Celtic Empire

March 4, 2019
In bestseller Cussler and son Dirk’s rousing 25th Dirk Pitt adventure (after 2016’s Odessa Sea), a series of maritime disasters catch the attention of Pitt and other members of the National Underwater and Marine Agency. Where these attacks have occurred, a deadly outbreak of a cholera-like illness has followed. BioRem Global Limited, a bioremediation company ostensibly using bioengineered bacteria to clean up these so-called accidents, has instead orchestrated them to revive an ancient disease, genetically enhanced to cause an evolutionary genocide, for which there is no modern cure. Pitt’s son and daughter, Dirk Jr. and Summer, discover the source: an ancient Egyptian plague still viable in the DNA of royal mummies. Fortunately, there’s hope for a treatment. In 1334 BCE, Maritaten, an Egyptian princess, fled her homeland across the seas to Ireland, bringing along an extinct herbal curative. The authors overly rely on convenience to get Pitt and company out of jams, but then again, that does keep the plot barreling along toward its satisfying finish. This series remains as fresh as ever. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.

March 1, 2019
The latest Clive and Dirk Cussler thriller (Shadow Tyrants, 2018, etc.) has Dirk Pitt and company trying to stave off the annihilation of half the human race in a continent-hopping adventure.In 1334 B.C.E., a boat carrying Princess Meritaten flees Egypt to escape a deadly plague. She carries a mysterious substance, the Apium of Faras. In 2020, young boys are dying in El Salvador, and scientists are murdered when they try to test the local water. Pitt's heroics start early when a sabotaged dam bursts and he saves a woman from drowning. As his fans know, Pitt is with NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency. Later, a tanker sinks in the Detroit River, and the president orders NUMA to investigate. A NUMA diver explores the sunken wreck alone (bad idea!) and is murdered. Meanwhile, Evanna McKee, CEO of BioRem Global, is pushing her product, "microorganisms for pollution control." Readers will quickly suss that she's up to no good--Pitt realizes the murders must have something to do with the water samples--but the details fill out the story with near-constant action and threats. Children, all boys, are desperately ill in a Mumbai clinic. There are so many crises, Pitt's children must help: Dirk Junior and his twin sister, Summer, dive into the croc- and criminal-infested Nile for NUMA-supported archaeological research and immediately bump into nefarious activity. Bad guys hunt for them in a burial chamber. The twins carry on the family tradition of bravery and resourcefulness, and Pitt's wife, Congresswoman Loren Smith-Pitt, plays a smaller but significant role. The investigation leads to Loch Ness and then to a craggy ocean outcropping. "Find Meritaten," a dying woman pleads to Pitt. "Then save us all." The settings are colorful, the characters appealing or despicable as needed, and the action is both implausible and fun.One darned thing after another keeps the Pitts in peril and will keep readers turning the pages.

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March 15, 2019
In the latest Dirk Pitt adventure, the twenty-fifth in the long-running series, the director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) discovers that a biotech company's motives might not be as altruistic as the head of the company wants people to believe. The authors throw a lot into the mix here: murders in El Salvador, environmental disaster near Detroit, mayhem in Egypt, and a virulent disease of unknown origin. With all this going on, there's not a lot of time for character development, but the Cussler brand isn't known for rich characters anyway. They are known for action and adventure, and this book surely delivers the goods. Nitpickers will find things to criticize?the dialogue, as usual, tends toward the clunky?but Cussler's legion of fans are not known for picking nits, at least where their favorite author is concerned. Expect high demand, as usual.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Formula sells, and for anyone who doubts that, check Cussler's sales figures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2018

U.N. scientists in El Salvador are bloodily dispatched, ships collide on Detroit's waterways, raiders assail an archaeological site, and Dirk Pitt and his team discover that the connecting thread is a 3,000-year-old tale of an Egyptian princess.

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