Date first published	2003
ISBN Number	0 718 14702 2
Page Count	485 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Dirk Pitt rides again, possibly for the last time.

As with many of Clives recent books the story starts in antiquity. The Trojan Wars to be precise. The early story tells of the fall of Troy, and the fantastic voyages of Odysseus. As a brief narrative of Homers original it is entertaining but lacks some of the excitement of the original. If you want some background find a copy on Amazon or your local bookshop.

The book then jumps to the present day, and finds Dirk Junior, and his sister Summer working on a reef that is dying due to a mysterious black cloud. Things take a turn for the worst when a massive hurricane crosses the area destroying every ship in its path. Dirk and Summer trapped in a diving bell, are forced to sit out the storm and hope they won't be affected.

Meanwhile on the surface, Dirk and Al, are also in the eye of a storm, trying to save a luxury cruise ship, which has also been caught by the hurricane. Following the rescue of the ship, Dirk flies back to Washington, only to be sent back to the area with orders to discover the origin of the mysterious black cloud. In scenes reminiscent of Sahara Dirk, Al, and Rudi Gunn along with two other scientists start the business of tracking down the source of the black cloud.

Dirk and Al find themselves in a race against time as the mysterious Odyssey Corporation finalizes its plans to change the world, in an outlandish plan to lower the temperature of the worlds oceans, and bring about a new ice age. Once again Pitt, is sent to save the world, but can the aging hero pull it off?

Review

If we take the main story, leaving the historical aspects aside for the moment, it is not a bad story. The usual elements are there, a mysterious enemy, attractive women, and the usual stagers. Whilst the elements are there, there is something missing that turns the story from being truly excellent, to merely good. I think the main problem is that the story lacks real pace, and the set piece action scenes whilst nicely written have no real intensity.

In the past the story would have moved from one action piece to the next, with this you get long pauses between the action. The relentless threat to Dirk and Al are also missing, and this has been the heart of the previous books.

What I did find annoying about the book was the attempt at re-writing of history by moving the Trojan wars from the Mediterranean to Norfolk in England. Cusslers geography is also slightly confused in this respect, as tin was only mined in the Cornwall area of the UK. This part of the story seems to have been based on a piece of research, although I'm not certain about this. To my mind the research seems to be based on the Graham Hancock method of research. make a good story with the facts and ignore those that don't fit. I can't really see how the Troy legend could have in reality been based around a power struggle based on tin, but I suppose fact can be stranger than fiction.

The other (minor) problem, is that Pitt is feeling his age. This also lends itself to a slower paced book, as obviously a man in his mid forties, is highly unlikely to be able to do the same feats as those of a man in his twenties. It is obvious that the current Dirk has reached his sell by date, and it is good to see Dirk riding off into the sunset. Although not explicitly stated this may be the last, but it need not be the last Dirk Pitt novel. It would be quite easy to fill in the years between his earlier adventures. After all we seem to have covered a twenty year period, in 16 novels. Plenty of time for other adventures, and the franchise would be much stronger than the Dirk Junior/Summer franchise that would seem to be in the offing.

The main trail leading to the weird world of the Odyssey Corporation is rather to obvious, and the reasons for the black cloud, and who/why/how it is being generated is a little to obvious. At least the science in this book is not to outlandish, unlike Valhalla Rising, where it was far to over the top. Much of what is described I would guess is just around the corner.

The final chapters of the book suffer from the American trait of being overly sentimental, and 'must have a happy ending syndrome'. I can understand Cusslers wish to draw a line under the franchise, but it could have been slightly less sugary.

I actually enjoyed the book, believe it or not. A few plot holes, a rather obvious plot line, but it was better than Valhalla Rising, just not up to Cussler at his very best. Read it if you don't mind history being mangled!!

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