Dirk Pitt #01 - Pacific Vortex

Despite having five series installments ahead of it, Pacific Vortex! is still considered the first of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels. The book was first published in 1983, six years after The Mediterranean Caper (aka Mayday). Yet, in that book, there are some enticing references to a prior underwater Pitt adventure. After 1981's Night Probe!, Cussler decided to write the events mentioned in The Mediterranean Caper and bring readers up to speed on Pitt's first grandiose adventure, Pacific Vortex!.

The novel begins with an unusual event affecting a U.S. submarine called Starbuck. The vessel goes missing in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. After an extensive search, the Navy can't determine the whereabouts or fate of Starbuck. The loss is chalked up to a mysterious vortex that has plagued over 30 ships since 1956. But, leave it to Pitt to get to the bottom of it – the ocean.

After recovering notes written by Starbuck's commanding officer, Pitt reports to NUMA and undertakes a rescue mission to recover the vessel and any crewmen still alive. Pitt learns of a mythical island north of the Hawaiian Islands that disappeared ages ago, similar to the fate of Atlantis. With aid, Pitt finds the specific place to search and, within days, is on board Starbuck. But what he finds is something of a misnomer - an underwater city functioning as a type of above-ground prepper fortress.

Cussler's novel places Pitt in all of the usual situations, speeding vehicles, volcanoes, swanky dinners, torture chambers, and aboard both ancient ships and technological modern marvels. The scenes in which Pitt investigates Starbuck felt like something out of a horror movie. The isolated tomb-like vessel eerily sitting in the ocean's junkyard was written with a sense of atmosphere, lulling me into a false security before all Hell broke loose. The mystery behind the crew's disappearance, the horrific nature of the commanding officer's notes, and the idea of something unnatural – supernatural – occurring were all so captivating.

This book has a huge impact on Pitt's future, mainly a short-lived love interest with a woman named Summer, that will produce some surprising results later. Pacific Vortex! may be most remembered by fans for that part of the series through-story. But, this is a fun, pulpy romp that reminded me of a typical Doc Savage novel – the flight towards fear, mystery, and thrilling adventure. Recommended!

Get the book HERE.

Dirk Pitt #03 - Iceberg

Clive Cussler (1931-2020) was a massively-popular novelist who dominated the bestseller lists for the duration of his writing career. His most enduring series character was Dirk Pitt, a troubleshooter for the fictional National Underwater and Marine Agency. My first exposure to the author and the character was his third installment, 1976’s Iceberg.

The book opens with a U.S. Coast Guard mission mapping the locations of icebergs floating in the North Atlantic near Newfoundland. From the air, the Coastie crew spots one impossibly large iceberg - 200 feet high weighing upwards of one-million tons. Closer examination of the iceberg reveals the impossible - an entire ship embedded within the ice but still visible from the sky. The Coast Guard estimates that once the iceberg drifts into the gulf stream, it's sure to melt - likely submerging the ghost ship into the depths of the sea. The iceberg must have dislodged from some northern glacier, but there’s no way to know its origin.

Enter Dirk Pitt. He’s an U.S. Air Force Major on permanent loan to NUMA - the National Underwater and Marine Agency. NUMA dispatches Pitt to a Coast Guard cutter with a mission to get inside the ghost ship and better understand what’s happening. As a character, Pitt is a combination of James Bond and Doc Savage. He’s a funny and likable hero stacked with core competencies. He can fly a helicopter, dive to great depths and bag the babes as needed. His deductive capabilities rival those of the great Sherlock Holmes.

The providence of the ship-in-the-berg is a plot point that I won’t spoil for you here, but it only serves as starting point into a variety of mysteries Pitt is called upon to solve over the 400-pages. He’s a smart cookie and not afraid to kick ass when needed. His relationship with his Admiral boss and the boss’ lovesick personal secretary make for some fine human moments throughout the paperback.

I was expecting Iceberg to be filled with dense plotting and littered with incomprehensible nautical jargon that would cause my eyes to glaze over. I’m pleased to report that Cussler avoids this trap and makes the pages fly by with a basic good guys vs. bad guys plot and a propulsive story. His books are about twice as thick as other men’s adventure paperbacks from the same era, so I was expecting a complex story akin to the work of Tom Clancy. Instead, Iceberg was pulpy as all-heck. The action and villainous motivations were over-the-top like a good Destroyer novel, and the layered twist endings were pedestrian, outrageous and fun. No one should ever accuse Cussler of writing high-brow, smartypants fiction. I hereby stand corrected.

The appeal of Cussler’s novels is now clear. If Iceberg is any indication, the series is a lot more fun than you might expect. The books can apparently be read in any order, and there are plenty of lists online ranking them based on quality. I look forward to diving deeper into this author and his famous series. Recommended. Get it HERE