Status
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
A potential breakthrough discovery to reverse global warming . . . a series of unexplained sudden deaths in British Columbia . . . a rash of international incidents between the United States and one of its closest allies that threatens to erupt into an actual shooting war . . . NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his children, Dirk. Jr. and Summer, have reason to believe there's a connection here somewhere, but they also know they have very little time to find it before events escalate out of control. Their only real clue might just be a mysterious silvery mineral traced to a long-ago expedition in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. But no one survived from that doomed mission, captain and crew perished to a man--and if Pitt and his colleague Al Giordino aren't careful, the very same fate may await them.… (more)
User reviews
I enjoy adventure stories and I am as keen as anyone to suspend belief to allow some technological or other
To me this book reads like a young adult novel aimed at jocks-who-don’t-read. The plot takes too long to get going and there are endless senseless killings to establish the bad guys. The central conceit of near-war between the USA and Canada never feels believeable.
Many people read and enjoy Clive Cussler and I can sort of see what they get out of it without actualy getting it myself. Perhaps I am just a little bit too grown up for this particular techno-thriller fantasy(?)
Jumping to 2008 and Steve Miller is captaining his trawler through the Northwest Passage when a white fog envelopes his boat, killing him and his crewman. Just by chance, Dirt and Summer Pitt are taking water samples and come across the Steve Miller's boat and soon NUMA and their father, Dirk Pitt, are embroiled in a conspiracy that could bring nations, such as the United States, to its knees.
True to Cussler norm this novel is an adventurous read. It moved along at a good pace, never dwadling, and the story unfolded in a breath taking fashion. Of course there were numerous seat-of-the-pants scenes, but thankfully, they were reasonably realistic, not like the unbelievably incredible scenes I've been bombarded with in other Cussler novels. BTW, I'm not reading his series in order.
Cussler kept his characters in character, which was nice, and presented the reader with a certifiable arch-villain, of the crazy-greedy type, and his psychopath muscle who makes crazy man's desires happen.
There were only a handful of grammatical errors, yet despite this I enjoyed this read more than other Cussler novels that were too unbelievable and seemed canned. I have my favorites ( I especially like the Isaac Bell novels) and this isn't one of them, but it was well worth my time.
This is another Pitt adventure and as such is about the same as the others. Different story pushing things along and I enjoy listening to the books while driving. This one is pretty strong about anti-carbon output.
A potential breakthrough discovery to reverse global warming; a series of unexplained sudden deaths in British Colombia; a rash of international incidents between the United States and one of its closest allies that threatens to erupt into an actual shooting war.
NUMA director
Filled with the breathtaking suspense and audacious imagination that have become his hallmarks, this is a tour de force, further proof that when it comes to adventure writing, nobody beats Clive Cussler.
Review.
I had forgotten just how quickly Cussler draws you into a story and then keeps hold of you until the last page. There is nearly always a historical link at the start of these books and in this case it is the ill-fated Franklin expedition to find The North West Passage. I have no idea when a documentary I saw recently was made, but it showed one of the two of Franklin’s ships to have been found on the seabed not too far from King William Island off the coast of Canada. Pitt and Giordino find the wreck of the Terror, one of those two ships, as part of the story, although they also find the other one later one, and giving you that information is not a spoiler!
Almost the whole story takes place in the freezing sea off the coast of Canada, not a glamorous location by any means, but one that still brings out the great excitement that Cussler manages to generate in all his stories. He appears briefly himself, as he does in other of his novels, but as usual goes unrecognised despite giving his name as he does in other tales! It is fast paced with much action and some great descriptions of the conditions in that part of the world. Pitt is again thrown up against a very dangerous foe in Clay Zak, who is backed by an extremely rich, greedy and conniving backer whose only concern is himself and no-one else – he meets a very timely end as Pitt, against all the odds, manages to overcome the problems and, again, helps the world, in this case with regard to energy resources. A great read.
