Easily the worst the of the seven Pitt novels I have read. I mean, all of the negative reviews pretty much sum up my thoughts. I read books hand over fist but this one took me weeks to plod through. A jumbled mess in dire need of editing. Still, of the many fans I know of these books, this is one of their favourites, so whatever man. This is one of the least likely Pitt adventures, having virutally nothing to do with his career and almost everything to do with being a secret agent / commando. As crappy as a book it makes, it would be an outstanding movie. Cool villans and villanous plot, but in the end, not much comes of it but a gun fight. A little hollywood tweaking here and there and you've have a very fun and forgetable film for all your kids to waste your money on.

I was recommended Cussler by my aunt, whose literary taste isn't quite what I generally find myself reading. But on a new search for a long-standing author whose name is revered after having read works by Herman Wouk, I decided to give old Cussler a shot.

The first book I read by him was "The Sea Hunters," a mix of narrative and creative non-fiction telling the tale of ships and their eventual wreckage that his organization NUMA (the one and the same) has discovered in years past. I thought I found a winner.

There are several aspects of Cussler that make me admire him. He has excellent descriptive abilities, he is fascinated in shipwrecks, which is a subject I have adored over years past, and he lives in Colorado, a state that I'll always have a soft spot for. He is in essence who I want to be within the next decade... an established writer, living in the cool beauty of the Rocky Mountain State, and spending vacations seeking lost ships whose moment of trauma is forever frozen in time on the soft silt bed of the seas.

And then I read this book. I figured if I read something more recent in the series, I would have an evolved version of his work and discern whether I'd read the whole series.

In all honesty, I only have two gripes with this book, but they're both enormous gripes. The first is the fact that there are enough clichés in this book to raise the Titanic only to sink it once again. The second is throwing himself into the story as a cameo. I didn't really like that approach.

Outside of that, the story is very inventive and his narrative is smooth up until you hear a phrase that makes you cringe because the only people who use them are people who use clichéd expressions to elicit some sort of grimace from you. He did a good amount of research if I could guess, and the underlying story pays off.

That said, I will probably never pick up another Dirk Pitt novel. I'd sooner watch reruns of The A-Team and fill myself on a few pints of Ben & Jerry's. Clichéd action-adventure just isn't for me.

As all my previous Cussler reviews have said, I read this series in order and they just seem to get better as I go through them.
This series is simply the most fun you'll have taking a little trip through your imagination with Dirk and Al.
It's over the top, full of more than a few cliches, and often has bad dialogue. (Most from the vile bad guys)
It's also daring, action packed, and even a little informative at times.
Everyone picks on Cussler for his dialogue but, they seem to forget these books are just for fun and take place in a pseudo-fantasy world.
If you want "real" people living a "real" life, read Jane Austen or something.
Enjoy Atlantis Found for what it is then read Valhalla Rising.

Cussler has done his research. After reading and thoroughly enjoying the further adventures of Dirk Pitt in Atlantis Found, I discovered that the Holy Lance is a real object and that the Nazis had indeed surveyed the Antarctic for a base. Whether or not they ever built one is pure conjecture but it goes to show that Cussler tends to weave his fiction around solid facts. Additionally, his portrayal of the Ameenes (those who were later called the Atlanteans) is brilliant. Indeed there is much evidence pointing to just such a pre-historical civilization.

Im a new fan of Cusslers. Ive read a few of his books now in a row and this has to be the best. There were some long chapters but overall it kept my interest up until the end.