( 14 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 1 2009
Cussler's secondary series of adventures with the NUMA Files is not quite as good as his Dirk Pitt novels (nor is his tertiary series on the Oregon Files, I'm told) but there's plenty of action, intrigue, beautiful women and sprawling vistas to appeal to most readers. An enzyme that could hold the key to immortality has been discovered in the frigid North Atlantic in an area known as "the Lost City." Scientists have mysteriously disappeared or been killed after investigating the City. A body is discovered in a World War I biplane in the Alps, and this leads Kurt Austin and crew to the palatial estate of the Fauchards, a family who deals in armaments. The book itself isn't that bad (the fight scene in the antique shop was good)but the characterizations fall flat. Sky Labelle (a stripper name if I ever heard one) is Austin's love interest this go-round, and she doesn't really add anything to the mix. This is disappointing, since Cussler usually writes strong female characters.
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Posted: Mar 29 2009
I had only read one other Cussler--Polar Shift--when I picked up Lost City. The first book had a fascinating mix of intrigue, science, and adventure. I was tickled to have found a "clean" adventure author. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the midpoint of Lost City. Once all the major characters had been introduced, the storytelling seemed to digress. The beautifully descriptive prose that sucked me into the previous scenes seemed to have vanished, as if the author had died in mid chapter and the editor had somehow tried to fill out the rest of the story from an author's proposal letter. Serious, hair-raising scenes were given such flippant treatment, that I had to reread them several times to make sure I was actually getting the severity of the situation. But the section that slammed me in the gut and tore me from the story, was the one in which Skye (one of the female leads) surveys her ransacked apartment: She went back into the living room and gazed at the mess. She was shivering with anger at the violation of her privacy. SHE FELT AS IF SHE HAD BEEN RAPED. (Emphasis mine) The anger gave way to fear as she realized that the person who wrecked her apartment might still be in there. What!? Was the state of her apartment humiliating? Was it life-altering? To equate the ransacking of personal belongings to rape is outrageous. She certainly would have felt violated and insecure, but there's an ocean between that and experiencing the humiliation and terror of rape. Maybe I'm an anomaly because I'm a female action/adventure/suspense reader. Maybe that sort of comparison doesn't faze male readers--it certainly didn't disturb the right people between the pen and the press. I am saddened and confused. Which Cussler is the more typical--the one who wrote Polar Shift or the one who sloughed off Lost City? This one is going in the trash unfinished, which seems to be the way it was published in the first place. My only consolations are that I picked it up for $1.99 at a flea market, and that Amazon gives me a forum to air my concerns.
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Posted: Feb 6 2009
Clive Cussler has yet to write a bad book! Always a great adventure and interesting characters.
