Golden Buddha

Rating:
Summary: Different But Good
Review: I'm a relativly new Cussler reader and have been backtracking to read his older books and find the Oregon Files refreshing. I like the new group and the slightly different approach to problem solving they bring to the story. I'll definitly look forward to more books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: The Golden Buddha by Clive Cussler

Over the years I have been reading most of Clive Cussler's adventure stories. They were always very entertaining and some of the descriptions quite beautiful. The stories are at all times fast moving with good development of their often implausible tales. They had a kind of inner truth which an adventure story achieves by good storytelling. Always good fun!

If you are a reader of Clive Cussler's books I need to warn you that "The Golden Buddha" fails on all counts. There is lots of confusing plot, poorly developed, dialogue is so banal that it is an insult to the reader.
Mysterious? The greatest mystery is the question who actually wrote it? Is the name Clive Cussler used only as a brand-name to make a quick buck?
Where is Clive Cussler? Does he still write?

Rating:
Summary: A Sterling Start to a New Adventure Series!
Review: I listened to the unabridged version of this story and found myself waiting for the next surprise. I was very impressed by the storyline and the variety of "characters" in the Corporation. Also, things didn't always 'go according to plans' as they do in some books. I have read or listened to all of Clive Cuussler's fiction and found this book to rank right near the top, ahead of most Kurt Austin adventures and even a couple of Dirk Pitt stories. I found the main characters to be very developed and skilled with many different abilities. Mercenaries with a conscience, Robin Hood on the high seas, Pirates for Profit and Humanity. There were points in the book where it looked like their plans were headed South, only to see that they had covered all the contingencies. I found this book to be a much better effort in the adventure genre than most recent entries, including Tom Clancy's latest terrorist infested effort. I await very hopefully the next effort in this series. I would strongly recommend this book to all avid readers of Cussler, Higgins, and Clancy.