Product Description

It is July, 2003. In the middle of its maiden voyage the luxury cruise ship Emerald Dolphin suddenly catches fire and sinks. What caused it? Why didn't the alarms go off? What was its connection to the revolutionary new engines powering the ship? NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt races to rescue the passengers and investigate the disaster, but he has no idea of the bizarre chain of events about to engulf him. In the next few weeks, Pitt will find himself confronted by an extraordinary series of monsters, both human and mechanical, modern and ancient. He will tread upon territory previously known only to legend. At the end of it all, though many lives will be lost, and many saved, it is Pitt's own life that will change for ever ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31367 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's aging but still potent superhero, returns in Valhalla Rising, the 16th adventure in this popular series about the director of special projects for the National Underwater Maritime Administration (NUMA). Pitt's NUMA survey ship happens to be in the vicinity when the world's newest and biggest cruise ship founders and sinks, giving Pitt the chance to stage the daring rescue of nearly 2,000 passengers. Among those who perish is a famous scientist whose revolutionary engines powered the ship to her watery grave; while Pitt is unable to save Dr Egan, he rescues his beautiful daughter Kelly from the sea, and later from a murder attempt aboard the rescue vessel.

Pitt and his trusty pal Al Giordino track the sinking to the boardroom door of a multinational conglomerate called Cerberus, whose evil CEO has designs on the world's oil supply. He'll do anything to keep Egan's advanced engines and secret formula for frictionless oil off the market--even sabotage another vessel, this time a luxury passenger submarine. By the time our heroes have foiled the mastermind's nefarious plots, they've also uncovered the existence of a working submarine nearly a century before one actually existed--irrefutable proof of a Viking landing on the Hudson River--and the remains of the British sailor who inspired Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. A solid page-turner that even features a cameo appearance by the author himself, Valhalla Rising snaps, crackles, and pops with Cussler's usual brio. --Jane Adams, Amazon.com

Review
In the latest adventure of NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt a luxury liner suddenly catches fire and sinks on her maiden voyage. Dirk Pitt races to rescue the passengers and find out the cause of the disaster - but he has no idea of the bizarre chain of events about to engulf him.

About the Author
Clive Cussler is the author or co-author of twenty two previous books, most recently the Dirk Pitt adventures Trojan Odyssey and Black Wind, the Kurt Austin novels White Death and Lost City and the non-fiction The Sea Hunters II. He divides his time between Arizona and Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Stab Wound
Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt® (not pronounced like the bread product, to the best of my knowledge) is only one of several personality simulacra which festoon this book, which in turn can only truly be described as a mass dumping of toxic waste at sea. Cussler, you see, really likes treasure and ship wrecks and all who sail on them - so if you buy yourself a copy of Valhalla Rising, you should prepare yourself to encounter multiple cut-and-paste versions of the following "characters":

Thirty or forty ship's captains, all with with grey beards, clear blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, peg-legs and parrots (well, three out of five's not bad).

A host of the most ridiculously named characters, about one of which our hero has the gall to say "Sounds phoney" - this coming from someone whose name reads like it was lifted from a medieval Scottish autopsy report.

Twelve or so females, all representative of the "hot" sub-group, none representative of the "suffragette" sub-group, all of whom - regardless of whether they are divers, oceanographic specialists, administrators, pilots, computer-generated AI interfaces (yes, really) or MEMBERS OF CONGRESS - like nothing more than to cook and clean up after their men.

And, of course, there is Clive Cussler - who manages to appear not just as himself, saving the day in a striking example of Deus ex Litericha; and not just in the form of his obvious hero fantasy persona, Dirk Pitt®, he that is damply lusted after by all women but who somehow never quite finds the time to take advantage of this, yet who DOES have plenty of inclination to cram himself into close quarters with all sorts of strapping, backslapping, super-masculine sailors (and there's NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT - just admit it, man); no, Cussler appears not JUST in these forms, but also in the form of his fantasy persona's juvenile CLONE, Dirk Pitt Jn®, a carbon copy of this ageing neutered sex-pot who can only be the product of a skin-cell fertilisation program or immaculate conception - but through whom, as only the second link in a divine chain, we can be assured of an infinite procession of adventures still to come...

