Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10943 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Synopsis
Polar Shift: it is the name for a phenomenon that may have occurred many times in the past. At its weakest, it disorients birds and animals and damages electrical equipment. At its worst, it causes massive eruptions, earthquakes and climatic changes. At its very worst, it would mean the obliteration of all living matter! Sixty years ago, an eccentric Hungarian genius discovered how to artificially trigger such a shift, but then his work disappeared, or so it was thought. Now, the charismatic leader of an anti-globalization group plans to use it to give the world's industrialized nations a small jolt, before reversing the shift back again. The only problem is, it can't be reversed. Once it starts, there is nothing anyone can do. Austin, Zavala and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team have certainly faced dire situations before, but never have they encountered anything like this. This time even they may be too late.

Customer Reviews

Ripping yarn, poor finish!
Any novel from Clive Cussler is worth a read if you want escapism and adventure. This one is no exception with the usual mix of humour, evil villians intent on world domination and a pretty girl. As always the science is plausible even if the dwarf mammoths are a little far fetched. What really lets this one down, I thought, is a limp ending. Cussler normally keeps the tension going for a while with twist or two but this one just stopped with the hero (Kurt Austin) winning at the first attempt. It won't stop me reading more of Mr Cusler's excellent novels, however. More please.........

Not my favorite work by a good writer
Bulging muscles blond hair, and fighting orcas who are trying to eat him... Not exactly the sort of deep meaningful characterization for a protagonist I am looking for in a book, but the action was fun. The pacing wasn't bad. It is a good read, so don't be turned off by my opinion if you are a Cussler fan. I loved raise the titanic.

Heart-Pounding Surprises Threaten Kurt Austin and the NUMA Special Assignments Team
I strongly encourage you to listen to the unabridged CD narrated by Scott Brick instead of reading this book. Brick has a wonderful way with voices and accents that give the story depth and suspense you won't find on the printed page.

The book opens in the closing days of the Second World War in East Prussia as a shadowy Austrian escorts a renowned Hungarian scientist away from the advancing Soviets. The Austrian turns out to be a member of the resistance who wants the scientist's knowledge to remain secret from governments that might use that knowledge to create super weapons. This part of the story is as vivid as any great World War II spy novel I've read.

Moving to the present, an enormous container ship finds itself facing unprecedented large waves. How will it survive? You'll find yourself enjoying some of the strong emotions that A Perfect Storm provided.

Kurt Austin is leading a kayak race when he's suddenly attacked by a killer whale. That shouldn't be happening. What's going on?
Next, the Trouts are off taking some sea water samples when they find themselves unexpectedly drawn into a giant whirlpool. The rescue attempt is simply scintillating!

From there, you'll learn a lot about geology and how the Earth creates electromagnetic waves.

Kurt Austin soon perceives that there's a hidden key to the mysterious events and it all seems to be tied up to a beautiful young scientist who has a theory she's trying to prove about the extinction of woolly mammoths. Others get the same idea ahead of Austin. Can he arrive in time to save her? What other surprises await him?

As an interlude, you'll also experience a most unusual Civil War reenactment.

Starting the book with so many interesting incidents sets a high expectation for what's to come. Unfortunately, the book's ending offers a high octane threat to keep you interested . . . but the resolution doesn't satisfy the desire for one more great sequence to cap what is otherwise an extremely interesting thriller.

The book has a very interesting theme about the potential to use resources for good or evil purposes. I encourage you to draw on that theme to think about resources that are almost always used in harmful ways. How could those resources be used instead for almost always helpful results?

Enjoy this whale of a tale or two!