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Farewell, sweet prince of entertaining nonsense https://www.chron.com/entertainment/art ... 086316.php

Babes, boobs and battleships

Shame. I inherited most of his books from my dad - they were lots of fun, if profoundly silly.

He made Dirk Pitt age gradually over the course of the series. Eventually he started to get a bit too old to do all of the adventuring and womanising, so Cussler’s solution was to invent a son (and daughter) to take on the torch. He didn’t even give the son a different name! He also made the children’s mother Pitt’s love interest in the very first book - which was a bit unfortunate, seeing they never actually had sex and she died at the end.

He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Doc Rob wrote:He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Telling you what the next book would be about.


Some great stories in that series and I loved the fascinating history lessons (of versions anyway) of long lost legends that just happen to be true for the purpose of the book.

Doc Rob wrote:Shame. I inherited most of his books from my dad - they were lots of fun, if profoundly silly.

He made Dirk Pitt age gradually over the course of the series. Eventually he started to get a bit too old to do all of the adventuring and womanising, so Cussler’s solution was to invent a son (and daughter) to take on the torch. He didn’t even give the son a different name! He also made the children’s mother Pitt’s love interest in the very first book - which was a bit unfortunate, seeing they never actually had sex and she died at the end.

He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Stop being a Doctor - there is nothing wrong with any of that FFS!!!!

Oh no. I’m probably going to do him a massive disservice but his books weren’t ever going to challenge anyone intellectually. What they were though was entertaining and enjoyable. It’s a rare thing in this day and age that someone isn’t trying to make a point about life or the earth or humanity.

Yer Man wrote:

Doc Rob wrote:He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Telling you what the next book would be about.
.

I have the feeling that Jack Higgins did that years ago with Eagle Has Landed (and Flown)?

I’m guessing like some other thrillers, the books will continue under several or a single pseudonym?

ScarfaceClaw wrote:Oh no. I’m probably going to do him a massive disservice but his books weren’t ever going to challenge anyone intellectually. What they were though was entertaining and enjoyable. It’s a rare thing in this day and age that someone isn’t trying to make a point about life or the earth or humanity.

They are a good fun read - great stuff to take on holidays etc.

Yer Man wrote:

Doc Rob wrote:He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Telling you what the next book would be about.


Some great stories in that series and I loved the fascinating history lessons (of versions anyway) of long lost legends that just happen to be true for the purpose of the book.

I did really enjoy some of the plots - particularly the one in Trojan Odyssey.

Got into Dirk Pitt last year, about 5 books left to read.

Is his other series worthwhile? Fargo, Isaac Bell, Oregon?

Nieghorn wrote:I’m guessing like some other thrillers, the books will continue under several or a single pseudonym?

He worked on spin-off characters with co-writers for the last 10-15 years.

handyman wrote:Got into Dirk Pitt last year, about 5 books left to read.

Is his other series worthwhile? Fargo, Isaac Bell, Oregon?

I didn't think so - the books and series have similar characters and paper charactures
eg the strong man
the fat one
the tough woman
the anti hero hero
the weapons guy
the clever researcher friend who gives them an obscure clue that actually saves the day

I actually forget which ones I read, was an Oregon one plus a few others - was pretty much the same book, none were that interesting to me.

backrow wrote:

handyman wrote:Got into Dirk Pitt last year, about 5 books left to read.

Is his other series worthwhile? Fargo, Isaac Bell, Oregon?

I didn't think so - the books and series have similar characters and paper charactures
eg the strong man
the fat one
the tough woman
the anti hero hero
the weapons guy
the clever researcher friend who gives them an obscure clue that actually saves the day

I actually forget which ones I read, was an Oregon one plus a few others - was pretty much the same book, none were that interesting to me.

Yer Man wrote:

Doc Rob wrote:He also developed an odd habit of including himself as a cameo character in his later books.

Telling you what the next book would be about.

And also often helping Pitt and/or Giordino out of an enormous problem they'd gotten themselves into with some sort of deus ex machina

backrow wrote:

handyman wrote:Got into Dirk Pitt last year, about 5 books left to read.

Is his other series worthwhile? Fargo, Isaac Bell, Oregon?

I didn't think so - the books and series have similar characters and paper charactures
eg the strong man
the fat one
the tough woman
the anti hero hero
the weapons guy
the clever researcher friend who gives them an obscure clue that actually saves the day

I actually forget which ones I read, was an Oregon one plus a few others - was pretty much the same book, none were that interesting to me.

Agreed with all of this. In spite of this, it never got in the way of my enjoyment of the Oregon series, and some of the Kurt Austin stuff.

I think I've probably read the Dirk Pitt and Oregon Files books 3-4 times over during the past 20 years, and I still get a lot of pleasure out of what is basically light reading. Heck, I even enjoyed the god-awful Safari movie.

He had an excellent innings and brought lots of pleasure to lots of people. Very sad news all the same.

Da iawn diolch wrote:

backrow wrote:

handyman wrote:Got into Dirk Pitt last year, about 5 books left to read.

