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Summary
Summary
Critics and fans everywhere have welcomed the enormously entertaining new series from Clive Cussler: the adventures of Kurt Austin, taken from the NUMA(r) Files. Hailed as a hero for the new millennium, Austin is the leader of NUMA(r)'s Special Assignments Team-and the threat before him now is definitely special. A confrontation between a radical environmentalist group and a Danish cruiser has forced Austin and colleague Joe Zavala to come to the rescue of a shipful of trapped men; but when the two of them investigate further, they discover that something far more sinister is at work. A shadowy multinational corporation is attempting to wrest control of the very seas themselves-no matter what havoc results-and is killing anyone who attempts to stop them. When Austin's boat blows up and he just barely survives, it seems certain he is the next in line to die-but he cannot stop now. For the environmental disaster has already begun, and only he and NUMA(r) stand in the way. . . . Rich with all the hair-raising adventure and endless imagination unique to Cussler, White Deathis an exceptional thriller from the grand master of adventure fiction.
Author Notes
Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois on July 15, 1931. He attended Pasadena City College for two years before enlisting in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. After his discharge from the military, he worked first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies. At that time, he wrote and produced radio and television commercials that won numerous international awards, including one at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
He began writing in 1965 and published his first novel featuring Dirk Pitt in 1973. His first non-fiction work, The Sea Hunters, was published in 1996. He has written over 50 books including the Dirk Pitt series, the NUMA Files series, Oregon Files series, Isaac Bell series, and the Fargo Adventure series.
He is the Chairman of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency), a non-profit group which he founded. He and his crew of marine experts and NUMA volunteers have discovered over 60 historically significant underwater wreck sites.
Clive Cussler died on February 24, 2020 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cussler's multitude of fans arrive at the table expecting a roiling stew of seafaring adventure, exotic travel destinations, cutting-edge science, a splash of romance and insider tips on food and drink. In this latest starring series hero Kurt Austin (Fire Ice; Blue Gold), readers will find all their expectations extravagantly fulfilled. The bronzed, rugged Austin, leader of the NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) Special Assignments Team, and his partner, Joe Zavala, are called in to free survivors trapped inside a Danish warship sunk after a collision with the flagship of the radical environmentalist group Sentinels of the Sea. After a successful rescue, Austin's investigations lead him from the haughty environmentalists to the Oceanus Corporation, a shadowy fish farming organization: "A miasma of pure evil seemed to hang over the Oceanus operation." Austin sneaks into one of the fish farms on a solo recon and is nearly killed by the swarthy, black-clad, facially tattooed Eskimos of the evil Kiolya tribe who guard the company's many operations. The Kiolyas are led by albino madman Toonook, a genius fish geneticist who has engineered members of the harmless salmon family into a breed of 10-foot, piranha-like Frankenfish. All the villains have satanic smiles and pitiless eyes, and snarl their dialogue. If it all sounds highly preposterous, it is, but Cussler manages with his usual aplomb, impressively juggling his plots and bringing everyone home in an action-fueled, rip-roaring finale in which evil doers are soundly defeated and swashbuckling heroes reign supreme. Who would have guessed that the world of high-stakes fish farming could be so thrilling? 600,000 first printing; $500,000 advertising budget. (July 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Cussler's fourth book written with Kemprecos chronicles the exploits of Kurt Austin, leader and hero of NUMA's Special Assignments Team. The plot involves Austin and his partner, Joe Zavala, who are investigating a feud between a radical environmentalist group and a Danish cruiser. Austin and Zavala must come to the rescue of men trapped on the ship. They find that a giant multinational corporation is seeking to kill anyone who attempts to stop its efforts to control the seas. There's lots of action, as always; Austin dodges a hand-grenade attack by plunging into frigid water and is saved at the last minute, he fights off attackers with a trash-can lid, and--on a number of occasions--the two face certain death. Imagine what it feels like to be torn apart by