Arctic Drift (Dirk Pitt) Paperback – November 24, 2009

Dirk Pitt, a creation of prolific novels of excitement and danger by Author Clive Cussler, continues to hold your attention to the very end. He has been joined in authoring his novels by his son, Dirk Cussler. With these collaborations came the characters of Dirk and Sunmer pit, son and daughter of Dirk and Loren Pitt. This particular story will keep attention throughout and contains historical information also. Grab a copy. You won't be disappointed.

Dirk Pitt Senior and Junior are back for another adventure on the high seas. Dirk Jr. and his twin sister Summer are cruising the western Canadian coastline testing the water for acidity when they come upon a ship of death. All the occupants have died horribly, yet have not a mark on them. When they stop in the village of Kitimat, they meet the brother of the captain of the death ship, who is determined to find the cause of the deaths. He and Summer more than hit it off, and the three of them begin snooping around a carbon sequestration facility nearby.Back in Washington, Dirk Sr., head of the National Underwater & Marine Agency, visits the lab of a friend of his wife's when the lab inexplicably explodes. He is convinced the explosion is related to the scientist's research into synthetic photosynthesis, which could reverse the effects of global warming. The process involves the rare element ruthenium, so he heads up a search for a source. The last known source just happened to be in an Inuit community in the midst of the Northwest Passage, so Pitt is on the trail. Things are a bit more complicated than they should be, however, as Canada has barred the United States from its territorial waters after the US army was blamed for the destruction of an ice camp. There is even talk of war between the two countries, so Dirk has to sneak his way through Canadian waters.Meanwhile, some very bad men are also on the trail of the ruthenium for their own nefarious purposes, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. Fueling the distrust between Canada and the United States is only beneficial to their interests, so they more than go out of their way to try to start World War III. Only Dirk Pitt is in the right place at the right time and will be able to stop them...or will he?As usual, the Cusslers have delivered a quality novel. Unfortunately, this time it's somewhat lacking. For starters, it was pretty slow lumbering out of the gate. Usually, the first 100 pages of a Cussler novel contain more action than most other entire novels, but that was absent here. The intrigue was weaving, but I was hardly on the edge of my seat. Though this is not the first in the series with both Clive and Dirk Cussler at the keyboard, this is the first one where I really felt the impact of the transition in an outwardly obvious way. I believe that Dirk Cussler is a quality writer and I would purchase his books on the strength of his abilities, but the fact of the matter is, absolutely nobody writes like Clive. He's got a special brand of magic that very, very few writers do, and he's got it in spades. We must remember that he had decades to build and hone that skill, and Dirk has not, so I'm willing to give him a chance. If this series is going to continue to succeed without alienating its long-term fan base, however, it's time for a commitment of sorts.It finally hit me why I haven't really warmed to Dirk Pitt Junior, and that is because he has all the raw sex appeal of a Ken doll. Much as Dirk Cussler is writing in the massive shadow of his father, Dirk Pitt Junior is a hollow facsimile of his father. The original Dirk had some vices, slept around a little, was a man's man. Young Dirk pals around with his sister a bit too much. I like the idea of them working together, but he really needs a realm of his own to kick around in after hours. As it is, he's rather flat and uninteresting, and that's just a shame because he's got a lot of potential to be a really vibrant character on his own, outside the shadow of Dirk Senior, an avenue that's absolutely not exploited. If he was 12, that would be fine, but he's supposed to be a man. I don't know if Dirk Cussler is afraid to step out of bounds too much and create his own character in his father's series, or if both Cusslers are afraid to take the action away from Pitt Senior, but whatever it is needs an adjustment. They made the commitment to promote Dirk Senior to the director of NUMA and introduced the Pitt children, so now they need to live up to it and not be afraid to go ahead the necessary changes. Pitt Senior can still have some adventure of his own, but what was the point of introducing his son with the same name if it wasn't to change the focus to the new character? I liked the fact that they began making the transition slowly, but at this point, things are starting to stall.For anyone who has never read a Dirk Pitt novel, I give this a high recommendation. Even if it was the least exciting in the series, it is still several cuts above the vast majority of adventure fiction out there. For those of us who have read them all, this one might be a slight disappointment. The action just wasn't as heart-pounding and the pace was a little slower than usual. Loren wasn't quite in character, the dialogue needs a little more oomph, and Al Giordino didn't get any great quips. The whole global warming premise seems a bit dated, too, but the biggest problem is Dirk Junior. He desperately needs a personality infusion and some autonomy, and he could be a great character, but he needs to snip some apron strings, pour himself a drink, and go out and do something his mother wouldn't approve of while saving the day. That and a few other small adjustments could push this series back to the top.

Loved it very exciting and interesting. Educational,made me want to read more about global warming and the arctic ice flow

True to Dirk Pitt adventures, this one delivers a terrific and exciting tale of the human capacity for greed, as well as hope.I am relatively new to Clive Cussler's writing… I'm not sure how I missed this author and all these areas over the past few decades, but I have truly enjoyed catching up and looking forward to many more. I've read about a half a dozen so far and this one is in the top three.

Husband favorite author!

Like many here, I've read every Cussler book (to the best of my knowledge. It can be hard to tell by reading the back blurbs of some of these.)And, like many, I was iffy when Cussler franchised himself. The new books have been a mixed bag. Paul Kemprecos has been good, at times quite good, but never outstanding. Jack DuBrul has managed to about match Cussler himself. Craig Dirgo was decent as well, but has been replaced by someone better.The most lackluster was Dirk Cussler. In part, this might be due to his use of Dirk Jr. and Summer. Honestly, these characters come across as naive and simple. They might be smart, but their words never particularly are. Their interactions with each other remind me of Hannah Barbera characters. Predictable, innocent. Never a hint of danger from these two. Neither would harm a fly, and they're worse off for it. Even creepier, their innuendos around each other in the past have come across as incestual.This book, thankfully, mostly ignores them. They're relegated to the same role as the Trout's in the Kurt Austin books (mind you, I typically find the Trout chapters to be dull and almost entirely skippable - the books come to a complete halt with them. The same is true of the Dirk and Summer passages here.) In fact, I'd say that you could swap the two pairs names, change "sister" to "wife," "brother" to "husband," and no one would know the difference. Heck, Gamay and Summer are both supposedly extremely tall readheads... Just skim these chapters quickly and get on to the meat of the book.Anyway, enough of a rant on them. They're quite secondary here, as Dirk Sr., despite his desk job, does most of the adventuring. It's a shame, in some ways. Dirk Jr. could have easily replaced Dirk Sr. Just, you know, give him some form of an edge. Make us think he could hurt a man, or even stare someone down. He's too much of a do-gooding wuss, and Dirk Cussler has, in turn, relied upon the original Dirk Pitt.But he did so fairly entertainingly. Easily his best.

Liked this one much better than the last one in the series. I appreciate some of the wisecracking with these characters and this book has the right amount in my opinion. Great story - recommend this one for sure.

good quality, good value and arrived quickly. Well worth the purchase as great book.

Great read.

Description of events in the novel are like as if we're watching a movie.

Mantiene tu interés hasta el final. Es muy interesante la descripción del entornoÁrtico y las duras condiciones para los que intentaron encontrar el paso del noroeste.

For the price I Paid, I got what I paid for and am satisfied with that. So am a Happy Customer.