Is his other series worthwhile? Fargo, Isaac Bell, Oregon?

I didn't think so - the books and series have similar characters and paper charactures
eg the strong man
the fat one
the tough woman
the anti hero hero
the weapons guy
the clever researcher friend who gives them an obscure clue that actually saves the day

I actually forget which ones I read, was an Oregon one plus a few others - was pretty much the same book, none were that interesting to me.

Agreed with all of this. In spite of this, it never got in the way of my enjoyment of the Oregon series, and some of the Kurt Austin stuff.

I think I've probably read the Dirk Pitt and Oregon Files books 3-4 times over during the past 20 years, and I still get a lot of pleasure out of what is basically light reading. Heck, I even enjoyed the god-awful Safari movie.

He had an excellent innings and brought lots of pleasure to lots of people. Very sad news all the same.

Enjoyable lightweight holiday reading, however they did become formulaic and after the first 50 pages you could tell where it was going to end up.

Massively popular, as any hotel abroad would have at least 2 or 3 CCs in their reading shelves.

RIP you old spoofer.

Read all his books for decades. The best one eva is Cyclops...about the missing airship and the prison in Cuba.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41697.Cyclops

Rest in peace, Clive.

I heard he went the way he wanted to go.

After a deep session on the whikkey, Clive single-handedly held off some gun bandits until his best girl was able to escape on the rear of a passing merchant's motorbike.

Sandstorm wrote:Read all his books for decades. The best one eva is Cyclops...about the missing airship and the prison in Cuba.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41697.Cyclops

Just been reminded of Night Probe - where it turns out that the UK sold Canada to the USA back in WW2 for $150 million. Features a British Secret Service agent strongly implied to be James Bond

Short summary of all the Dirk Pitt books:

1. Pacific Vortex – Released at a later date, but this is the first book that was written. Dirk Pitt is put to the ultimate test as he plunges into the perilous waters of the Pacific Vortex – a fog-shrouded area where dozens of ships have vanished without a trace. The latest victim is the awesome supersub Starbuck, bearing America’s deep-diving nuclear arsenal.


2. The Mediterranean Caper – On a quiet Greek island, a U.S. air force base has come under attack – by a World War I fighter plane … a famous yellow Albatros supposedly lost at sea in 1918. Now it is up to Dirk Pitt and the rest of the NUMA team to root out the elusive truth behind the incident – and find out how it’s connected to mysterious acts of sabotage against a scientific expedition, an international smuggling ring, and a dark-haired beauty with some dangerous secrets.


3. Iceberg – A routine survey mission over the North Atlantic exposes a missing luxury yacht frozen inside a million-ton mass of ice. The ship had vanished en route to a secret White House rendezvous, making it the responsibility of the NUMA to find out what happened.

4. Raise the Titanic! – The President’s secret task force has developed an unprecedented defensive weapon that relies on an extremely rare radioactive element – and Dirk Pitt has followed a twisted trail to a secret cache of the substance. Pitt begins his most thrilling mission – to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century…


5. Vixen 03 – In 1954, the plane Vixen 03 is down. The plane, bound for the Pacific carrying thirty-six Doomsday Bombs, vanishes. In 1988, Dirk Pitt discovers the wreckage of Vixen 03. But two deadly canisters are missing.

6. Night Probe! – In the midst of an international crisis, Heidi Milligan, an American naval commander, accidentally discovers an obscure reference to the long-buried North American Treaty, a precedent-shattering secret pact between the United States and Great Britain. The only two copies plummeted into the watery depths of the Atlantic long ago. The original document must be found.


7. Deep Six – A deadly tide of poison flows into ocean waters. A ghost ship drifts across the empty northern Pacific. A luxury Soviet liner blazes into a funeral pyre. The Presidential yacht cruises the Potomac night – and the President disappears without a trace. Dirk Pitt takes on a sinister Asian shipping empire in an intercontinental duel of nerves.


8. Cyclops – A wealthy American financier disappears on a treasure hunt in an antique blimp. From Cuban waters, the blimp drifts toward Florida with a crew of dead men – Soviet cosmonauts. Dirk Pitt discovers a shocking scheme: a covert group of US industrialists has put a colony on the moon, a secret base they will defend at any cost.


9. Treasure – Dirk Pitt discovers the secret trail of the treasures of Alexandria – a trail that plunges him into a brutal conspiracy for total domination of the globe. Zealots threaten to unseat the governments of Egypt and Mexico, exposing America to invasion and economic collapse. Suddenly, from East to West, anarchists reach their deadly tentacles into the heart of the United States.


10. Dragon – Japan, 1945: Two US bombers take off with atomic bombs. Only one gets through. The Pacific, 1993: A Japanese cargo ship bound for the United States is instantly, thunderously vaporized, taking with it a Norwegian vessel. From the ocean depths to the discovery of a cache of lost Nazi loot, Dirk Pitt is untangling a savage conspiracy and igniting a daring counterattack.