razor-sharp teeth and scattered over the ocean, one of the bad guys tells them. So it\b goes, more than 400 pages of action and high jinks that Cussler's fans will relish. --George Cohen Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Adult/High School-Kurt Austin and his partner, Joe Zavala, of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, receive a frantic call about a crew trapped inside a sunken ship off the Faroe Islands. Using cutting-edge technology, they pull off the rescue with a new submersible, only to find themselves involved with members of an environmental group and, at the same time, up against the mysterious Oceanus Corporation. After several attempts by Austin at industrial espionage to gain information about Oceanus, he and Zavala, other members of NUMA, and select individuals from the environmental group unite in their attempts to prevent the corporation from unleashing hundreds of genetically altered, large white fish into the oceans. Starting with historical background, the authors smoothly move the story into the contemporary plot. The information about genetically altered fish provides enough detail for understanding events without overwhelming readers. Myriad secondary plots supplement the main one, and lots of action keeps the story moving at a swift pace. Cussler and Kemprecos have a gift for fitting history, science, and action into an interesting story, and this book is an example of their best efforts.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Fourth in the new, co-authored, Kurt Austin series (Fire Ice, 2002, etc.), which has been received with restrained jubilance. Once more Cussler/Kemprecos open with a historical anchor for their tale. West of the British Isles in 1515, a sprightly Basque caravel battles three Spanish war galleys and sinks two of them before the third takes off. In Germany in 1935, the huge hydrogen-filled zeppelin Nietzsche sets forth on a secret flight to reach the North Pole--though the world will hear if success is had. Entering the Arctic, however, the German captain spies a ship stranded on the ice, and he descends (fatally?) to lend aid. Then, in the present, by the Faroe Islands halfway between Denmark and Iceland, whale-huggers on the big, blindingly psychedelic Sea Sentinel make an SOS eco-intervention to save a pod of fifty whales about to be slaughtered by Faroe Islanders. But a chopper overhead somehow takes control of the ship and rams it into the Leif Eriksson, a Danish cruiser, sinking the cruiser with several men still aboard in an airtight space. Twelve hundred miles away, off the Berents Sea by the northern coast of Russia, Kurt Austin tests a new submersible as part of his massive search-and-survey NUMA ship, the William Beebe. The new submersible has the ability to attach to the hull of a sunken ship (or a submarine with its hatch locked shut) with a big sucker mouth that allows a laser to cut a hole and salvagers to enter the lost ship. How can Kurt, his colleague Joe Zavala, and their new submersible answer the rescue call 1200 miles away before the trapped Danes are dead? Well, by Russian transport planes. Once the rescue is effected, a bit of Danish romance blooms before Kurt finds himself facing the megaloid multinationals whose chopper sank the Leif Eriksson, not to mention a madman's museum--and the horn of Roland! Zestful heroics. Should rise to the top like one of Cussler's real-life lost ships. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
An old Nazi blimp, a dogsled ride through Washington, DC, "Franken-fish"-this is a mixture that could only occur in a Cussler novel. For years, this sea dog has taken listeners on flights of fancy with his NUMA hero, Dirk Pitt, but even Dirk needs a vacation now and then; enter Kurt Austin and his faithful companion, Joe Zavala. After a daring rescue of some Danish submariners, Kurt and Joe find themselves being drawn into a world of genetically altered fish and a madman's scheme to corner the world's fish market with these hideous creatures. Cussler's usual florid prose seems to be tempered somewhat by his coauthor, Kemprecos, but he still manages to produce a rousing good yarn that takes listeners from the Faroe Islands to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum and finally to a remote Canadian lake. The bad guys still snarl their dialog, the good guys still wisecrack in the face of adversity, and the listener still gets the benefits of Cussler's storytelling talents. Reader Scott Brick adds a special spark to the story with his exceptional skills in giving each character individuality without resorting to extreme voice changes; he is especially gifted in presenting conversations in a very realistic way, rather than in a flat, toneless recitation of text. Highly recommended for public libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Lompoc, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
