In Other Words, Water

It's pretty rare when I get to be the first reviewer on a book. Though three people are ahead of me on this one, I might as well be the first. Two reviewers didn't give enough information and the third has never read a Clive Cussler novel before this one. That will give a COMPLETELY different perspective than if you had read any of his other novels. Personally I felt this was rather boring in comparison to his earlier efforts. A bit about the plot...

NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) agents (yes, its still NUMA!) Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala get suspicious when a big bunch of whales mysteriously dies. Investigation shows that they died of extreme heat. They locate the source of the heat, a tortilla factory off the coast of Baja.

Meanwhile NUMA agents Paul and Gamay Trout are off exploring in the Brazilian jungle. They are studying fish or something. They are about to leave when captured by a primitive tribe that is run by a mysterious white goddess, who is actually a Brazilian woman whose plane crashed in the jungle.

Brynhild Surgid somehow has amassed enough wealth and power that she has the ultimate plot. Her corporation is buying up water rights around the world. The goal is to gain a monopoly and control the world's water.

What do these three stories have to do with each other? And they do, the back cover assures us. But that is one of the major problems with this book. It takes FOREVER to find out what they have to do with each other. It is a good two-thirds into the book before it becomes clear. Now, while some mystery is good, I felt a little more indication would have created more suspense. Instead, it just felt like I was reading three different stories that kept getting interrupted.

Another problem is the characters. Not much imagination was put into them. Kurt Austin IS Dirk Pitt. Joe Zavala IS Al Giordono. I mean, even the names are similar. The descriptions are similar: tall, buff white man, and swarthy wiry and tough Hispanic. Did Mr. Cussler run out of ideas? The personalities are alike too. Tough, cunning, resourceful, tenacious. But then again, the rest of their personalities aren't fleshed out at all. They are carbon copies of the other NUMA characters. I found myself not interested in them very much. I found I wanted to know more what happened to Paul and Gamay in the jungle more than Kurt and Joe.

I did not feel this book moved very fast either. There was too much background material that didn't advance the story. It didn't have a large amount of dialogue either. And though Brynhild is a third story line, it only appears maybe three times until the very end when it finally all comes together. No suspense. The story had intrigue, for sure, because it did have a unique type of "bad guy" and a unique greediness to it. But it took a long time to read.

On the plus side, I do like adventure stories and this definitely is one. The reader goes from the California coast, to Baja, to a Brazilian jungle, to Lake Tahoe. I like reading about all those places. I like it when the characters lives are in jeopardy and what they do to extricate themselves from it. There is at least enough suspense that the reader hopes the heroes get out alive.

Also on the plus side, you don't have to read a bunch of swearing and bloody gore when reading a Cussler novel. Its not present in this one. Though there is some violence, such as when the tortilla plant explodes, it is described in only a general way so that it is not offensive. Kurt doesn't get to have all the girls like Dirk does, so there isn't even a hint of sex or even implication of it in this book. Kids over 13 could probably handle it.

Though this was definitely not my favorite Cussler novel (which he collaborated with Paul Kamprecos by the way), I understand there are others with these characters. I hope they flesh out the characters and make them less like Dirk and Al and more like themselves.