Inca Gold

A classic treasure hunt involving an ancient hoard of gold, the secrets of a lost civilization, and an international ring of smugglers, all brought together in a plot that only Clive Cussler could devise. Inca Gold begins in 1532, when a fleet of ships sails in secret to an island in the middle of an inland sea. There they hide a magnificent treasure more vast than that of any pharaoh. Then they disappear, leaving only a great stone demon to guard their hoard. In 1578 the legendary Sir Francis Drake captures a Spanish galleon filled with Inca gold and silver and the key to the lost treasure, which included a gigantic chain of gold that belonged to the last Inca king, a masterpiece of ancient technology so huge that it requires two hundred men to lift it. As the galleon is sailed by Drake's crew back to England, an underwater earthquake causes a massive tidal wave that sweeps it into the jungle. Only one man survives to tell the tale... In 1998 a group of archaeologists is nearly drowned while diving into the depths of a sacrificial pool high in the Andes of Peru. They are saved by the timely arrival of Dirk Pitt, who is in the area on a marine expedition. Pitt soon finds out that his life has been placed in jeopardy as well by smugglers intent on uncovering the lost ancient Incan treasure. Soon, he, his faithful companions, and Dr. Shannon Kelsey, a beautiful young archaeologist, are plunged into a vicious, no-hold-barred struggle to survive. From then on it becomes a battle of wits in a race against time and danger to find the golden chain, as Pitt finds himself caught up in a struggle with a sinister international family syndicate that deal in stolen works of art, the smuggling of ancient artifacts, and art forgery worth many millions of dollars. The clash between the art thieves, the FBI and the Customs Service, a tribe of local Indians, and Pitt, along with his friends from NUMA, two of whom are captured and threatened with execution, rushes toward a wild climax in a subterranean world of darkness and death - for the real key to the mystery, as it turns out, is a previously unknown, unexplored underground river that runs through the ancient treasure chamber. Inca Gold is Clive Cussler - and Dirk Pitt - at their very best."

Review:This Dirk Pitt adventure gives readers that Dirk Pitt is an adventurer  on all occasions. In this treasure hunt, Dirk Pitt was able to solve the puzzle and find where the Incan treasure is. The adventure has any crisis that threathens the country or the world but it was worth reading on on first time basis.

Sahara

1996, Egypt. Searching for a treasure on the Nile, DIRK PITT thwarts the attempted assassination of a beautiful U.N. scientist investigating a disease that is driving thousands of North Africans into madness, cannibalism, and death. The suspected cause of the raging epidemic is vast, unprecedented pollution that threatens to extinguish all life in the world's seas. Racing to save the world from environmental catastrophe, Pitt and his team, equipped with an extraordinary, state-of-the-art yacht, run a gauntlet between a billionaire industrialist and a bloodthirsty West African tyrant. In the scorching desert, Pitt finds a gold mine manned by slaves and uncovers the truth behind two enduring mysteries -- the fate of a Civil War ironclad and its secret connection with Lincoln's assassination, and the last flight of a long-lost female pilot....Now, amidst the blazing, shifting sands of the Sahara, DIRK PITT will make a desperate stand -- in a battle the world cannot afford to lose!

Reiew:This is the second book of Cussler that became a movie.Unlike Raise the Titanic,it was more action packed. Even the movie didn't have that climactic feeling of the story. Though fiction, Cussler made a fictional conspiracy of the controversial assassination of Lincoln. 

Dragon

August 1945: A lone B-29 takes off from Alaska for the long flight to Japan, bearing the third atomic bomb as back-up to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Shot down just short of its target, the plane crashes into the sea, taking its secret to the bottom. In the aftermath of the war, its very existence is denied, then forgotten. October 1993: A new Japanese empire has emerged, one relying upon financial power rather than military prowess. An uneasy America, increasingly under siege from the economic might of its "ally," remains unaware of the lengths to which some Japanese may be willing to go to ensure Japan's dominance. Unaware, that is, until a huge Japanese auto carrier carrying thousands of "Murmoto" cars made by the mysterious Hideki Suma is destroyed - by a nuclear explosion... In Dragon, his most thrilling and entertaining novel to date, Clive Cussler deftly mixes recent history with some of our deepest fears. He has created a masterpiece of suspense, in which it is once again up to the inimitable Dirk Pitt to defuse a terrifying threat to world peace. From the icy Alaska coast to a tropical paradise in the Pacific, Dragon describes an astonishing and brutal conspiracy, aimed at forcing the West into final acceptance of Japan's world leadership. With infinite patience and ruthlessness, the conspirators have laid their plans so well that America lies helpless before the complex Japanese plot... Dirk Pitt, Cussler's brilliantly conceived hero - described by The New York Times Book Review as an "endearing blend of Boy Scout, Doc Savage, and James Bond" - is the one man who can foil the conspirators and stop the Japanese plan before Armageddon is unleashed. Whether exploring the ocean floor five kilometers below the surface, or fighting an evil samurai-inspired Japanese thug, saber against traditional katana to the death, Pitt is always one step ahead of his adversaries. From the secret underground vault where he uncovers Nazi treasurers protected for decades by instantly fatal nerve gas, to a hardware store in a suburban Maryland town where he fends off an attack by ninja-suited warriors, Pitt is a virtual one-man army of skill and daring, reacting to every crisis with his usual charm, good humor, and brilliant inventiveness, as successful with the ladies as he is in his feats of derring-do. But can any one man defeat the cunning and might of the new Japan when it mobilizes its vast technological resources and its ancient warrior traditions? For Dirk Pitt, in his biggest adventure yet, the answer could mean death. For the United States - defeat and enslavement."

