Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring, confusing and slapdash, July 11, 2005
I should start by saying I am a big Clive Cussler fan and have read all his books. The only ones I have not enjoyed are the two Oregon Files ones.
There are so many characters I could not remember who was who without having to keep looking at the cast list at the front.
I reached the point of not caring anyway and just kept reading to get to the end. The whole thing reads like a Mission Impossible TV episode but nowhere near as good or exciting.
The scenes in the UK were very sloppy; there are no such things as pound notes and the beefeaters actually guard the Tower of London not Buckingham Palace.
I can only hope that it is Craig Dirgo that is the problem and that when the next Oregon Files book comes out written by Jack DuBrul (who I am a great fan of in his own right) that things will improve.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sacred Stone rocks you to sleep, May 22, 2005
A big fan of Cussler's, I picked this book up, hoping to find a great adventure story, and though I am glad he broke from his Pitt/Austen formula, of rescue the pretty damsel in distress, and get involved in solving her problems, I was disappointed in this story for 2 reasons;
1. too many characters for a 400 page book, and the author(obviously not Cussler jumps around from character to character, leaving the reader very confused.
2. The author(again not Cussler) clues you in on what's going to happen next, in just about every paragraph. This is not only unnecessary, it cuts down on the suspense for the readers. This is the trait of an amatuer author, and not one who has written some of the best adventure novels for the past thirty plus years.
It is obvious from reading this book that Craig Dirgo did most of the writing, and Cussler only put his name on the book, to get it past the editor's desk, and onto bookstore shelves. Clive Cussler should be more careful about the books he puts his name on, or he will start losing readers, myself being one of them!
Though somewhat better than the first story in the series 'Golden Buddha' (which I tore up, and threw away!) this is nowhere near the quality of story writing he puts into his Dirk Pitt, and Kurt Austin novels. My advice; Stick with early Dirk Pitt novels, anything up to, and including 'Floodtide'.
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42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not bonafide Cussler - and boring as watching paint dry, October 30, 2004
As is the trend, Cussler, a true master of the imaginative thriller, has allowed himself to become a fiction factory. Just as Robert Ludlum writes from the grave, Cussler permits others to write in his name. In this case, the co-author, given small billing on the cover, is Craig Dirgo.
The most notable feature of this attempt at imitating Cussler is the obsession with food. Every few pages, one of the paper-thin, utterly boring characters pours coffee, makes a sandwich, orders from room service or does something with food. I can't understand why. Even as a device for the idea starved author, the food obsession makes no sense.
Of course, nothing in this wannabe thriller makes sense. The plot appears constructed from an adaptation of those refrigeraor magnets. Kind of like a series of "exciting" plot twists and action scenes were mixed up on the refrigerator door and then plucked one by one to create this excruciatingly thrilless thriller.
To make a long, dreadful story short, a archaeologist financed by a shadowy billionaire discovers a meteorite in Greenland or someplace around there. Gee golly, the meteorite is radioactive and is stolen. Heavens to Betsy, a small tactical device has also been stolen in the Ukraine. Wow, mix a few terrorists in and a murky vengenace mission by the wacky billionaire and what do you have? An opportunity for the Corporation, a private counter-terrorism business, to get involved.
Clive Cussler could have done wonders with these concepts. Lacking his firm hand, however, the result is a painful excursion into boredom. I finished this failed effort only because I wanted to see if it could get worse. It did.
Cussler is one of my favorite thriller authors. In my opinion, he shouldn't permit his good name and reputation to suffer.
Jerry
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