Lost City (NUMA Files (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: Liked it
Review: An avid Clive Cussler fan, it kept me going. Not up to par with the old, but still a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: The Perils of Haste
Review: Clive Cussler's Lost City is the usual good read . . . . up to a point. Unfortunately, this book appears to have been written in haste, by a committee, and subjected to less than meticulous editorial attention. In addition to a larger than normal number of instances in which editorial rephrasings were incomplete, leaving inappropriate words in the text and distorting the intended meaning, and the repetitive references to Kurt Austin's "coral-colored" or coral blue" eyes, there is a disorienting confusion by the authors regarding research vessels and ships' captains. The Atlantis, commanded by a captain never named, is over the Lost City site when the bad guys steal the Alvin submersible and cause the deaths of sea-going security agents. Only days later, Austin appears in the same location and boards a second research vessel, the Searcher, which had been redirected to the site after the loss of the Alvin, and is updated on affairs by its captain, Paul Gutierrez. Gutierrez tells the story as though he had been the captain of the Atlantis, and had personally witnessed the events he describes, both of which are incorrect assertions, or "assumptions", from the reader's perspective. Additionally, the circumstances of the death of the security firm's chief and the fate of the Atlantis are described in two significantly different ways in two separate places in the book. The sad truth is that when it came to writing and editing this book, nobody was on watch, and the end result is confusing enough to detract from the reading experience.

Rating:
Summary: NUMA battles another megalomaniac
Review: Cussler and Kemprecos' Lost City collaboration is a step above some of their more recent offerings in both intrigue and imaginativeness.

Jules Fauchard, a fabulously wealthy member of the infamous Fauchard family was fleeing across the Alps from his native France in fleet monoplane toward Switzerland in 1914. The Fauchards were a murderous and ruthless centuries old clan involved in the armory business. In his possesion was a family secret which he felt could potentially cause the demise of millions. Before reaching his destination he was shot out of the sky in a fierce dogfight with 6 fighters assigned to thwart him.

We fast forward about ninety years to Le Dormeur glacier in the Alps. Glaciologists and other scientists working beneath the glacier in a hydroelectric power plant discover a body of an apparent ancient aviator encased in the ice. Kurt Austin, NUMA Special Projects director is soon notified of this discovery, as is French archaeologist Skye Labelle. They both proceed to the glacier to investigate and are soon in the midst of a sabotage of the site. The aviator's helmet and a strongbox found with the body are both objects of the Fauchard's desire.

In concert with this discovery, the presence of a Gorgonweed infestation is being investigated by Austin's NUMA minions Paul and Gamay Trout. Gorgonweed is a rapidly replicating seaweed that is threatening to clog the oceans and destroy sea life and world ecology. The source of the weed seems to be the Lost City, a tall multi spired underwater formation near the Mid Atlantic ridge. Investigation reveals a clandestine undersea operation to harvest enzymes produced in the Lost City formation that are purported to reverse the aging process.

A secret lab in the Scottish Orkney islands under the direction of the Fauchard family using kidnapped scientists is trying to synthesize and purify this magical elixir. It soon becomes apparent that the notorious Fauchard family, long rumoured to be initiators and agitators of both WW1 and WW2 to enhance their business, were presently trying to tip the worldwide balance of power. Led by dragon lady matriarch Racine Fauchard and her sado-masochistic son Emil they provided formidable opposition for Kurt Austin and his NUMA team.

Rating:
Summary: Fun entertainment...
Review: For a recreational reading break, I recently finished Lost City by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos. This is classic Cussler and is very entertaining...

A number of scientists that worked on a secret project have met their deaths in rather questionable ways. This thread is dropped for awhile until you get further into the book. Meanwhile, Kurt Austin helps out a woman researcher (beautiful, what else?) who is trying to find evidence of an ancient trade route at the bottom of a lake attached to a glacier. The researchers at the glacier also find a man entombed in the ice who appears to be about 100 years old, is wearing flying gear, and has a strange helmet. When reporters are permitted to see the find, one of them takes a box belonging to the frozen man and blows up part of the glacier in order to cover his tracks. Thus starts the series of cliff-hanger rescues and adventures that Austin and the researcher find themselves in. Castles with dungeons, arms-dealing families with long histories and murky pasts, and killer algae all combine into a novel that keeps moving at a rapid pace.

Is this Nobel prize literature? Not by a long shot. It's escapism and entertainment, nothing more. But it's good entertainment, and the book is hard to put down. Since this isn't Cussler's primary series with Dirk Pitt, I went into it without a high level of expectation. But I was pleasantly surprised. It's a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe its just me but I've read this before
Review: Has Cussler ever written more than one book? It seems each new one that comes out, including Lost City, is basically the same plot albeit with slightly different characters. I defy any fan of his to replace Kurt Austin with Dirk Pitt and have it read any differently.

