32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Open the gates., November 15, 2011
This review is from: Devil's Gate (The Numa Files) (Hardcover)
Kurt Austin returns in a brand new adventure from the NUMA Files. We last saw Austin and Zavala in "Medusa" (6/09). This time around Clive Cussler has a new co-author Graham Brown. Together the two storytellers attempt to pump new blood into a waning franchise. I will miss Paul Kemprecos' contribution to the series, but the move will hopefully prove to be a beneficial one. Having said that, it does not bode well for a novel when there is a proofreading error on the very first page (though instead of through)
"Devil's Gate" begins with the requisite prologue, set on the tarmac in Santa Maria, the Azores in 1951..a mysterious Russian passenger and his luggage are being spirited to the U.S. by an American pilot named Hudson. The passenger is shot before he can reboard the plane and is left for dead. Hudson is also hit and the "Connie" he's flying goes down in the Atlantic. If you are familiar with the Cussler template, you know this incident will eventually intrude on present-day events.
If you're a high-adventure enthusiast, give Cussler and Brown a nod. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this new-look addition to the NUMA Files.
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Made it to page 81 and asked myself why . . ., November 22, 2011
This review is from: Devil's Gate (The Numa Files) (Hardcover)
I am a Clive Cussler fan - but Clive Cusssler apparently little involved with the writing of the books bearing his name.
There have been eight prior Kurt Austin adventures written with Paul Kemprecos. Now no one really knows how these collaborations work, but the Kurt Austin books have been pretty good. If you've read the Dirk Pitt series (22 in all) you have a feeling for Clive Cussler solo - and with his son, Dirk Cussler, as a co-author (very different).
Cussler's trademark is high-flying plots that strain the reader's willingness to believe. But when Cussler is telling the story, he builds strong heroic characters and his story telling skills are powerful enough to pull the reader through.
In "Devil's Gate", Cussler seems to be entirely absent. The plot is outlandish - and Graham Brown's story telling is simply inadequate. The characters, including hero Kurt Austin, parody their roles in earlier books. The dialog of the bad guys seems to have come together from an accident involving refrigerator magnets. The plot and action quickly move from outlandish to bizarre to completely unbelievable - and I only made it to page 81.
The last Isaac Bell adventure, the fourth in the series after three excellent books, fell on its face as well.
A prolific author with 48 books to his credit, there's going to be a cropper or two. It seems that Cussler is trying to build a factory or farm system to up the number of titles he has in print, which in turn will increase his revenue. Apparently he is farming more and more of the actual writing out to others and, I think, the plotting as well.
The result has been more titles with the Clive Cussler name on them and, in my opinion, weaker stories.
"Devil's Gate" just doesn't make it for me. By page 81, nothing was believable and the characters - familiar from earlier books - felt like parodies.
Not up to what I expect of Cussler.
Jerry
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like Cussler ... you'll enjoy the book., November 14, 2011
Cussler brings back Kurt Austin - dropped into a plot from an African dictator threatening the planet.
As most Cussler books do this one opens with a flashback, this time to 1951 when a plane with a suspicious cargo goes down near the Azores. Fast forward and a scientist for the Large Hadron Collider stages his own kidnapping. The scientist is drawn into the dictator's plan for a super weapon that will hold the world's superpowers hostage to his whim.
The dictator tests his weapon on a ship near where Austin's NUMA vessel is sailing. There is the "James Bondesque" quality of some of the characters, plot lines and dialogue - and credibility is strained. Cussler and collaborator Graham Brown add a little international romance as well. But if you enjoy Cussler's regular fare you will find this an enjoyable if "reality-stretching" good vs. evil story.
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