Date first published	26 June 2008
ISBN Number	978 071815344 1
Page Count	519 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

For four novels, Clive Cussler has charted the exploits of the Oregon, a clandestine spy ship completely dilapidated on the outside, but on the inside packed with sophisticated weaponry and intelligence-gathering equipment.Captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo and manned by a crew of former military and spy personnel, it is a private enterprise, available for any government agency that can afford it - and now Cussler sends the Oregon on its most extraordinary mission yet.

The crew has just completed a top-secret mission against Iran in the Persian Gulf, when they come across a cruise ship adrift in the sea. Hundreds of bodies litter its deck, and as Cabrillo tries to determine what happened, explosions rack the length of the ship. Barely able to escape with his own life and that of the liner's sole survivor, Cabrillo finds himself plunged into a mystery as intricate - and as perilous - as any he has ever known, and pitted against a cult with monstrously lethal plans for the human race...plans he may already be too late to stop.

Review

I'm really starting to warm to Cabrillo and his motley crew. I much prefer him to Kurt Austin, who is a Dirk Pitt clone. The premise of the Corporation is also a better one, than NUMA's special ops team. I do think that the super ship, is becoming too much of a super ship, seeming to be able to do everything under the sun. At times the author uses the ships capabilities to get out of tight scrapes. If this aspect is reigned in then we will have a much stronger series.

Usually from the pre story narrative, you get some idea of what the main story is about, with this book it is left rather open ended, with a World War Two bomber gunner finding what looks like Noah's Ark. Having read the prequel it seems as if it will be a race to rediscover the Ark before the bad guys, but in this instance that is not the case, and it is a catalyst for another story.

I must admit that I guessed who Adam Jenner was right from the outset (I had a moment of in sight - the only one this year!), however Jenner is not the man you think he is, with a final twist at the very end. The final twist, completes the circle of the WW II story and the main novel.

The novel does touch a very thorny issue, of man and his use of resources, and the fact that we are growing ever more populous, with the same limited resources. Quite what the solution is I don't know, but it is certainly not what the Responsivists have planned!

The bad guys have of course a lead henchman, and whilst his background is suitably sinister, he never really gets to show his talents during the book, apart from giving Max a hard time during their 'chat'. Kovak appears on the scene but never gets to be truly brutal, in a way that Guy Foss did in Night Probe. Foss was a great villain - probably the best to have come out of Cussler's mind. Truly brutal, but very intelligent with it. Kovak just doesn't get the chance to show what he is, instead we have to rely on his past mis-demeanours to know that he is the bad guy.

Quite a lot of the book resolves around missions which start out well, and then go wrong leaving our heroes in a right mess. This is as it should be, most soldiers would admit that most plans go out of the window with first contact with the enemy! This happens at least twice, with the rescue of Max, and the operation against the Iranians. It doesn't always go well for the bad guys, such as when Kovak tries to take out Linc.

Some science fiction crept in towards the end of the book with the sub orbital aircraft, but I'll let it go, as it did allow for a different way of destroying an impregnable underground base. The other area surrounds the implied organ transplants to keep Jenner alive - perhaps pushing a bit to far.

Humour enters the book in respect of the two computer geeks trying to woe, the survivor of the Golden Dawn. Neither would have managed it if Cabrillo had not explained what Janni really wanted, when offering Eric a tour of her home town!

Overall a pleasant read and plenty of action from Cabrillo and his team. Heres to the next one!

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