My review:This was one of the most action packed stories of Clive Cussler. The intensity of the story was so high. It can also has a SciFi element because of the idea that the nuclear bomb can be set-off in automobiles across USA by a remote location and the robot guards of Hideki Suma.If you want to start reading Cussler, this is one of the best books to begin with.

Treasure

This was one of the adventures of Dirk Pitt that make a combination of intrigue and adventure ala Indiana Jones and James Bond combined. Before Dan Brown had written fictional conspiracy of his stories, this was already pulled of in a milder manner. The Alexandrian Library has a catalogue of lost science discoveries and philosophies of the known world that will make anyone who may take hold of it the wealth and power not known to the present world. It may also took custody of the hidden truths that may also destroy our current way of life and understanding. Dirk Pitt's nemesis is a madman who leads a cult in South America and a terrorist organization similar to Al Qaeda. This is one of the action-packed Dirk Pitt adventures that I like. This is the 9th Dirk Pitt adventure published.

Raise The Titanic!

This was the first book of Cussler that became a movie and also the first of Cusler's disappointment. It took Dirk Pitt time to make his part as the hero in the story. If you start reading, it may sound like Gene Seagram was the hero.

The action here conflict here was more of human against nature at first then against the Soviets. The plot was interesting because there was no way in hell people will spend money just to raise the Titanic unless there's a cover up involve that within the cargo lies a radioactive element discovered during that time that is vital to the defense program of the Cold War against the Soviets.

It was a race against time that will keep the reader gripping on first read. This was written by Cussler before it was inspired explorers to look for the Titanic. It was not like the actual Titanic that discovered later that was broken in four but there were accuracies in the fictional book.

Cussler's Titanic was a whole ship. It also created inconsistencies in later books that the Titanic was broken in four which is one of the flaws of Cussler. But before it was found, Dirk Pitt was already there. Raise The Titanic was the third book Cussler published.

Pacific Vortex

I first got this book for my dad at Booksale. My dad introduced me to Clive Cussler’s world starring Dirk Pitt when I was a high school freshman. I first read Raise the Titanic. He was a serious collector. So serious that after I read it, he made sure its back at his shelf. 18 books later, I found it again in a set up of a book sale at a lobby near Papelmerotti Glorietta. I was shocked to see it in good condition (my definition of a good condition is at least complete pages and still has the cover). It comes with a die-cut cover revealing a scene in the story.

Synopsis: Dirk Pitt, death-defying adventurer and deep-sea expert, is put to the ultimate test as he plunges into the perilous waters of the Pacific Vortex - a fog-shrouded sea zone where dozens of ships have vanished without a trace. The latest victim is the awesome super-sub Starbuck, America's deep-diving nuclear arsenal. Its loss poses an unthinkable threat to national defense. Pitt's job is to find it, salvage it, before the sea explodes. In a furious race against time, Pitt's mission swirls him into a battle with underwater assassins - and traps him in the arms of a Summer Moran, the most stunningly exotic and dangerous woman ever to enter Pitt's life. As the countdown heads toward disaster, Clive Cussler plummets his hero onto an ancient sunken island - the astonishing setting for the explosive climax of Pacific Vortex!

Review: This is actually the first Dirk Pitt story. Cussler “was reluctant to submit it for publishing.” Because of the demands of his family, friends, readers and fans, Pacific Vortex was published after 5 Dirk Pitt adventures.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

WARNING: Part of the review will reveal parts of the book. Since this is Dirk Pitt’s first adventure and “it does not weave the intricate plots of his later exploits”, I was struck by one of the statements made by Cussler in Pacific Vortex. Dirk Pitt and his long time friend, Al Giordino’s escapades, “were considered legend throughout the oceanographic agency” (National Underwater Marine Agency). And there was Adm. Sandecker, another regular character, made a point that with Dirk Pitt, “almost anything is possible. It seems that Dirk Pitt has already made a name for himself even before the adventure. Probably, the escapades just don’t include him risking his life or fighting a devious fiend or rescuing a beautiful woman from danger.