Devil's Gate (The Numa Files) [Hardcover]

Clive Cussler (Author), Graham Brown (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 14, 2011 | Series: The Numa Files

A Japanese cargo ship cruises the eastern Atlantic near the Azores- when it bursts into flames. A gang of pirates speeds to take advantage of the disaster-when their boat explodes. What is happening in this part of the world?

As Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team rush to investigate, they find themselves drawn into the extraordinary ambitions of an African dictator, the creation of a weapon of almost mythical power, and an unimaginably audacious plan to extort the world's major nations. The penalty for refusal? The destruction of their greatest cities. Filled with the high-stakes suspense and boundless invention unique to Cussler, Devil's Gate is one of the most thrilling novels yet from the grand master of adventure.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The guy I read -- Tom Clancy Clive Cussler is hard to beat Daily Mail Unquestionably entertaining Daily Express Delivers what it promises Financial Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Clive Cussler is the author of many New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Kingdom and The Race. He lives in Arizona.
Graham Brown is the author of Black Rain and Black Sun. A pilot and an attorney, he lives in Arizona.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (November 14, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399157824
• ISBN-13: 978-0399157820
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Made it to page 81 and asked myself why . . . November 22, 2011

By Jerry Saperstein HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format: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 Read more ›

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Open the gates November 15, 2011

By Marcus A. Lewis VINE™ VOICE

Format: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.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like Cussler ... you'll enjoy the book. November 14, 2011

By MED TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly Bad December 6, 2011

By Juanita A. Floyd VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading the other reviews, I'm kind of surprised that we could all have read the same book. I've read every Cussler book since the beginning and I have noticed a steady decline since the collaborations began. This one was no exception. I almost gave up partway through. This is the same book written the same way with the same technobabble and unrealistic plot as all the other recent stories. Seems like we change the characters, but the plots remain the same. I notice a definite trend away from the historic mystery elements and research that are a stalwart part of a Cussler book and a trend toward the technology that is a trademark of every other writer in this genre. I think this is the last one of this series I will be readng.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars New co-Author = New Life for Kurt Austin June 21, 2012

By Yodapop6

Format:Hardcover

THE LOWDOWN: Wow. And I mean that in a good way. The Kurt Austin series has a new co-author who tones down the camp and doubles the adrenaline, and I think he is exactly what this series needed. After a number of lukewarm hit-or-miss adventures, the NUMA Files finally delivers a novel that really packs a wallop.

THE PLOT: Kurt Austin rescues the sole survivor of a ship that was mysteriously fried at sea, then raided by pirates. Days later, he discovers a magnetic anomaly known as the "Devil's Gate" during a mini-sub race off the coast of the Azores. From there Austin is pulled into a web of international scientific intrigue involving a belligerent West African dictator with a superweapon, Russian spies, and an old enemy from his CIA days.

THE PROS: Everything I disliked about the previous Austin stories has been improved upon, while the things I did like are still present. First and foremost, the characters feel human and much more three dimensional rather than cardboard cutouts with names slapped on them. Austin has a harder edge to him, he makes mistakes, and actually cares about himself and his friends dying, y'know, like a real person. Paul and Gamay suffer a particularly traumatic event, and have realistic psychological reactions to it, which caused me to actually care about them. The villains were good too. Austin's nemesis Andras is a believable, worthy enemy who tests him physically, intellectually, and emotionally at every turn. The author resists the temptation to make the African dictator an unfathomable monster and gives him realistic motives.

I liked the structure of the story. Brown and Cussler allow Austin to take the spotlight, while limiting Paul and Gamay to a smaller, yet pivotal, role.... The plot was simple and unconvoluted, yet had twists and turns that I honestly didn't see coming. The dialogue was thankfully more colloquial and less hokey. Dirk Pitt from Cussler's original adventure series was a significant player in the story, and I loved that touch.

Despite the changes, the typical Kurt Austin elements are there. There is a historical mystery to be solved, an underwater wreck to be explored, a beautiful girl to romance, a villainous scheme to thwart, and of course, plenty of action on sea and land (car chases, mini-sub rescues, shipboard gunfights, a chase through an exotic pet shop, and a large scale battle between the United States and Sierra Leone.)

THE CONS: Very little, but a few things. I am no science expert, but the African dictator's sea-going Death Star-type weapon probably wouldn't really work the way it does in this book. Other minor quibbles: treasure hunt had a minimal role in the story, and the heroine spends a good chunk of the story being captured. Read more ›