The Mediterranean Caper (Dirk Pitt Adventure) by Clive Cussler
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Book Reviews of The Mediterranean Caper (Dirk Pitt Adventure)
Book Review: Scott
Summary: 5 Stars
Great book, with the great writing style that comes with every Clive Cussler book.Book Review: An Amazing Dirk Pitt Adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
A novel filled with adventure, excitement, and deeds of daring do, taking place sometime during the 20th century, in and around the Mediterranean. The story is described in the third person following dashing hero Dirk Pitt and loyal friend, Al Giordino as well as following the diabolical villains. It is a story filled with danger and action combined with amazing descriptions. Recommended age 14 and up for innuendoes and descriptions of violent events.
This novel is not a simple read, but it is not cut and dry either. Cussler is and amazing author who has a gift for expressing description and emotion. Even though the story is told in third person, as a reader you get a real feel for the characters and become amerced in the story. The story is mostly centered on the charming Dirk Pitt, an unusual hero who always manages to land on his 1feet. Pitt is not a common hero, his features are attractive, but not quite movie star quality so he relies on his wit and people skills to help him `get in the door' so to speak. From the first three pages I was lost in this book. Cussler does an amazing job setting up descriptions to make the reader feel like they are in those places and know those people. The quote "his large brown hands moved efficiently, pulling back on the control column and the plane aimed its flat snout at the sun", is a taste at some of the imagery and description used. I spent a majority of this book wanting to be there, wanting to be in the action. Cussler is truly a gifted writer who embraces his spirit of adventure.
Book Review: Dirk Pitt's entrance novel is a fun ride
Summary: 4 Stars
I have a certain fondness for this Cussler novel, sure its missing some of those fun "pretitles" style preludes that tie together seemingly unrelated historical events in an ingenious manner and it's also very politically incorrect (but not as much as PACIFIC VORTEX is). But, this Dirk Pitt adventure (the first published, though Cussler wrote the aforementioned PACIFIC VORTEX first), is a fun ride of a novel and moves along at a fast pace (it's actually one of Cusslers shortest, if not THE shortest). With some very vivid fight scenes and some nice Alistair Maclean-esque plotting (apparently Cussler used the late Scottish writer's work as a template until he found his own style) this Cussler novel really delivers and I made fast work of it reading over a weekend about a year ago.
Starting with the attack on a US airfield in the Greek islands by a biplane and involving smuggling, German fighter aces and the trademark underwater sequences for which Cussler is perhaps best known for (through his non-fiction writings as much as for Dirk Pitt) I can guarantee that this novel will no doubt charm even the harshest of Cusslers critics as long as they take it for what it is - some harmless. Mildly diverting fun.
On a sidenote, all the reviewers who are commenting on the bad writing should really lighten up, this was after all one of Clive Cussler's earliest works :)
Book Review: Pitt of the Aegean
Summary: 4 Stars
In this outer, Dirk Pitt, NUMA's deep-diving hero, tangles with an elaborate smuggling ring that treats the Aegean waters like their own bath tub. In one of their bolder moves, the smugglers strike at nearby USAF base using nothing more than a WWI fighter. Millions of dollars worth of air force aircraft shatter and burn when struck by the primitive fighter's machine gun. Nearby, an NUMA research ship is also targeted by the smugglers. In striking back, Pitt will face a WWII U-boat skipper and a hot Grecian beauty. It's a thin Pitt adventure - closer to the Kurt Austin NUMA books, but still above them. It's closer to "Pacific Vortex" than one of the larger (and globe-spanning) novels like "Cyclops" or "Raise the Titanic". A lot of it is over-the-top (even with their planes on the ground, wouldn't a USAF base have other forms of protection? And are 20 ton airplanes a tad bit more damage resistant?) On the plus side, it's still a dependable Pitt actioner and Cussler (still keeping himself out of the story) gets some good use of the hot Aegean settings.Book Review: Some of Cussler's Best Work
Summary: 4 Stars
I nearly gave this three stars because of one annoyance. At the end of the story you get all the details courtesy of a long monologue (its almost tiresome). Up to that point this is really a good story. It starts out with a bang, and keeps on going. Actually if Cussler had played out the details he reveals in the monologue in a different way, he could have added another 50 pages and made this story really well formed. Given this was written in 1973 I suppose we can forgive Pitt for his smoking cigarettes. I found that the story still translated well to 2009, its not like I was saying "back in the old days they did it like that...". If you're already a Cussler fan, then this is a must read to get the full development of Dirk Pitt over the years.