Shock Wave

While studying a deadly plague in the Pacific, Dirk Pitt rescues a band of rich castaways who were deserted by their cruise ship and learns that the plague had been caused by a passenger's father, who uses ultrasound to mine diamonds. 750,000 first printing.

Dirk Pitt (Inca Gold), eco-warrior of the National Underwater & Marine Agency (NUMA), returns for another boys' adventure tale, this one set in the year 2000. Along for the sail are Pitt's roly-poly sidekick, Al Giordino, and father-figure Admiral Sandecker, head of NUMA. As with all of Cussler's novels since he raised the Titanic 20 years ago, the plot is a pip. People and animals are dying mysteriously and in droves on various ocean shores, a catastrophe caused by high-frequency sound waves generated by the ruthless diamond-mining techniques of Australian tycoon Arthur Dorsett, whose fiendish plan is to ruin the diamond cartel and corner the colored gem market. Sometime after Pitt gets on the case, he winds up being cast adrift by Dorsett in a small, leaky boat in the Pacific; also on board are steadfast Al and Dorsett's rebel daughter, Maeve, who provides the novel's love interest. The three are shipwrecked but survive to build a small craft that will take them to Dorsett's island fortress, where they hope to rescue Maeve's twin sons, hostages of the unlikely villain (Dorsett suffocates one enemy by stuffing his mouth with diamonds). Meanwhile, Admiral Sandecker realizes that the deadly sound from Dorsett's four Pacific mines will soon converge in Honolulu, killing everyone there. That Cussler's American characters measure and weigh things in metric terms isn't nearly as aggravating as the author's prose, which is not just wooden but petrified. Still, John Gardner notwithstanding, in spirit if not style the Pitt series is the closest thing going to that highwater mark of cartoonish derring-do, Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and the rollicking rough-and-tumble here should satisfy most action fans just fine. 750,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but for Cussler and his fans it resonates with good fortune caused by his 13th book, a tale of diamantine brilliance and intricacy. Modern swashbuckler Dirk Pitt last seen in Inca Gold, (LJ 4/15/94) meets in menacing circumstances with the evil descendants of shipwrecked survivors cast onto an uncharted, diamond-laden shore in 1859. These folks are mostly monomaniacal villains now bent on extracting gems with a reverberating technology that produces an acoustic plague. It has killed several sea populations and now threatens a cataclysmic disaster. Pitt, his mates, and unexpected allies suffer mightily but rebound for a final titanic battle. Readers will love this ripsnorting, old-fashioned sea adventure based on only slightly futuristic science. Cussler writes with tremendous confidence, creating bold characters to love or hate. They all act in situations of gripping intensity and palpable reality. Recommended for popular fiction collections.
-?Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Cussler's hero, Dirk Pitt, appearing for the thirteenth time, leads a National Underwater and Marine Agency expedition to discover why seals and dolphins have been disappearing on Seymour Island in the Antarctica. But the novel actually begins in 1859, when a British ship carrying convicts to Australia sinks. Eight survivors reach land, a deserted island. In the year 2000, naturalist Maeve Fletcher, one of the descendants of two of the survivors who'd married, is stranded on Seymour Island with passengers of a cruise ship and is rescued by Pitt. From here, the plot gets implausible; Pitt discovers the cause of the plague that's killing the sea life, an ultrasound resonance that produces acoustic shock waves under the water. Maeve's father is the villain; sound waves are part of his diamond-mining technology, and the next big blast could kill a million people. It's up to Pitt to stop him, of course. Quite preposterous, but Cussler's fans will love it. George Cohen