Date first published	27/03/2008
ISBN Number	0-718-149777
Page Count	448 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it.

Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second, very nearly, is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Kurt Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.

What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top-secret scientific project that could change the world forever. And that's before the surprises really begin...

Review

I think that I would describe this story as workman like. It has some interesting ideas, but the action is not what we have come to expect from Cussler. It seems curiously muted somehow. The final showdown happens in the blink of an eye, and neither of the villains is dispatched in a hard fight, one is burnt to a crisp, the other left to drown.

The idea that the Phoenicians may have used America for their gold is possible, although I'm not sure if it was possible. There is also a hint that the Ten Commandments were not what everyone now knows them to be but something far more potent, that should be left out of modern world as being to divisive. Well I suppose it might be true.

The basic story of the chase to find the sacred relic, is basically sound, and a good plot-line. Its well, it has all been done before, with the mad tycoon behind the scenes trying to take control of the world. In this particular case just the world of personal security (ie mercenaries).

Zavala is largely sidelined, and to a greater extent so are the Trouts. Zavala in the background is no bad thing, he is just a cut down version of Giordino. The Trouts however are far more interesting, yet they have very little to do, apart from a little big of digging around in various archives.

The book focuses more on Austin, and his current flame Carina Mechadi. Mechadi does add some spirit to the book and is a half decent character. Austin, well we are no more further forward apart from a murky past in CIA, although an old side kick Flagg, does make a re-emergence.

The book also makes little reference to the other NUMA characters, such as Pelmutter and Yaeger, who normally make a passing entrance. However it is better to leave them out if they have nothing to do, I suppose.

The book does have some good points though, the investigation and the tracking of the various trails does sound plausible, and it doesn't just happen. Mechadi is quite a nice character, as is Adriano, the leading henchman. I have to admit I felt quite sorry for the terrible way in which he was dispatched!

Polar Shift was below par, and unfortunately so is The Navigator. Plot and Balthazar, have both been done before. Putting the psycho in charge of a charitable organisation, and have him fancy himself as a French Knight, does not make him a new character.

I get the feeling that the ideas are running thin on this franchise, and with two other franchises still running it is not surprising. It needs to have a break and some time to consider where this franchise is going. At the moment it is still too much of a clone of the main Pitt stories, which seem to be on the up.

I don't want to see the franchise end, but it needs reinvigorating somehow, and an evaluation of some of the core principles, and possibly a new angle to launch the series. Quality of plot needs to be improved, and it needs to be pacier. This story never really gets going.

I will award three marks for the book, it is not bad, but neither is it a good Cussler book. At the moment The Chase is by far the best story that Cussler has done for years, and perhaps some lessons can be taken from that novel.

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