Rating: 
Summary: Facing Down Death---Again!
Review: Greedy mega corporations bent on ruling the world and a love for the sea and adventure have long been hallmarks of Clive Cussler's large body of work. Whether his main character has been Dirk Pitt or more recently, Kurt Austin in a series of novels co written with Pail Kemprecos one always expects the same basic formula. The good guys are so very good while surviving multiple near death experiences that would kill any lesser man or woman. The bad guys are incredibly bad and driven by megalomania of a grand scale, which will ultimately play a large role in their complete and total destructive downfall. The read will be a good one and the good guys will win, saving the world once again. One does not read Clive Cussler for deep plots, complicated characters, or philosophical musings on life. Not to be taken seriously, one reads Cussler for the sheer thrill of adventure and he does not disappoint.A case in point is his most recent release, which opens as so many of the Kurt Austin novels do. A ship sinks taking people down with it and Kurt Austin leader of the NUMA ® Special Assignments Team must try to do everything he can to save them. In this case, Kurt and his friend and colleague Joe Zavala make the rescue using an untried submersible and soon perform another feat of heroic daring do. In the aftermath, it becomes clear that one of the ships involved in the incident was sabotaged by outside forces. Kurt begins to investigate and before long begins to feel hunted by a shadowy mega corporation led by a maniacal leader bent on taking over the world. To do so he will use genetic manipulation as well as anything else necessary to achieve an incredible power grab that would change the sea forever. Blending in the relics of the Basques, a German Zeppelin and the culture of various Inuit (commonly referred to incorrectly as Eskimo) tribes, the authors once again create another grand adventure where the bad guys get a fatal dose of their own medicine in the end. While no new ground is plowed in terms of character development there are not any nasty surprises either. Kurt is still loved by all the women of the world, hated and fearfully respected by his enemies, and calm and collected in the snarling face of danger. He easily compares to Stuart Wood's recent signature character of Stone Barrington, but he does not have as much money. Such is the life of a government employee. The other usual characters make brief appearances. Admiral Sandecker is rarely seen or mentioned at all in this novel, which is a change from previously books in this series. He has little to do until the very end as opposed to the Trouts, who are given plenty to do in a secondary story line, which eventually peters back into the main storyline where they become sideline players. Additionally, there is certain choppiness to the novel over the course of its more than 400 pages. In the past, the works flowed seamlessly and it was impossible to determine which part one of the authors write. That is not the case here where the sentence structure shifts from chapter to chapter and while one can't tell precisely who wrote what, one does get a sense who might be responsible. For what it is, this is another very enjoyable book. As in the others of this series, it is not filled with deep characters, or philosophical musings. Instead it is pure action and adventure and serves as a great break from all the serious pretentious literary stuff. In other words, it is fun and by all means, don't take it seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the last Pitt novels
Review: Having read all of the Pitt and Austin novels, I would put this in the middle of the road, not as good as the early Cussler adventures, but not nearly as flat as the last couple of Pitt stories. Fortunately, Kemprecos spares the readers of Cussler's annoying cameos and doesn't spend too much time describing the outfits of the characters. Otherwise, its your basic Pitt novel with some some superficial changes to the lead characters. I have to give the author(s) credit for turning Eskimos into an army of murderous thugs, just when I thought they were running out of ethnic groups to slander. I'll never look at another igloo without wondering if there's a 1930s airship loaded with mutated fish inside. And speaking of mutated fish, wasn't this a scene from Austin Powers? All kidding aside, its not a bad diversion, though it is a predictable one.
Rating:
Summary: Gaining Momentum
Review: I admit it, I'm a Dirk Pitt fan through and through and I'm not sure any series and/or hero will ever measure up to those standards. However, I am enjoying the Kurt Austin series more and more. And although this book lacked the non-stop action of the Pitt series and previous Austin fares, it's still a very entertaining novel. In White Death, a corporate conglomerate is attempting to monopolize the fishing industry by killing fish with genetically altered salmon. I know, reading this first sentence causes you to roll your eyes (it did me too), but the adventure of Kurt and his Numa co-horts Joe Zavala and Paul and Gamay Trout, along with cameos with Pitt regulars Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yeager and St. Julien Perlmutter kept my interest for the entire book. Many adventures do occur in the book, including Kurt and Joe's rescue of trapped passengers in a sunken Danish cruiser, the rescue of Canadien wilderness villagers from blood-thirsty Mongol-like killers, to the dramatic climax aboard a German zeppelin. This is vintage Cussler, and as such, keeps the pages turning at a fast-action pace. As I said, I'm not placing Kurt Austin into the Dirk Pitt stratus yet, but his stock keeps rising with each tale.
