March 23, 2015
Bestseller Cussler scores a direct hit in the 10th Oregon Files novel (after 2013’s Mirage), coauthored with Morrison (The Ark). Juan Cabrillo, the captain of the Oregon, a tramp steamer that hides beneath its patina of rust a state-of-the-art battleship bristling with high-tech surface and undersea weaponry, must contend with mad scientific genius Lawrence Kensit, who’s determined to take over the world. The most immediate threat comes from Adm. Dayana Ruiz, the “top-ranking woman in the Venezuelan military,” who’s trying to take out Juan and the Oregon so she can implement one of Kensit’s plots, shooting down the American vice president’s plane. But this is a Cussler thriller, so action scenarios take second place to a blockbuster concept, in this case giant glowing green crystals in a secret cave that power a “neutrino telescope” capable of seeing anything, anywhere on the planet. Series fans will have a lot of fun. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.
September 19, 2016
All the familiar elements are in place in bestseller Cussler’s eighth Sam and Remi Fargo adventure (after 2015’s Solomon’s Curse), coauthored with Burcell: a king’s treasure lost in the mists of time; an ancient book that hints at the location of the treasure; and a wealthy evildoer, Charles Avery, who will stop at nothing to find it. The handsome Sam and the beautiful Remi engage in their trademark comic banter, but the action comes across as labored and the quest something of a grind. The scene shifts from 1216 Norfolk, England, to present-day San Francisco, where Remi acquires the ancient tome from a bookseller who ends up dead shortly after the transaction. The Fargos jet to Nova Scotia, a Brazilian island, and Jamaica; they are almost constantly in deadly danger from Avery’s minions, who are one step ahead in the treasure search. Good guys and bad guys end up in a cavern beneath Nottingham Castle for a grand shoot-out. Along with the Fargos, readers will heave a sigh of relief that the end has finally arrived. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.
April 1, 2016
The "Fargo Adventures" series returns. This time, husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team Sam and Remi Fargo are hunting for an ancient cypher wheel--an artifact that of course is lusted after by others, occasioning a brutal murder. And this time, Cussler is joined by former police detective and FBI-trained forensics artist Burcell, author of The Kill Order.
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