I just finished reading the huge adventure story, Plague Ship, by Clive Cussler. I have always loved Dirk Pitt and all his quirky sidekicks, so I was willing to try his new action Adventure hero, Juan Cabrillo. The story follows most of the Cussler outlines.
As always, there is some sort of prologue that takes you back 1/2 a century or more to the beginnings of whatever disaster you're about to find in the present day. (After all, nothing happens in a vaccuum. ) Then abruptly you're thrust into the regular story, which in this case is as Cabrillo (the chairman) is about to steal two, vastly superior Russian made torpedoes from the Iranians. All this to set the stage for the rest of the book, which centers on a cult group, the Responsivists, that is seeking to reduce the population of the world by 3/4 or more. They plan on doing this by releasing a virus that will make it impossible for the general population to reproduce. Lets just say that it takes quite a bit of time to get that all figured out and there are several amazing chases, harrowing escapes, torture,murder and other 'fun' stuff so typical of Clive Cussler as you finally are able to figure out what is going on. One definitely has to suspend belief as you travel through this story. All in all, though it is fun to have a super hero who has these amazing super powers and who above all, hate evil and injustice. It's just that unlike the rest of us they actually have the ability to do something about it.
If you're a Cussler fan, you'll enjoy this no matter what. And if you've never read any of his books before, well, start with something a bit easier (to swallow that is)...like his book Sahara or Raise the Titanic. I give this book a tentative thumbs up.
