Rating: 
Summary: My Lost Innocence
Review: Others can provide spoilers for this story. I'll just disabuse the reader.
You think you learned some tidbits of history, culture and geography from Dirk Pitt, don't you? This book makes anything you think you learned questionable, at best. The authors have ignored simple geography, played havoc with population distributions, and butchered cultures and their inter-relationships. Don't bet anything on accuracy...especially don't try taking a firearm of any type through Canadian customs thinking it will be easy and/or smooth. It WAS fun to read but the agony of error made me cringe at every turn of the page. The only thing truly needed to make this a decent book was an editor with a large blue pencil and a sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Reads like Austin Powers trying to be serious
Review: When the Eskimo villain captured our hero, Kurt Austin (or is it Austin Powers?), I expected him to say, "Welcome to my evil lair." He even had his own form of ill tempered sea bass! I'm sorry, but this thing read like a farce. Dog sleds in downtown DC? Mutant fish that may take over the world? Give me a break. Furthermore, the book was just plain boring. The action was only compelling in a few sections (unlike most of Cussler's books).
Rating:
Summary: Reads like Austin Powers trying to be serious
Review: When the Eskimo villain captured our hero, Kurt Austin (or is it Austin Powers?), I expected him to say, "Welcome to my evil lair." He even had his own form of ill tempered sea bass! I'm sorry, but this thing read like a farce. Dog sleds in downtown DC? Mutant fish that may take over the world? Give me a break. Furthermore, the book was just plain boring. The action was only compelling in a few sections (unlike most of Cussler's books).
Rating:
Summary: Cliched and bland
Review: While I have earnestly hoarded many of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series, Kurt Austin cannot measure up to his predecessor. Sadly, this is clearly the problem with Clive Cussler & Paul Kemprecos's "White Death." Kurt Austin's character comes across to the reader as a bland imitation of Dirk Pitt as Cussler recycles several of Pitt's phrases. Additionally, Joe Zavala, while not unlike Al Giordino (from the D.P series), is far to similar to Kurt Austin, and the impressive contrast, so commonly present between Dirk and Al is conspicuously absent in Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala. Like many of Clive Cussler's novels, the novel opens with a historical expostion- here it is of a Basque merchant fleeing from the Spanish inquisition. As expected, the narrative then chronicles a maritime disaster, and the plot continues as an effort to unravel both mysteries.
The Sea Sentinel, a ship painted with a garish combination of colours, while attempting to stop traditional whale-killing, unexpectedly veers from its course to ram a Danish coast-guard craft. Naturally, the two sink into the depths of the ocean, and equally expected is Kurt Austin's lucky intervention. Here, however, the reader is introduced to yet another insidious corporation in the form of "Oceanus," a company specialising in the creation of bio-fish, mutant fish that grow far faster and larger than the average salmon. Perhaps Oceanus is behind the collision?
While this may seem like a rollicking good read, the novelis sadly diminished by the incapability of the two main characters to carry the narrative, their bland, stereotyped characters and a rather cliched plot (in particular the ending). That Cussler or Kemprecos misspells "Hiram Yaeger," a stalwart of all Dirk Pitt texts as "Hiram Yeager" compounds this problem, and it seems almost as if the novel was rushed.
In conclusion, while superficially an involving and interesting read, "White Death: is unfortunately diminished by a stereotyped plot and one-dimensional characters spouting frequent cliche. Unlike the vast majority of Clive Cussler books, "White Death" is unfortunately an ultimately unsatisfactory read.
Rating:
Summary: Horible
Review: Yes, that is Clive Cussler's name in enormous letters, but one needs to merely read one page to know he isn't the author of this book (of course, we all know that already).Paul Kemprecos is an adept author, but lacks the flair and word flow Cussler has. As a result his book feels a bit stiffer, yet is still worth reading to someone familiar with Cussler's work. All the pieces of the Cussler world are there. Links to past worlds, history coming alive in modern times, events happening a small amount in the future to allow for more powerful technology, death-defying stunts that are over the top yet not nauseously so, a smart-alec sidekick - you'll find it all. To some people this is all too much of a formula to enjoy, but if you're sitting on a beach, boat or inflatable raft, well, this is the perfect way to read without thinking. If you enjoyed James Bond or, more accurately Indiana Jones then you'll enjoy this novel. It isn't the best in the Cussler world, though it's likely the best Kurt Austin book to date. Worth reading, just take it all with a grain of salt. Or a salt-lick, whichever you need.
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