Customer Reviews

CYCLOPS

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I thought that Clive would be hard pressed to out-do 'Raise The Titanic' widely considered his best work...but I've gotta admit, 'Cyclops' does it for me. It puzzles me how some reviewers seem surprised at the seemingly impossible situations Dirk finds himself in, and STILL manages to escape FROM, and STILL get the girl. C'mon! As one reviewer already stated, Clive writes seriously fun books, but doesn't take the story too serious that it cannot have fun in the process, and even though you might be crying 'foul' in one sentence, by the next, you have forgotten how implausible if not down right IMPOSSIBLE the story has become, and you just continue right on through because it was written for entertainment purposes, and THAT is what 'Cyclops' does in GRAND Style. Cussler has written possibly his best story (although I have to admit Atlantis Found is right up there) and given us a fantastic tale that will endure well beyond the years. Unlike certain forms of music, and clothing, Pitt will ALWAYS be in style.

As always, I enjoy feedback on MY opinions: rmgomske@lightcom.net

What makes Cyclops different from the rest of Dr. Cussler's Dirk Pitt adventures is that the locations are absolutely marvelous, the action is nail-biting, the escapes are mesmerizing... Well, that's not exactly different right? More of the same. BUT IT'S DONE SO BRILLIANTLY YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO RESIST! Chillingly intense. Ingeniously complex. Tremendously fun.

clive takes you thru twists and turns, both natural and man made and the danger is really page turning. a GREAT BOOK TO READ DURING A THUNDER STORM.

The dissapearance of the ship Cyclops in 1918 sparks the beginning of this adventure for Mr. TCOB, Inc., Dirk Pitt. A search for the ship's lost treasure takes the diver/adventurer from a Caribbean hurricane to a secret Russian base to a plot to assassinate Castro. Thrown into the mix is a secret base on the moon built by a clandestine group of government and business people that the Soviets are about to attack.

A pretty good Pitt adventure. Lots of impossible escapes for Dirk. Jessie LeBaron made a good female interest for Pitt. She starts off as your typical stuck-up rich woman, but later shows she's not afraid to get her hands dirty and can endure a lot of suffering. And I LOVED their first scene together where Pitt puts her in her place. That was legend! I was dissapointed there wasn't as much interaction between Pitt and his best friend, Al Giordino, as in most Cussler novels. Really liked Ira Hagen, the President's man trying to get to the bottom of the moonbase conspiracy. Comes off as an average looking guy, but has a first-rate investigative mind and a tenacious attitude. Some good action scenes at the Russian base and with the battle on the moon, though I did question some of the technical accuracy, like people only coming away wounded when their spacesuit is ripped open.

All in all, a good Dirk Pitt adventure.

This has to be the best of Cussler's Dirk Pitt adventure novels. Unfortunately, it's also the first one I ever read. Pitt, a diver for the National Underwater and Marine Agency seems like just your average technical guy. But NUMA, whose aims of oceanic reasearch somehow allow the agency to function like an espionage agency (with the gadgets to boot) normally send Mr. Pitt on any sort of wild adventure. And Mr. Pitt himself is the perfect renaissance spy, an expert on history, underwater diving, any form of mortal combat, and the collection and restoration of antique boats, cars and planes, and a real charmer with the ladies. Perhaps no seris of books so closely approaches the fun level of a comic book while remaining so readible as a novel. In this entry, numerous diverse plot twists come together for an explosive climax. As with any Pitt novel, the story opens with some historical maritime disaster/mystery: In this case, it is the dissappearance of the Collier "Cyclops" early this century to the Bermuda Triange. In modern days, a wealthy industrialist takes off in a restored blimp for a tropical flight, only to dissappear. While the blimp is found sometime later, the tycoon is found to have been replaced with the bodies of some unidentified men who look like they've been floating for weeksin a depressurized space capsule. Meanwhile, a super-secret US base located on the moon (not even the President knows of it) faces discovery by belligerent Russians. Meanwhile, Dirk Pitt pieces clues pointing to "La Dorada" (which should have been a better title), a huge golden statue encrusted with jewels. Meanwhile, the Russians, unable to afford its "alliance" with Cuba, nor willing to allow Cuba to go over to the west, plots a blow that will put the Island off limits for good.

It's explosive, comical at times, yet always exciting and impossibel to put down. Put this one on your "beach reading" list.

Cussler keeps you glued to the page - learned things here I never imagined.

Cyclops is the one Cussler book that makes me laugh out loud every time I read it. The other books have some dry humor, but the premise of this one is so out there, I mean there is a fight between the Americans and the Soviets on THE MOON. Aside from that, the premise is actually realy cool and this one is a very interesting read.

Another incredible home run for Cussler! I picked up this novel the day I saw it at a Mall in San Diego early in 1986. I read it within a couple days--and I'm a S-L-O-W reader--and I have since re-read it probably 4 times. One of the surprising things about 'Cyclops' is how well it has held up over the years. From a search for a blimp, frozen Russian Cosmonauts, a sunken ship which just might hold one of the most sought-after treasures of the New World to the inner workings of Castro's government--and to top it off, a pure nail-biter confrontation on the surface of the moon--'Cyclops' certainly has its fair share of exotic locations as well as more action than you typically find in half-a-dozen other 'adventure' novels combined. Oh, and if you are an avid Cussler fan, you may remember Foss Gly from 'Night Probe'...well his nasty mug makes a return in this action-packed bullet-train-with-no-brakes of a novel.

In short, do NOT pass this one by. Cussler tosses in just about everything but the bathroom tub--no, wait-a-minute, yes he does. Okay, at least you can be assured that absolutely NOTHING was left out in the pursuit of a tale that is as fun to read as any book you can find in print today. Simply put, 'Cyclops' is easily one of Clive's best Pitt stories and over the years has remained one of MY personal favorites as well. HIGHLY Recommended.

Cussler has definetily become one of my favorite authors. And Cyclops only seconds that. It's a great adventure with a wondrous plot and a wise yet adventurous hero - Dirk Pitt. It shocked me to read it progess and made me wonder how Cussler comes up with all these amazing ideas and surprises. And, although slightly complicated to follow, Cyclops is very hard to put down. It's really fun to guess what will happen next and put it all together in the end.

Out of all the Cussler books, Cyclops is definitely the best. More then ever before, Dirk Pitt is able to pull off the impossible in a realistic and believable way. Although the bathtub with the outboard motor is stretching it a bit, I guess that it might really work . . . if you were Dirk Pitt and you always had the writer on your side. When the writer is on your side, you can do anything. This just proves it.

I recomend this book to anybody who is looking for an exciting read, and doesn't mind a few far fetched escapes.