Date first published	1990
ISBN Number	0 246 13220 5
Page Count	456 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

As with many of Cusslers novels, the story opens with a seemingly unrelated event set in the past. The pre-quel to the main story is set in 1945, at the very end of the war. An American B29 bomber lifts off to meet it's place in history, but due to circumstances never meets its destiny.

The story moves to the near future (when it was written), to find Pitt at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean conducting highly secret trials on the Ocean bed. A British ocean expedition is also in the area, but it's aims are highly suspect. All hell breaks lose when a Japanese auto carrier explodes, leaving behind the devastation expected following a nuclear explosion.

All surface vessels in the area are destroyed leaving the British expedition in serious trouble, severely damaged the British sub, is fast running out of time. Fate intervenes and they are rescued by Pitt. Unfortunately the rescue is brief, for the nuclear explosion has set off a huge underwater earthquake and the secret American base is destroyed.

Pitt and Al join a multi agency team to locate the originators of the nuclear bomb and uncover a plot to dominate the world economy by nuclear blackmail. Can Pitt and his team stop the Dragon centre coming on line, and rescue his on/off lover Loren?

Pitt as can be expected goes off at a tangent, indifferent to the efforts of the other teams, and comes face to face with the Japanese head of security Kamatori and in an epic battle manages to subdue him. After escaping the clutches of the conspiracy Pitt is literally thrown back into action to destroy the centre of operations.

Review

This is one of Cusslers best stories. Full of action mixed with an element political intrigue, it is in someways different to his other stories in that other people besides Pitt contribute to the eventual success of the mission. The supporting characters are also more rounded which has you egging on the whole team.

The story is one that is based on the perception that the Japanese are over running everything and want nothing but total global domination of the world economy, and will do anything to ensure it happens. The story is interesting in that it bases itself on the peculiar set up that is the Japanese economy and political set up, where the big industries have more power and control than the actual government. In real life the situation has changed somewhat with the partial collapse of the Japanese economy.

A said earlier the book uses the pre-quel story to end the plot, but unlike other Cussler stories, it is not until three quarters of the way through the main novel, that it is mentioned again, and you begin to see the intention. Pitt is again at the centre of the action, and in a rather amusing way makes sure that his best friend is kept out of danger.

The only let down in the story is the second guessing of technology. The book written in 1990 and set in 1993 sees huge technical leaps in robotics, which 7 years after the story is set have still not really become reality. However this is a minor niggle which does not really detract from the central novel which is well thought out and gripping. It really is a novel that can't be put down, and it is a great pity that Cussler is not so well known to a wider audience.

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