The second installment to Cussler’s pretty-much-Dirk-Pitt-but-not-Dirk-Pitt series, The NUMA Files, is Blue Gold, a story with a normalish plot that’s just bedazzled with weirdness. I agree with King Solomon that “there’s nothing new under the sun,” yet at the same time I know that creativity still abounds in this human race of ours. There’s always some tweak to normalcy that we can make to keep the world and our art pleasurably unpredictable. Clive Cussler makes a number of such tweaks here.
If an author told an editor, “I’ve got a great novel idea about how a secret conglomerate is trying to purchase up all the fresh-water sources in the world in order to jack up prices and make a fortune,” the editor might respond with, “Eh, sounds a bit far-fetched, albeit minutely plausible. Go adjust it and tell me what you come up with.” But if that author then added, “Oh, and I’ve also made the villain a giantess Viking whose assassins are robotic Slavic twins!” the editor would say, “Aw, that must be you, Clive. You’ve done it again! We’ll print it up immediately!”
I’m not knocking Cussler or Paul Kemprecos, of course. This book was pretty entertaining, what with the lost Amazonian tribe, their Brazilian prisoner-queen, the dead whales, the blooming deserts, and whatnot. I found myself buzzing right through this story, as I’ve done with a number of recent Cusslers, and while it’s not in my top-ten favorites, I don’t have much to say against it.
Cussler’s predictable formula in all his books hasn’t exhausted me yet, mainly because the scrapes into which his heroes get and the ingenious escapes they find continue to prove unique and entertaining. I’ll keep reading until I finish and review all his books. Looks like NUMA Book 4, White Death, is next on the docket.
©2018 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)