Date first published	2003
ISBN Number	0 718 14565 8
Page Count	420 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Juan Cabrillo, is the Captain of a private spy ship. The ship and its crew are for sale to the highest bidder, be it private or government.

Cabrillo and his team are hired to put the Dalai Lama back into power. To do this they need to find a long lost artifact - The Golden Buddha, steal it and nullify the Chinese Army to allow the Tibetans to regain their country.

So Cabrillo and his small army (known as the Corporation) swing into action to take the Dalai Lama home.

Review

The book has one main storyline, the theft of the Buddha (from the black marketeers), however this gets very complicated because the art dealer acting on behalf of the buyer, has decided to rip off his client. This leads to the situation where there is a real Golden Buddha, along with two fakes.

The company also set out along the way to rip off the other interested party, a billionaire with peculiar sexual appetites. This is the one part of the book that doesn't really fit as the Corporation have somehow learned that the billionaire is going to buy the Buddha from the art dealer and managed to infiltrate the aircraft crew.

I have read the book twice now, and have still not figured how this line in the story evolved, although it appears to have been planned for, as it is finished off properly. I think somewhere in editing the initial starting point for the plot line has disappeared. It is a small point though.

The main story is well plotted, the pace moves along at a good pace which is what you expect from a Cussler novel. Whilst there is some violence it is muted, without detracting from the action.

The characters are reasonably fleshed out, although one of the main problems was the sheer number of characters involved. You not only have 4 sets of antagonists, you also have quite a large crew working for the the Corporation. I have to admit that I did lose track of who was who on occasion. In some ways it might have been better if this had been the second novel in the series, with an introductory novel with a simpler plotline, making use of fewer characters.

It gets very confusing especially when the crew start going under cover, and use several covers during the story.

Reading this you may think that I dislike the book, I don't, I think it has one or two flaws which could have been avoided, but otherwise, it is quite a good story. The book unlike some other Cussler novels is bedded in reality, and nothing in the book seems to be beyond reality.

The characters are likeable, and it has some interesting concepts. The idea of a floating spy ship wandering the high seas for hire is a very interesting idea. The ship has the advantage of being self contained, it has its own hangers, machine shops, and moon pool, all giving the crew the chance to work in relative safety and luxury.

It is always difficult to judge the first in what may become a series. The author is keen to get the story done, has to introduce and flesh out the characters, but at this point they are just skeletons as you don't have the space to fully build your characters, and a final direction has not been decided for the books.

An interesting novel, if difficult to get into in places, but well worth the crew sailing into action again.

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