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Summary
Summary
"I''ve always had temendous fun with Dirk Pitt, but nothing has given me more pleasure than the opportunity to send him to that most fabled of lost lands, Atlantis, and virtually reinvent aspects of its civilization. I hope you have as good a time reading Atlantis Found as I had writing it!"-Clive CusslerSeptember 1858: A shore party from a whaling ship that has been locked in the solid pack-ice of Stefansonn Bay, Antarctica, stumbles upon a derelict British merchantman from a previous century. The British ship - the Madras - is trapped between two giant floe-bergs, hummocks frozen together and grounded on the shore. Below decks the sailors discover a grisly scene: passengers and crew, frozen in various positions of death, keeping a ghostly watch over crates of odd antiquities and a life-sized human skull carved from black obsidian. Thus begins Atlantis Found, a breathtaking thriller by the internationally acclaimed grand master of adventure fiction, Clive Cussler. With fourteen consecutive bestsellers and over one hundred million copies in print, Cussler has long since proven himself one of America''s most popular authors, and his hero, Dirk Pitt, one of America''s most avidly read fictional characters. Now Cussler, an expert in combining suspense and tension with high-tech wizardry and riveting action, sends Pitt on what may be the most hair-raising adventure of this career. No less than the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.More than 140 years after the merchantman''s discovery, Dr. Patricia O''Connell, an expert in ancient languages, is called to Colorado to investigate mysterious inscriptions carved into the walls of a chamber found deep inside an abandoned mine. The excitement generated by the inscriptions, and by the discovery of another exquisitely carved black obsidian skull, quickly turns to dismay when a blast seals O''Connell and two others within the chamber. They narrowly escape death thanks to the timely intervention of Dirk Pitt - Special Projects Director for the National Underwater and Marine Agency - who had been exploring a complex system of waterways inside the mountain. It soon becomes clear to Pitt, and his buddy Al Giordino, that the blast was intentionally set and that a group of killers, fanatically devoted to what they call "The Fourth Empire," is intent on exterminating anyone who comes into contact with the ancient artifacts.Pitt and his NUMA colleagues - working with Dr. O''Connell - make a startling discovery. The carved inscriptions and skulls are remnants of an ancient seafaring civilization that navigated and mapped the globe four thousand years before the Egyptians raised the pyramids. The artifacts represent not only a record of the global catastrophe that wiped the ancient mariners from the face of the earth but also a warning of the next cataclysm to future generations.The search for information about the artifacts, and the ancient culture from which they sprung, takes a further bizarre turn when Pitt travels to Antarctica to locate the Madras and any additional clues she might be carrying. The NUMA research ship he is on is fired upon and nearly sunk by impossibility - a Nazi U-boat from a war that had ended fifty-six years earlier. The unanswered questions pile up: What is the Fourth Empire? How has an organization with a worldwide army of elite killers operated for years without the finest intelligence services in the world figuring out who they are and what they''re up to? What is the link between the artifacts and the Empire? Could they be planning to recreate the cataclysm foretold by the ancient mariners?Like all of Cussler''s stories, Atlantis Found propels readers forward by combining fast-paced action, exciting characters, and a maze of unforgettable plot twists and turns that have become a hallmark of this number-one New York Times-bestselling author. With a supporting cast of recurring characters - NUMA Director Admiral James Sandecker, Deputy Director Rudy Gunn, Hiram Yeager, St. Julien Perlmutter - and a cameo appearance by Cussler himself, this Dirk Pitt adventure novel is guaranteed to keep both new readers and die-hard fans on the edge of their seats.
