For the 13th installment to The Oregon Files, Clive Cussler and co-author Boyd Morrison take Juan Cabrillo and the crew of The Oregon to an island in the Indian Ocean, India itself, Africa, and the Suez Canal. As a faithful reader, I long ago once began tracing the various stops of Cussler’s globe-trotting heroes, but by now have sadly lost track. While I can’t recall everywhere his characters have been, I also can’t recall very often that he’s taken any of his teams to India, so this was a nice change to see.

In this story, men from a secretive group called the “Nine Unknown” each has become the caretaker of a portion of ultimate wisdom in a given field. Ancestors have passed this wisdom down to their children through the ages, and this group has only grown in its power and wisdom. In fact, it’s not unlike the basic plot to the children’s series, The 39 Clues! The fail-safes installed to keep these 9 members from corrupting and overtaking the world, however, had been strong. Only now, one member has gotten greedy, and his plans for ultimate rule involve the need to kill off his counterparts one-by-one.

The machine he’s designed, Colossus, is a biological computer built into four massive ships which must be kept near each other to function. The computer system feeds off plankton and is destined very quickly to become self-educating and self-sufficient. The A.I. monster will also necessarily make self-preservation its first and only goal, unless Cabrillo and the crew of The Oregon can stop one of the ships in time.

The story is as unbelievable as any of his other tales, and I think this is what keeps Cussler’s books in the “Adventure” genre and never in the “Thriller.” His yarns, while entertaining, simply aren’t plausible. Sometimes I wish he’d steer clear of the weirdness and just stick with a villain that’s bent on simply making a name for himself (or even a serial killer that doesn’t mind remaining anonymous), not always one that wants to take over the world in its entirety.

The Issac Bell series fits this bill, I guess, but the style of those stories (“on the jump!”) don’t lend themselves to heart-pounding thrills either. This isn’t a huge problem of course, since readers like me keep reading Cussler no matter what he puts out. But a little change now and then would be nice.

A few quirks about this book: I can’t grasp why the villains would spend billions on a bio-computer with so many weaknesses: it must be built over water, it requires four boats and can’t live with three, and each boat holds a bomb that will destroy all four if one person happens to set it off. They hold the wisdom of the ages, but they’re not too quick on their feet. Also (and not surprisingly), Juan Cabrillo gets shot in the leg again in this story. I was really hoping he’d make it through one novel without earning another dent in his prosthesis, but the tool must remain a bullet-magnet, and I guess we readers just have to live with it. Juan certainly does. Finally, it was nice to see another new Operative, Raven, which I think is the first new member to be added to The Oregon crew since MacDee.

Overall this story was entertaining for its action but unsatisfactory in its story. Still, I look forward to the next installment, Final Option, and that’s always a good thing.

©2019 E.T.

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