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Title: Arctic Drift (A Dirk Pitt Novel, #20)
ISBN: 0399155295
Author:
Clive Cussler
Dirk Cussler
Publicate Date: 2008-11-25
Publish: 2008-11-25
List Price: $27.95
Average Customer Rating: 2.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.95
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.25
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.77
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Arctic Drift
I also love my Kindle so yes the $16 price I determined to be outrageous and went to Costco and bought the hard back version for $15. That may send the appropriate message to the Kindle\Amazon powers to be
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2: Buy Arctic Drift in Hard Cover and Enjoy a Fine Sea-Going Tale
Arctic Drift has a lot to recommend it (if you don't get jammed up with Kindle pricing). The plot is an imaginative one about the potential risks to peace and economic stability with the world running out of energy while the ice caps are being melted down by global warming as a greedy billionaire seeks to manipulate the situation to his own advantage (much as Enron did during the electricity shortage in the West a few years ago). Dirk gets out and under the sea to have some unusual adventures which include a most unusual battle. There is a great series of cliff hangers as men's lives are at risk in perilous conditions. Dirk, Jr. and Summer also have some exciting adventures. The story also features a merciless killer who likes to make things go pop. You'll also read an intriguing historical mystery that connects to today's problems and technology. My only complaint is that the story could have used more of Dirk and Al in action.
The book opens on a doomed expedition that is captured in the Arctic ice after trying unsuccessfully to navigate the Northwest Passage through Canada from Europe to Asia. The officers can't keep order as the men seem to be going mad, somehow connected to silvery rocks they have come into contact with.
Moving into the future, the year is 2011 and a mysterious phenomenon called the Devil's Breath is causing mysterious deaths at sea along the Inside Passage in British Columbia. Summer and Dirk, Jr. are taking water samples when they come across a derelict ship that has come into contact with the Breath. In the process, Summer makes friends with a dead fisherman's brother and the three investigate what might be causing large changes in the acid level in the sea.
Further south, a pro-environmentalist Canadian M.P. is murdered in a way to make it look like an accident. In the Arctic, a Canadian research station is destroyed by what looks like a U.S. Navy vessel creating international tensions.
In Washington, D.C., a rare element turns out to have unusual properties, and the finding triggers a race to find more of the element and to seize control of the secret. Now the race is on to solve the energy crisis.
I liked the plot very much. It goes well beyond the "we are running out of . . . ." story lines and the "we are going to die from global warming" story lines to come up with an original intersection of the two problems constructed in a way that seems realistic in light of the economic events earlier in 2008 as gasoline prices in the United States spiked above $4.00 a gallon and seemed headed higher until a global recession pricked the balloon.
The story has nice balance as well. There are a lot of characters and several interesting threads. If anything, Arctic Drift is a little too balanced. I could have used more of Dirk and Al at sea and in battle. The new plots where Dirk, Jr. and Summer engage in the ocean-going events aren't nearly as interesting as the more dangerous situations that Dirk and Al used to get themselves into and out of.
There's less swagger here . . . and more intellect. That's okay, but it's not quite as good as the over the top swagger that this series once featured. But I think you'll enjoy your voyage with NUMA and company.
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3: Classical Cussler
When I pick up a Clive Cussler novel, I have certain expectations, and this novel, though formulaic, meets and even exceeds each one. I read this over the Thanksgiving holiday and was thoroughly entertained.
Low ratings from previous reviewers comes from the Kindle version, and the pricing, not the novel.
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4: Don't Blame CUSSLER for KINDLE!
Please stop putting bad reviews of Kindle on the Arctic Drift page! If you are dissatisfied with your Kindle deal, then give the Kindle a bad review. Your Kindle issues have nothing to do with the quality of Cussler's writing.
Cussler has long been my favorite author, and I was shocked to see such a bad rating on Amazon for this book. I'm glad I took the time to read the reviews, and see that your dissatisfaction is not with Arctic Drift. (Personally, I think even 9.99 is too much to pay for an electronic book you can't read at the beach or share with a friend!) But it's well worth the $16.77 to have the latest Dirk Pitt novel in hand!
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5: What Took You All So Long?
I'm really surprised to see all of the negative flap on Kindle pricing when this has gone on for some time. The last Cussler novel went through the same pricing process starting at almost the hard cover cost and finally hitting $9.99 about 2-3 weeks after publication. This is not an unusual tactic - the Denis Leary book, among others, also started above the $9.99 cost. Simply put, you have to wait it out-don't purchase until the cost reaches the $9.99 price-I've yet to see this not occur eventually. There are those who simply "can't wait" and buy at the higher price; don't do it. I love my Kindle but I won't pay more than what we've been promised!
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