I’ve almost exhausted my Clive Cussler library but still have a few missed novels which I’ve read before but have never reviewed. Surprisingly, this first book in the NUMA Files series is one I’d missed!

Regarding the series as a whole, I would probably say it’s one of my least favorites, simply because it’s so unoriginal. Kurt Austin is Dirk Pitt, but with white hair instead of green eyes, fascinated old pistols instead of old cars. And Joe Zavala is Al Giordino, except—wait, there’s no “except.” These guys are exactly the same! The same build, the same technical fascinations, the same dedication as sidekicks to their heroes, and the same limitless libido. The Italian/Mexican thing is literally the only differentiation.

Regarding this book specifically, though, I would say that its Prologue is one of the most fascinating and memorable of Cussler’s many novels. Cussler fans must know that the sinking of the famed Andrea Doria holds a special place in Clive’s heart, so the detail and precision he and Paul Kemprecos use in this section makes sense. The scene of the woman trapped in her stateroom while the ship fills with water is one which has been seared in my memory for years. While the inclusion of a secret-carrying armored car aboard the dying ship in this Prologue closely mirrors that of Cussler’s plot in Raise the Titanic!, the overall plot of the novel takes the story in a completely different direction.

A group known as “The Brotherhood” has for centuries sought to hide from the world the reality of pre-Columbian explorers who had reached the American continents. In their estimation, if their people know that the Mayans (and other native people groups) had been influenced by the outside world, then their own accomplishments as a civilization might be credited to the outsiders instead of to their own innate greatness. Revolution by Latin American peoples in the 21st century might never take place, if perchance the people viewed themselves as only the coattail-riders of European peoples. When this group seeks to silence archaeologists about their pre-Columbian findings, they catch the attention of NUMA and the Austin-Zavala team, along with their partners, Paul and Gamay Trout.

Our introduction to this group of NUMA employees is slow. We get to see Dirk and Al briefly in the corridors of the NUMA building in Washington, not to mention other NUMA-world favorites like Admiral James Sanddecker and gourmand, St. Julien Pearlmutter.  I found it strange, considering the follow-up novels in this series, that Paul and Gamay Trout spend so much of their time apart in this first novel. Still, I’m glad to see another happily married couple make regular appearances in Cussler’s works.

This novel is set mostly in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, while sometimes skirting the border of Guatemala as well. Not surprisingly, Cussler uses this vicinity to reference one of his favorite underworld characters, Quetzalcoatl, a demonic sort who can be blamed for any number of atrocities in the NUMA-verse. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it would be pretty cool to see some overlap in plotting from novel-to-novel and series-to-series regarding all the changes that these adventures have brought to the world. Since Quetzalcoatl has made other appearances in his books, couldn’t Cussler have tied the old stories into the new? Couldn’t more connections be drawn that sort of reward the faithfulness of his readers? Is that really too much to ask?

One scene in this book is as memorable as the yellow airplane of Mediterranean Caper or the runaway blimp of Cyclops, and that’s the “Soccer Game of Death” which The Brotherhood uses to punish the failures of its own thugs. I honestly don’t know when I had read this book last, but the scene has always stuck with me (though I couldn’t recall which book it had come from). One thing that surprised me, though, as I reread it this week was that Kurt and Joe didn’t end up on that same ball field in Texas in a fight for their own lives. I could have sworn they had to run that gauntlet before finally defeating the villains, so when I read about them burying the bad guys in Columbus’s own tomb at the end of the book, I was a bit let down. Am I remembering it wrong? Does Cussler return to this soccer field at some point in another novel?

Overall, this was a pretty fun read and a good introduction to The NUMA Files. I’ve got three books left in the series to review, so Blue Gold is where I’m headed next. Almost through them all! What a ride.

©2018 E.T.

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