. By the time the book reached its final chapter, with Juan Cabrillo joining his mistress to explore an unearthed shipwreck 8 miles from the coast, I couldn’t remember a thing about the boat or why it mattered.

As I review the story in my mind now, however, I’m confident that I would have enjoyed further development of this initial mystery than I did the giant “metal snakes” in the ocean or the heat-generating goo which the villain uses in hopes of crippling America. The major storyline was a bit too close to sci-fi for my liking, while the giant gemstones and attacking tribesman seems more real and captivating. In fact, this boat-in-the-African-sand idea reflects greatly the historical subplot of Cussler’s Sahara, which I really enjoyed, and it makes me long for that classic Cussler feel. I think Cussler shines best when his historical prologue plays a major role in the novel’s plot, rather than just serving as a way for two characters to meet or as the deus ex machina of the novel’s climax.

Like with many of his books, one scene from Skeleton Coast stands out as highly memorable, and when I read it again, the memory of it carried me to my back yard in Wisconsin to when I had first read this book ten years prior (the brain’s an awesome thing). Juan Cabrillo finds himself alone and 40 miles off course after a failed deployment of his HAHO (not HALO) jump, and his impromptu landing zone is the empty deserts of Africa. While falling, however, he notices tire tracks and lights in the distance, so once on the ground he needs to rig a way to catch whatever vehicles he saw before he dies of thirst in the heat. He quickly uses something like C4 to weld his false-leg to his bullet-proof vest and then uses his parachute as a sail in order to glide across the dunes on his makeshift ski.

The MacGyver-like ingenuity of this scene is what I like most about the Cussler heroes. When he’s writing, it’s like he says, “I’ll stick the hero in this jam and see what he does to get himself out of it.” Pure fun in my eyes.

I won’t call this Cussler or du Brul’s best, but I look forward to hitting the next installment, Plague Ship. Try it with me.

©2018 E.T.

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