Clive and Dirk Cussler |
Clive Cussler, 1931-2020, was not only a novelist, but a real-life undersea explorer. He received numerous awards not only for writing, but for his maritime exploits.
Although the books tend to be slightly on the fantastic side, often with alternative history, and almost techo-thrillers, you can be sure the marine science is all based in fact.
The Dirk Pitt novels have a central theme of being underwater thrillers, usually revolving around recovery of some treasure or shipwreck. The series was begun by Clive Cussler who also founded the actual agency called the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) that appears in the books. Several books were co-authored with his son Dirk, who continued the series after his father's death in 2020.
The books include a fair amount of hardcore fighting, but the plots are always tied to deep sea explorations or recovery operations.
Recurring characters:
Dirk Pitt
Dirk Pitt, Junior- Dirk's son
Summer Pitt- Dirk's daughter
Hiran Yaeger, tech guru
#1 The Mediterranean Caper 1973
#2 Iceberg 1975
#3 Raise the Titanic! 1976
#4 Vixen 03 1978
#5 Night Probe 1981
#6 Pacific Vortex! 1983
#7 Deep Six 1984
#8 Cyclops 1986
#9 Treasure 1988
#10 Dragon 1990
#11 Sahara 1992
#12 Inca Gold 1994
#13 Shock Wave 1996
#14 Flood Tide 1997
#15 Atlantis Found 1999
#16 Valhalla Rising 2001
#17 Trojan Odyssey 2003
#18 Black Wind 2004 (with Dirk Cussler)
#19 Treasure of Khan 2006 (with Dirk Cussler)
#20 Arctic Drift 2008 (with Dirk Cussler)
#21 Crescent Dawn 2010 (with Dirk Cussler)
#22 Poseidon's Arrow 2012 (with Dirk Cussler)
#23 Havana Storm 2014 (with Dirk Cussler)
#24 Odessa Sea 2016 (with Dirk Cussler)
#25 Celtic Empire 2019 (with Dirk Cussler)
#26 Clive Cussler's The Devil's Sea 2021 (by Dirk Cussler)
#27 Clive Cussler's The Corsican Shadow 2023 (by Dirk Cussler)
The story begins during WWII in 1940 when a man appears on the dock at LeHavre, France. I tries to get aboard a channel ferry for England. When he is denied passage, in desperation he attempts to at least have his suitcases taken. Meanwhile, a German air strike creates chaos.
Jump ahead to the present. Someone is apparently saboutaging metropolitan water supplies. Dirk Pitt is part of an operation to explore and salvage the wreck of a channel ferry. An international businessman is attempting to scrape together enough money to avoid total ruin at the hands of the mafia.
Fairly worthless industrial diamonds are found aboard the wreck that Dirk explored. But the more they look into what should have been on that ferry, the more complicated things become.
And a young female French research scientist who is helping Dirk is have a love affair with a very shady character.
