by Clive Cussler
Cussler uses Pitt to show us how to be cool and smart
Reviewed by: Twelve
About Twelve
I've read several Clive Cussler novels so far, but 'Flood Tide' was my first. It all began when I went to a Swiss book store in the Bahnhof, where there is always a pathetic section dedicated to English books. I was looking for something in the fantasy genre, but as I scanned the narrow selection, I found none. (I've learned that this is always the case with these small bookshops in Switzerland; you can find everything from the profound to smut, but you can't find English fantasy.) However, I had a long, two-hour train ride ahead of me, and even the Swiss Alps get boring if you have to look at them everyday. I needed to find a good, engaging book.
Then I saw 'Flood Tide', and noticed that the author is nicknamed "The Grandmaster of Adventure". I know that advertisers will say almost anything to sell a book, but I figured that if an author walked around with a name like that, he couldn't be TOO bad.
As I sat in my train, rolling through the winding tracks along the snow-capped mountains, I had my eyes buried in my new book. I wasn't particularly intrigued by what I was reading until I read this bit very early on:
"Something did not seem right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it quietly gnawed at his mind, some unfathomable sixth sense that told him something was wrong....
And then he had it. The toiletry items from his shaving kit—razor, cologne, toothbrush, hairbrush—were always placed in neat order on the sink after he arrived at his destination. They were right where he had set them, all except the shaving kit itself. He distinctly recalled holding it by the outside strap and pushing it onto the shelf. Now the strap was facing the rear wall."
I smiled as I read this reference to Dirk Pitt, the hero of 'Flood Tide'. I said to myself, "This man is terribly cool". I knew that I was being rather childish and foolish for being hooked by such a minor reason and before even a tenth of the book was read, but that's all I needed. I continued to be rewarded, because from this point on the book gets better and better.
Dirk Pitt's "coolness", combined with his deep knowledge of weaponry, his position as a marine scientist, and his sense of justice make for a wonderful and thrilling adventure. You can't help but love the graying, 40-something year old man as he faces off against a rich Chinese-business man who will sacrifice human lives to get richer. The trials through which Cussler sends his hero are extremely fun to read, and the build up to the final climax is done in a professional way.
Cussler isn't the kind of writer to fill his pages with action and forget style. The man truly has talent in art of writing, as he describes worldwide locations, marine ships and equipment, and delivers witty prose. He is capable of writing of not only Pitt, but about a fully-painted supporting cast as well. Though Pitt will always be compared to James Bond, Cussler's women are not brainless things who seem to think that the bed is the end to all means. They play rather important roles in the story, are deep and realistic characters, and don't end up being there soley for the purpose of sex appeal. That's something I can respect.
When I finished this book, I immediately told my best friends about it. I came to learn that this was actually one of many Pitt adventures, and I wondered how I could have been a lover of action novels and missed them. I was happy to note that the small Swiss book shops are always stocked, intelligently, with plenty of Dirk Pitt adventures. Whether or not you have read a Dirk Pitt novel, if you like action and haven't read 'Flood Tide', you need to pick it up. Very quickly.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Flood Tide
Copyright © by Twelve, 2003
Reviewed by Twelve
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