The plot begins in the year 1847, when the Franklin Expedition becomes stranded trying to find the Northwest Passage and they experience a harsh winter during which the men are seemingly going mad. Their stranded ships, Erebus and Terror, are loaded with a mysterious, unidentified silvery metal. The story switches to the present day as the United States is in a major energy crisis due to other nations, including Canada, restricting oil and natural gas production due to global warming. The resulting loss of northern icecap has opens resources in the Artic Ocean that a Canadian businessman, Mitchell Goyette, looks to exploit for his bottom line while publicly being seen as an environment-first businessman. Using his extensive bribery network that has ensnared the bellicosely patriotic Canadian Prime Minister and the natural resources Minister that he uses to get the fossil fuel deals he wants and sets up faux “environmental saving” businesses to hide his activities. When President initiates a nationwide effort by the government and scientists to find a solution to crisis, a scientist at George Washington University accidentally discovers a process to break down carbon dioxide but her assistant on the payroll of Goyette informs the businessman’s hitman Clay Zak who attempts to kill her. But wanting to keep the United States out of the Artic, Goyette sets up incidents that appear to be American businesses and military threatening Canadian citizens which quickly spirals into various other international incidents between the two nations almost to the verge of military action. During this Dirk Junior and Summer are studying the waters off Alaska and British Columbia when they come across a boat of dead fishermen who have all died of asphyxiation, one of whom is the brother of a Canadian wildlife scientist Trevor Miller. The three investigate the mysterious deaths under the cover of the Pitt’s NUMA & Canadian sponsored research and find Goyette’s recently opened carbon dioxide storing facility is a front for dumping it into the sea and save a cruise ship from a massive cloud of carbon dioxide. Meanwhile the GWU scientist has meal while Dirk Senior and Loren, telling them of her breakthrough and the need for a rare element in the platinum group. After Dirk Senior saves the scientist after her lab is firebombed by Zak, he goes searching for the element and finds himself in a race with Zak who is attempting to find the element as well so Goyette and corner the market. The trail leads to the Artic and the failed Franklin Expedition. Dirk Senior joins a NUMA expedition to explore ocean floor for thermal vents taking Rudy Gunn’s alongside Al Giordino and Jack Dahlgren. The NUMA ship flying under Canadian colors and avoiding various Canadian government ships get to the area where the missing expedition might have come to an end to find a Goyette owned cargo ship lead by Zak looking for the same thing. Dirk Senior and Zak confront one another in the haul of the Erebus with Zak dying and Pitt coming out very much the worse for wear, but thanks to the arrival of a U.S. sub the NUMA crew gets control of the cargo ship with evidence of the illegal activities to Alaskan waters which leads to the decrease in tensions. As the Canadian government is shaken by the bribery scandal, Trevor Miller gets revenge on Goyette in his own country club. Dirk Senior’s search for the rare element came to not, but the NUMA Artic expedition hits on a motherload of platinum group elements thus allowing the GWU breakthrough to go full speed ahead on combating carbon dioxide.
Since Dirk Cussler joined his father in writing the series, the narratives have been some of the best in the series and this book is no exception. While Dirk and his children tackle the same problem and antagonists, they do so without interaction from the other allowing their respective subplots to develop independently to independent resolutions without attempting to bring together in some complicated way. Having Dirk Senior not able to save the day though his actions were a nice change of pace, but the NUMA discovery would have played out better if the Cussler’s hadn’t changed Rudy’s character to be forgetful about bringing samples back to headquarters to be studied. Though once again the antagonist was a greedy businessman, a trope for many books now, however the main actions were caused by his hired hitman who was one of the better henchmen villains of the series. The only other complaint would be the retconning of the fuel cell technology from Trojan Odyssey that was to solve global warming, though maybe because that book was bad it was decided to ignore somethings about it.
Artic Drift continues the string of strong books that began with Dirk Cussler joined his father Clive in writing the series. Though there are the usual clichés, the overall narrative over comes these and gives the reader an enjoyable time.