Dirk Pitt Adventures #24

It has been about 9 months since I tried reading something from one of my long-time favorite authors, Clive Cussler, who died in early 2020. Cussler holds a special place in my heart, because while I was in the Army, my chaplain (of all people) pushed me into beginning this Dirk Pitt series. Up to that point, I hadn’t been much of a reader, yet with books like The Pacific Vortex!, The Mediterranean Caper, and Raise the Titanic!, I was hooked. I’ve even since passed the love on to a few of my friends.

I guess that’s why it’s hard to give up on this book—not just cuz it’s a Cussler novel, but because it’s a Dirk Pitt adventure! The problem, though, is that I’ve read so many other great books over the past few years that Cussler’s cookie-cutter plots pale in comparison to real fiction. They’ve worn thin. Whereas I was once intrigued by, say, St. Julien Pearlmutter, now I find him to be just a fat, pretentious, know-it-all bore. He’s an overused “god of the machine” and the Pitts’ visits to this gregarious giant are virtually all one and the same. Just like Cussler’s books eventually become.

To what am I contrasting Clive Cussler’s books? Peruse my recent fiction book reviews, and you’ll see that I dabble all over the place. Lately I’ve really enjoyed reading thrillers from the 1950s-1970s.

It’s not like Lionel Davidson or Geoffrey Household are literary masters, but their control of both pacing and plot draw me into their novels like almost no other. Cussler’s formulaic plots with hyperbolic crimes and villains feel more like cartoons when lined up against these other thrilling adventures that I’ve read.

Take Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson (1994) for example. This book is long, and it’s all about a spy trying to steal information from the Russians (not all that different than the plot in Odessa Sea). In doing so, however, this man must infiltrate a Siberian outpost and figure out a way of escape. You can’t imagine the detail involved in such planning, yet Davidson handles it expertly, turning minutia into an epically thrilling read.

I followed up Kolymsky Heights with Odessa Sea and I thought:

“Ugh. Please, not again. These two adventurers are way too old to be doing what they’re doing and way too often in the wrong place at the right time! And why do we have to waste so many pages on this nameless wanderer with a Van Dyke beard who’s saving the Pitts’ lives yet again?!”

I’m a parent, so I know that comparisons can be dangerous and that books (and kids both) need to be judged on their own merits, not primarily when compared to others. So I’ll avoid comparing Cussler’s later works to the works of older (and literary-master-esque) authors likes Jack London, Joseph Conrad, and H. Rider Haggard.

If I want to enjoy a healthy, thrilling read, I want something with meat not fluff. This book fell way too far into the fluffy category, which is why I had finally to put it down.

There’s only one more book in the Dirk Pitt series, Celtic Empire. I don’t know how long it will take me to get to it, but I’ve got to wash the taste of Odessa Sea out of my mouth first. Might take years.

©2022 E.T.

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