This one has to do with some shadowy arms dealing family trying to take over the world through the use of an ancient recipe for eternal life. Naturally, NUMA, through Austin prevents this from happening through a set of lucky circumstances.

After reading this book, like reading all the others, I feel like I've just had a meal of rice cakes. I know that I've eaten something but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.

Given the loyalty of Cussler's readers, I know I'm shouting into the wind when I say this, but skip this one. You've read it before.

Rating:
Summary: Lost City Lacks Punch
Review: Having read all of Clive Cussler's works, his newer series seem to lack intensity and detail of the original Dirk Pitt novels. He has traded the depth and direction of the Pitt character for a repeating scenario in the Numa Files. Lost City was almost a carbon copy of White Death, save only a change in location. Interesting, but not a page-burner. Bring back Dirk Pitt!

Rating:
Summary: the worst Cussler novel I have read
Review: Some of his novels are more plausible than others but this one is way way over the top. Just a fountain of youth story, OK. Just a wicked arms merchant story, OK. Just a way to destroy the oceans, OK. Any two of those,OK. Put all of those together with cannibal ghouls and it is a farce! Sahara was much more believable.

Cussler always gives me a topic to research. In this case it is the Minoans.





Rating:
Summary: Another great adventure!
Review: Unlike the Orgeon Series that Cussler is also co-authoring this story screams with action. Maybe it is closer to the Dirk Pitt formula of action the author is so use to writing. Whatever it is I hope it continues and he doesn't age these characters as fast as it seemed Dirk and Al aged in the Pitt series. I do enjoy the style and formula he has with the NUMA stories. If you are a fan of any of the Dirk Pitt books grab this one up.

Rating:
Summary: Pardon the pun - but this is the "Pitts"
Review: What an unmitigated disaster!! I have gotten used to Cussler's nutty plots, cardboard characters and over-the-top "prose". But this one takes the prize as far as disjointed action, absurd dialogue and craz, unrelated plots. The Sea Group (Dirk Pitt's pals)- for some reason - are in Switzerland(??) and discover the frozen body of a man from WWI with a strange, ancient helmet. It only goes downhill...the widow of the man is killing off alleged enemies to protect the "secret of the helmet" which is, preposterously, that ancient folks developed a way to preserve youth, i.e. eternal life and just needed some "enzymes" to complete their work.

One of these enzymes has turned folks into "half-human" monsters (it's so B-grade nutty that it's almost good) who then go about attacking "normal" people. A sub-sub-plot involves destroying the oceans for some nefarious reason. Of course, something goes wrong and the helmet's powers are reversed - sorta like a nuclear bomb that builds a city instead of destroying it. Old widow dies of old age prematurely (is that a contradiction?) and our forgettable hero goes on to new adventures.

What's pitiful is that there only a slight attempt to connect these hairbrained tales. And, of course, everything connected to the story is larger than life - eternal life, monsters, ruling the world, destroying the oceans. Absurd, ridiculous, poorly written - to be read only if one is trapped on a desert island.


Rating:
Summary: Stereotyped Discovery
Review: While punctuated with several scenes of improbable, albeit enjoyable action, Clive Cussler's "Lost City" is yet another book that conforms to the writer's well-worn stereotype. Billed essentially as a "hero for the next generation," there is little appealing in Kurt Austin's character as he continues to spout cliched phrases so commonly uttered in Cussler's Dirk Pitt series. One trend that I have begun to notice in Cussler's latest offerings (Particularly in the Kurt Austin series) is that the plot revolves around the consequences of scientific endeavour. This, however is not as well developed as other writers' exploration of the theme such as the works of Crichton, and it is in the realm of adventure that Cussler excels most.

The plot is standard Cussler fare. An aerial dogfight in the opening scenes of the book, followed by an inexplicable and vicious attack on the cast and crew of a reality television program sets up -what readers accustomed to Cussler will know- a shadowy organisation headed my a ruthless leader. Tunneling under a glacier, a team of scientists uncover the corpse of a man. Garbed in world-war one flight attire, the scientists are swiftly sealed into the glacier. Who is behind this sinister and heartless act? Without revealing too much of the plot, the scene is set for the intrepid Kurt Austin to unravel the mysteries surrounding the corpse's presence while confronting yet another source of evil- the corporation that seems determined to entomb the corpse forever at any cost.

What may seem like an interesting premise and a well-researched read, however, unfortunately degenerates into a rather mindless, though enjoyable adventure. While Kurt Austin is far too stereotyped as the wisecracking, fearless NUMA special assignments director, the plot weaves sufficient conspiracy to keep readers entertained, if only for a forgettable action romp.