IT'S TERRIBLE. Hilariously bad at times - at one point I snorted in derision so hard I had to run for a tissue - but still TERRIBLE. Avoid it like a plague rat - unless you don't mind laughing until you scream.

ALTERNATIVELY - if you're a member of the no-brains-required, "don't take it so seriously, man", DAN BROWN readership, then feel free to quote-mine this for my ringing endorsement:

"Dirk Pitt® ... is ... Clive Cussler's ... immaculate conception" - FOUR WHITE STARS

Worse than Tec Wars by William Shatner
This is, without exception, the worst book that I have ever read. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago on holiday as the weather was poor and there was no other Engish language literature in the house. If I had had so much as a shampoo bottle to read I would cheerfully have buried it in the garden after the first 50 or so pages. Its one redeeming feature is that parts of the book were, unconciously, laugh out loud funny. Mr Cusslers extreme attention to detail when it comes to letting you understand his own tastes in minute detail, in areas from interior design to womens clothing of the seventies, were a particular highlight. I suspect the author also writes his own blurb inside the cover as it comments on the similarities between Mr Cussler and his hero Dirk Pitt. I must also comment on the extreme narcissism of appearing as a character in your own book, complete with private yacht and enigmatic twinkle in the eye. It beggars belief that these books are as popular as they are, I must suggest to anyone contemplating reading this that if they are looking for a "boys own" type adventure novel, which this is undoubtably desperate to be, that is easy to read and difficult to put down then they should try some John Buchan or Capt. W.E. Johns. This book takes the cake for sheer, unadulterated, ego driven, dross.

Great Fun
Mr. Clive Cussler has entertained readers with Dirk Pitt throughout, what is now, a collection of eighteen novels. It is a remarkable run by any measure, and while some of the novels are better than others, they are all great fun. Mr. Cussler created a main character that not only he clearly would like to be, but an individual that all his male readers would like to claim a piece of for their own. I would imagine most of his readers are male, however he has also included remarkable female characters, that while often the target of cliché male observations, give as good as they get. And he carries on the tradition of the good guys winning, and often has the villains receive their comeuppance in a stylish manner at the hands of the hero. Judge, jury, and executioner may not be constitutional, but it is a great deal of fun.

Prior to starting, "Valhalla Rising", it would not hurt to refresh your memory with many of the major themes of past books. It is not imperative, but several references are made and it adds to the enjoyment if the details are fresh in the reader's mind. This should not put off anyone from making this his or her first Dirk Pitt adventure, quite the contrary. While everyone would rank his or her favorites differently, I think this latest work from Mr. Cussler would make anyone's short list. For those aware of the real life exploits of Mr. Cussler and his work of salvaging ships, he brings some of this into his novel, which added a dimension I greatly enjoyed. If you have read Jules Verne, it again will add to this book's reading experience.

When I first read the jacket I was inwardly groaning when I read the word "monsters". I had trouble imagining how that word would play out in the book. However, have no fear, for while this book, like all of Mr. Cussler's work, requires a suspension of disbelief, there is nothing any more outrageous than earlier works. There are some minor points in the book that are weak, and the author did not endear himself to the Air National Guard, but again the points are very minor. There was one error, however it can be rationalized, and again is not detrimental to the book.

The book starts with not one, but multiple historical events which are all neatly tied together at the conclusion. The book is a lengthier novel and every bit of space is required to bring this latest round the world adventure to readers. Had he so chosen he could have easily extended the book by an additional one to two hundred pages. For when he starts this saga, it is millennia in the past, not a century or two.

With fiction, conventional issues like time do not restrict the Author. He can write about his characters and their adventures indefinitely. Many Authors continue to write, long after their characters should be retired, they don't know when to stop, like a great boxer that leaves not as a champion but as a beaten memory. Mr. Cussler clearly has no plans to retire this series, but he has also taken a step that is not only smart and savy, but will allow for this series of novels to continue for as long as he writes. I think he deserves a great deal of credit for this, and he brings it to pass with a slick ending to this book. In fact, I find myself looking forward to the next installment with greater interest than I have for some time.

For great fun, and pure escapist fiction, there are few who compare with Mr. Cussler.