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Donald Mitchell reviewed:
Arctic Drift (A Dirk Pitt Novel, #20) by Clive Cussler
| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:  Buy Arctic Drift in Hard Cover and Enjoy a Fine Sea-Going Tale, December 1, 2008 The book opens on a doomed expedition that is captured in the Arctic ice after trying unsuccessfully to navigate the Northwest Passage through Canada from Europe to Asia. The officers can't keep order as the men seem to be going mad, somehow connected to silvery rocks they have come into contact with. Moving into the future, the year is 2011 and a mysterious phenomenon called the Devil's Breath is causing mysterious deaths at sea along the Inside Passage in British Columbia. Summer and Dirk, Jr. are taking water samples when they come across a derelict ship that has come into contact with the Breath. In the process, Summer makes friends with a dead fisherman's brother and the three investigate what might be causing large changes in the acid level in the sea. Further south, a pro-environmentalist Canadian M.P. is murdered in a way to make it look like an accident. In the Arctic, a Canadian research station is destroyed by what looks like a U.S. Navy vessel creating international tensions. In Washington, D.C., a rare element turns out to have unusual properties, and the finding triggers a race to find more of the element and to seize control of the secret. Now the race is on to solve the energy crisis. I liked the plot very much. It goes well beyond the "we are running out of . . . ." story lines and the "we are going to die from global warming" story lines to come up with an original intersection of the two problems constructed in a way that seems realistic in light of the economic events earlier in 2008 as gasoline prices in the United States spiked above $4.00 a gallon and seemed headed higher until a global recession pricked the balloon. The story has nice balance as well. There are a lot of characters and several interesting threads. If anything, Arctic Drift is a little too balanced. I could have used more of Dirk and Al at sea and in battle. The new plots where Dirk, Jr. and Summer engage in the ocean-going events aren't nearly as interesting as the more dangerous situations that Dirk and Al used to get themselves into and out of. There's less swagger here . . . and more intellect. That's okay, but it's not quite as good as the over the top swagger that this series once featured. But I think you'll enjoy your voyage with NUMA and company. |
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