11. Sahara – Egypt, 1996. Searching for a treasure on the Nile, Dirk Pitt thwarts the attempted assassination of a UN scientist who’s investigating a disease that is driving thousands of North Africans into madness, cannibalism, and death. The suspected cause of the raging epidemic is vast, unprecedented pollution that threatens to extinguish all life in the world’s seas.


12. Inca Gold – Nearly five centuries ago a fleet of boats landed mysteriously on an island in an inland sea. There, an ancient Andean people hid a golden hoard greater than that of any pharaoh, then they and their treasure vanished into history. In 1998, in the Andes Mountains of Peru, Dirk Pitt dives into an ancient sacrificial pool, saving two American archaeologists from certain drowning. But his death-defying rescue is only the beginning.


13. Shock Wave – Dirk Pitt is investigating the baffling deaths of thousands of Antarctic marine animals when he stumbles on something even more chilling. The passengers and crew of a cruise ship all died simultaneously and instantly, leaving stranded on a remote island whaling station a small party of tourists led by the beautiful Maeve Fletcher. And the carnage is just beginning…


14. Flood Tide – When Dirk Pitt rescues an undercover agent in a daring underwater operation at Orion Lake, just north of Seattle, he confronts a sinister network run by Qin Shang, a ruthless smuggler who sells Chinese immigrants into slavery.

15. Atlantis Found – A group of anthropologists uncover strange inscriptions on the wall of a Colorado mine just as an explosion traps them deep within the earth. But their work won’t stay buried long. Dirk Pitt is on hand during the blast and quick to initiate a rescue operation.

16. Valhalla Rising – In the middle of its maiden voyage, a luxury cruise ship using revolutionary new engines suddenly catches fire and sinks. Nearby NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt notices smoke and races to the rescue. He’s too late to save the engineer, but helps the man’s daughter, Kelly Egan. While Ms. Egan strives to uncover the hidden value in her father’s inventions, Pitt is hired by maritime insurers to investigate the wreckage.


17. Trojan Odyssey – Fraternal twins, Summer Pitt and Dirk Pitt, Jr., are working to determine the origin of a strange brown tide infesting the ocean off the shore of Nicaragua when two startling things happen: Summer discovers an artifact, something strange and beautiful and ancient. And the worst storm in years boils up out of the sky, heading straight for them.


18. Black Wind – In the waning days of World War II, the Japanese tried a last desperate measure, a revolutionary new strain of biological virus. But the subs never made it to the designated target. But that does not mean they were lost. Written with son Dirk Cussler.

19. Treasure of Khan – When Dirk Pitt is nearly killed rescuing an oil survey team from a freak wave on Russia’s Lake Baikal, it appears a simple act of nature. But when the survey team is abducted and Pitt’s research vessel nearly sunk, it becomes clear this is no run of bad luck, but the influence of something, or someone, more sinister. Written with son Dirk Cussler.


20. Arctic Drift – When an act of sabotage aims to slow down a technological breakthrough in American clean energy, it puts the United States on the brink of war with one of its closest allies. To prevent global catastrophe, Dirk Pitt and his children must piece together what little records remain of the initial experiment. Written with son Dirk Cussler.


21. Crescent Dawn – In a.d. 327, a Roman galley with an extraordinary cargo barely escapes a pirate attack. In 1916, a British warship mysteriously explodes in the middle of the North Sea. In the present day, a cluster of important mosques in Turkey and Egypt are wracked by explosions. What ties them all together? NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his team are about to find out. Written with son Dirk Cussler.


22. Poseidon’s Arrow – It is the greatest advance in American defense technology in decades — an attack submarine capable of incredible underwater speeds. There is only one problem: A key element of the prototype is missing — and the man who developed it is dead. It is up to NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his team to go on a desperate international chase to find the truth. Written with son Dirk Cussler.


23. Havana Storm – While investigating an unexplained poisonous spill in the Caribbean Sea that may ultimately threaten the United States, Dirk Pitt unwittingly becomes involved in something even more dangerous – a post-Castro power struggle for the control of Cuba. Written with son Dirk Cussler.

24. Odessa Sea – Dirk Pitt is on the Black Sea, helping to locate a lost Ottoman shipwreck, when he responds to an urgent Mayday–‘Under attack!’ — from a nearby freighter. But when he and his colleague Al Giordino arrive, there is nobody there. The more the two of them search for the secret of the death ship, the deeper they descend into an extraordinary series of discoveries. Written with son Dirk Cussler.


25. Celtic Empire (2019) - Written with son Dirk Cussler

Sandstorm wrote:Read all his books for decades. The best one eva is Cyclops...about the missing airship and the prison in Cuba.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41697.Cyclops

Don't forget Jersey Colony - the manned lunar colony that Kennedy planned back in the Sixties without anyone else in NASA or the Government knowing about it.


Named "Jersey" because... the Cow jumped over the Moon

By Sandecker! I'll need to catch-up.

I hadn't read any past Valhalla Rising