Rating: 
Summary: These Kurt Austin tales keep getting better...
Review: I am what you would call a MAJOR Clive Cussler Fan (all I need is a paycheck, and I'd be a Professional...) and I absolutely LOVE the Kurt Austin adventures--ALMOST as much as his counterpart Dirk Pitt. I MUST admit 1-tiny fact: I have enjoyed the last TWO Kurt novels MORE than the most recent Dirk Pitt tale ('Valhalla Rising'). I ALMOST feel dirty admitting that, but c'mon! It's TRUE! For those who continue to persist that Clive puts way MORE into his stories for Dirk than he does for Kurt, well I'm beginning to think othewise. Don't get me wrong, as long as Dirk Pitt lives on the pages of a Clive Cussler novel, he's got at least ONE die-hard reader. He has NEVER let me down. Sure, some novels are better than others, but they are ALL entertaining. 'White Death' is among his better releases (in MY opinion, anyway). I found one thing VERY interesting as I devoured this book: it doesn't contain as much action as the average Dirk Pitt/Kurt Austin novel--which ISN'T to say that the action is absent entirely. On the contrary, there is plenty--just not as much as I have grown accustomed to over the years--and this in NO WAY slows the story one tiny bit. I found 'White Death' to emphasize the plot more than action, which I enjoyed tremendously. There is never ANY doubt who will win in the end here--and as I read on, I found the topic of 'White Death' to be MUCH more entertaining than I would have normally thought possible: A modern evil Eskimo tribe plans to genetically engineer horrific 'Frankenfish' that will decimate the population of certain species of fish in the oceans--while stockpiling these same in 'Fish Farms', monopolizing the supply and making billions in the process. Simple plan, right? Sure--until you factor in a certain Kurt Austin and his trusty sidekick, Joe Zavala (absolute CLONES of Dirk Pitt & Al Giordino). Joe has a more subdued roll in 'White Death' than he has in his previous adventures with Kurt--but when he does make an appearance, it usually involves chases, explosions and even a little sword-play. Along for the ride we have a radical environmental group calles SOS (Sentinels of the Sea) and the dangerous and explosive company bent on total control of genetic fish engineering, Oceanus (a front for our evil Eskimos). As usual, the beginning of the story takes us back in history, my personal favorite was an undocumented Nazi/Germany ill-fated trip to the North Pole in a massive Zeppelin. There is MUCH to like in the pages of 'White Death' but I HAVE to admit, one particular conversation between Kurt and the leader of the Evil Eskimos had me scratching my head...NOT because it was confusing, but because it seemed forced and almost comical in how the bad guy spoke and declared he was '...the instrument of your (Kurt's) death...', other than that, I truly loved this latest outing with Kurt, Joe, Admiral Sandecker and even an appearance by Rudi Gunn. I now long for another installment featuring Dirk, but I am thrilled that with the introduction of Kurt, I no longer have to wait a full year and a few odd months before I see something new from Cussler...All in all, 'White Death' is FINE brain candy.
Rating:
Summary: Good , but not one of the better ones
Review: I have always enjoyed Clive Clussers books but this one let me down. I thought a lot of what went on in the book was predictable. I thought there seemed to be a lot of time gaps where the charactors in the book, based on the timeline, had enough time to carry out their task but seemed to wait for Austin to safe the day. To say that Austin was to replace a special forces unit was a long reach. The book did hold my interest but unlike the Dirk Pitt adventures I don't think I'll be reading this one more than once.