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
Dirk Pitt, Cussler's larger-than-life hero, butts heads with an army of elite killers seeking to destroy the world in another wickedly engrossing yet predictably scripted tale of bravery against all odds. As the story begins, artifacts from a previously undiscovered civilization, ancient but highly advanced, are popping up all over the globe. Pitt himself is on site in a Colorado mine when archeologists come across strange carvings and mysterious inscriptions. But then an explosion traps the party below ground, and a band of black-suited terrorists arrive at the scene with guns blazing. Though Pitt saves the day, the incident points toward a wider network of evil schemes. Working for the National Underwater & Marine Agency, Pitt finally identifies the terrorists as members of the Fourth Empire, an organization headed by the diabolical Wolf family, a secret clan of genetically engineered people who worship the Nazi Third Reich. But it's only after Pitt and his able sidekick, Al Giordino, battle old German U-boats, dodge surface-to-air missiles and narrowly escape death on a remote island off Australia that they find out what the Fourth Empire is up to. The neo-Nazis aim to prevent the world from discovering the artifacts of this previously unknown seafaring culture because they tell of a catastrophic event that wiped out civilization 9000 years ago and reveal when the next cataclysm will hit. The Wolfs plan to accelerate the date through their own scheme to destroy Earth, meanwhile sheltering themselves and their thousands of followers on enormous, disaster-proof ships. Pitt knows his assignment: save the world--a tall order, but one he's filled many times before. Cussler's 15th Pitt adventure (after Flood Tide) is a rampaging story of history, technology and heroism, written with Cussler's typical make-no-apologies enthusiasm. For muscle-flexing, flag-waving, belief-suspending fare, he has no equal. 750,000 first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; BOMC main selection; simultaneous audio; author tour. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Cussler fans can breathe easier, because Dirk Pitt is back. The formulaic, and very enjoyable, adventures of the deep-sea diving, classic-car loving, world-saving NUMA agent continue as Dirk must battle dark forces that are bent on world domination. The threat in this installment comes from a family of genetically engineered superhumans that just may have Hitler as an ancestor. Basing a plan on relics discovered from an ancient civilization, the evilly insane Wolf family plans to split the Antarctic ice shelf, flooding the world. Then their superbreed can take over the world and bring about the creation of a Nazi "Fourth Empire." Dirk and sidekick Al Giordano are aided by a beautiful archaeologist and the NUMA staff in unraveling clues stretching back to 7000 B.C., in order to beat a doomsday countdown. Chock-full of action and fun plot twists, Atlantis is sure to please Cussler's hard-core followers and, perhaps, win over a few new ones. --Eric Robbins
School Library Journal Review
YA-Once again, Cussler sends his superhero Dirk Pitt into the thickest of plots, against the odds and against human and natural forces that most mere mortals would never survive. Ancient archaeological sites are found containing relics of the advanced civilization identified as Atlantis, including a completely baffling written language. When finally deciphered, the inscriptions contain a prediction of the world's end in the next few months. At the same time, in South America, the Wolf family and its enterprises are assembling a massive clandestine operation. And, on Antarctica, a seemingly innocent scientific- research site proves to be a diabolical setup for destroying the known world. However, Dirk Pitt and his friend and partner, Al Giordino, destroy the dastardly plan. Offering one action-packed scene after another, Cussler guarantees to keep the pages turning at a rapid rate. There are plenty of technologically advanced gadgets and machines, along with secretive movements to add a thriller quality to the plot. Cussler writes himself into the story as a minor player in the mayhem, poking fun at his own writing. This book provides plenty of adventure, as well as top-rate entertainment.-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
Dirk Pitt returns in his first undersea adventure since Flood Tide (1997). Also returning, regrettably, are most of the literary failings Cussler seemed to have vanquished with the help of coauthor Paul Kemprecos in his recent non-Pitt thriller, the smooth and surprisingly poetic Serpent: From the NUMA Files (p. 752). Atlantis Found, by contrast, has a boiler-room's worth of grammatical clinkers and a cast of characters whose credibility is'shall we be polite?'tenuous. Cussler, however, knows how to distract us from bad prose and ludicrous protagonists with lots of maritime facts, albeit many of them imaginary. He begins splendidly here, with a comet wiping out nearly all human life 7,000 years ago, shifting the tectonic plates, bringing on the second Ice Age, and leading to the sinking of Atlantis in Antarctica. Dirk Pitt, naturally, rediscovers the lost island while, in a second plotline, undercover Nazis reappear with hopes of establishing the Fourth Reich. Need we mention that Pitt's longstanding love affair with dazzling, cinnamon-haired Loren Smith reignites? Cussler fans will have no complaint as the Master revs up his novel to 40 knots per hour and sweeps the reader into the fabled past. (First printing of 750,000; Book-of-the-Month main selection; $750,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Library Journal Review
Brilliantly conceived and boldly plotted, this 15th Dirk Pitt thriller by writer and shipwreck enthusiast Cussler is his most imaginative yet. Pitt, his associates, and Patricia O'Connell (an expert on ancient languages) here tackle a dangerous but intriguing puzzle: What ties a previously unknown and highly advanced prehistoric civilization, wiped out in a global catastrophe, to a group of murderous fanatics devoted to what they call "the Fourth Empire"? Adding to the mystery are twin 9000-year-old obsidian skulls found continents apart; ancient underground chambers with celestial maps, enigmatic inscriptions, and strange artifacts; a British Indiaman ship and its crew, trapped and frozen in ice since 1779; a Nazi U-boat still on the prowl 56 years after the end of World War II; and much more. This is a fascinating story with exotic locations, high-tech wizardry, heart-pounding suspense, the threat of a cataclysmic disaster, resourceful heroes, and an action-packed conclusionÄall backed by meticulous research to make this a truly grand adventure. Highly recommended. [BOMC main selection.]ÄRonnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