Rating: 
Summary: Confirmed
Review: I have been reading Dirk Pitt novels since the beginning. I even relate myself a little with Pitt having had a not dissimilar background and interestes, not to mention green eyes. In short I have been a loyal Cussler reader for as many years as Clive has been writing. That being said...... I theorized in an earlier review that Cussler has developed an ingenious computer program to write his novels for him. I think there is a database of descriptive metaphors, names and evil plots with another database of georgraphy and history. This program randonly selects items from the database and inserts them into a pre-written structure that follows the "NUMA" formula. Let the CPU's churn for a few trillion cycles and Bammo a new book all ready for the publisher. After reading White Death I am more convinced them ever that I am right on the mark. This book is exactly like I described. A pat formula, change a few names, reuse some metaphors, grab a few odd historical details sprinkle in soem geographical descriptions and you have a novel that is basically like every other that Clive and Paul have co-written ( or co-programmed ). I could not get enthusiastic about this book since through the whole thing I felt that I had read it before. You know what I mean, you read a book then years later forgot you read it, re-read it and through the whole thing you say to yourself that I have seen this before. I know what will happen next. Well thats White Death. I've read it before and knew what would happen in each page. I have no problem with a formula especially a good one like Dirk and Al and the Admiral and Rudi and Loren. This is a bit abusive and way too repetitive of his other novels. The good thing is that you can save a lot of money. Buy this book and read it. Put it up, then when the next one comes out just re-read this one. It saves the price of the next novel. I think Clive and Paul need to dump the database and get some new descriptions and ideas. After all how many evil corporations can there be inthe world all run by meglomaniacs wanting to <fill in the blanks> __________ and __________, then _________ so Dirk/Kurt will ________ and well you get the idea.
Rating:
Summary: Huge Disappointment
Review: I have every Clive Cussler book, most in first edition hardback, and all in audio. I love this stuff: for the story and the magic. This book is a huge disappointment. I kept reading; waiting for some subtelty to appear as in the Dirk Pitt novels: to no avail. I was expecting the heros to combine their creativity and technology to pull the rabbit out of the hat. If it happened it was crude, left out of the story, or glossed over. Previous stories have the heros use the new technology against the bad guys, and to show you how to do it. Not here, just a bunch of cultural side jokes. Some are funny, most are misplaced; and if not in your culture, totally irrelevant.
This story centers around genetic engineering and global economics. But is does so at the level of a six year old. The details that would explain the story are as lost as a grain of sand in the sea: bring your own background information.
This book introduces some critical issues, but does nothing to explain their importance. With the reputation that Mr. Cussler and Mr. Kemprecos have, one would expect a better result. They missed the boat as surely as the bad guys in their book did. (Where is Michael Crichton when you need him?)
OK, so this is just an adventure story. Even in that genre it falls short. You can tell who wrote which sentence. It was a very uncomfortable book to read. Next time I will get it from the library before I decide to spend the money on a personal copy.
Rating:
Summary: White Death
Review: I just finished Clive Cussler's new book White Death. I own every one of the books written by Clive Cussler, all in hardbook editions. Clive has always been my favorite writer, without question. Dirk Pitt or course being my favoite of Clive's characters, but certainly Kurt Austin has been coming along as a good replacement. Clive's books have always been a fast read with lots of twists and turns in his story lines. As you read his books, you always say to yourself, how are you going to tie up all of these story lines? But in the end you know Clive will do it with a bang,and the entertainment with will be great. I can tell that Clive did not write this book. It is too wordy with so much side explanitation that at times you want to take his by the shoulders and shake him and say, "Get on with it". Clive's books are a fast read, this one is not. If Clive is trying to train Mr. Kemprecos to take over writing his books when he retires, he needs a lot more work on shortening his chapters and getting on with the story line. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to read his books, I still enjoy reading every page. I just wish Clive would edit them a little better the next time before he puts his name on them.
Rating:
Summary: Same great suspense, but same plot
Review: I look forward to a new Clive Cussler (& Paul Kemprecos) adventure every year or so, but this one, though it has all the suspense and twists I expected I feel like I've read it before. Perhaps Kurt Austin is too much of a clone of Dirk Pitt and well as their sidekicks, and the formula has run its course. Cussler's non-fiction adventures are even better, and I can see where he brings his knowledge of sea and the history of seafaring to each plot, but unfortunately there is nothing new here to make it as exceptional as I've come to expect. Cussler is a great story teller and I honestly don't read him for the great writing, but for the escape so perhaps next time he will bring one of his heroes(or create a new one)onto land for a bigger caper and break new ground.
Rating: 
Summary: The Kurt Auston series!
Review: I totally agree with the gentleman from Australia - Kirt is no Dirk. I am so disappointed in Cusslers new series that I am switching to another author; and yes I am rereading the Dirk and Al series.
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