Trojan Odyssey (Dirk Pitt Adventure) (edició 2004)

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Trojan Odyssey is an excellent adventure story. It deals with a different version of Homer's Odyssey and the Celtics. The book was highly researched. The situations that the characters get out of are difficult and timing impeccable but it makes for a great story. A fun fact is that the author wrote himself into the story giving the story some "truth." A good book highly recommended and deserves all four stars that were awarded here. ( )

He smiled to himself at remembering what a reporter wrote about him, in one of the few times his feats had gained distinction. There is a touch of Dirk Pitt in every man whose soul yearns for adventure. And because he is Dirk Pitt, he yearns more than most.

So. Homer's Odyssey was real. But they weren't Greeks but rather Celts and they weren't in the Mediterranean but rather in the Americas? Sure. The baddies are a cult of Celtic Druid superwomen, all hot as heck kickass redheads? Sure. The evil plot is to dig a giant tunnel to redirect the Atlantic Current and freeze Europe?

It makes me want to actually ready Homer's Odyssey, so there's that.

Exactly as expected, it's fascinating having a new main character. And confusing as heck when they're both referred to as Dirk/Pitt/Dirk Pitt. You can figure out which is which via context, but it really does feel like Cussler realized that Dirk was getting old and didn't want to write that anymore. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually miss Pitt flirting with/sleeping with every woman he meets. The brother/sister dynamic is strange.

Overall, it's one of the weakest of the series thus far. I'm just not sure what the point was. It feels like a lot of tropes we've done before. Which I guess after 17 books is somewhat hard to avoid.

Random thought:

It seems everybody but the admiral knows that Al secretly buys the cigars from the same source, said Dirk, smiling.

That feels really weird to spell out. Why now?

--- MINOR SPOILERS ---

So in the end, Dirk Pitt and Loren Smith finally get married. You know what? Good for them. It's a solid send off and you get a nice cameo from all the big names of the series (including of course Cussler himself).

If the series ended now, that would be the way to send it out and pass the torch to the kids in a new series (which I imagine is happening anyways). I almost stopped listening for exactly that reason, but at this point, I think I'll go ahead and see it through. ( )

NUMA's crew stumbles across an evil plot to change the world’s climate. Some of it is completely unbelievable, but adventurous, so I just went with it. As always, the book has several plots that interweave--the ending ties it all together. The characters are developing and evolving too. Where's #18? ( )

A diabolical plot to change the climate of the Northern Hemisphere is intertwined with an historically significant discovery with one man finding himself in the middle of it. Trojan Odyssey is the seventeenth book in Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series which sees the titular hero, his best friend, and his two grown children take on a multinational corporation in the Caribbean and Central America.

The book opens with a fictional historical overview of Homer's Odyssey as told by Odysseus, who withhold details. In the present day, Dirk Pitt, his son Dirk Pitt, Jr., his daughter Summer Pitt, and friend Al Giordino are involved in the search for the source of a brownish contamination around the waters of the Caribbean. While searching off the coast of the Dominican Republic, the Pitt twins find bronze Celtic items leading to the finding of a burial of an important druidess resulting in NUMA concluding that Iman Wilkes’ theory of the Trojan War occurring in England and Odysseus’ journey occurring in the Atlantic is correct. Meanwhile Dirk and Al search around the coast, rivers, and lakes of Nicaragua leading to them finding out about a diabolical plot by the multinational corporation Odyssey and China to divert the Gulf Steam through four tunnels to the Pacific and freeze North America and Europe while selling them newly created fuel cells at massive profits. Dirk and Al foil the plot then rescue the twins when Odyssey’s leadership captures them and attempt to sacrifice them in a neo-druidic ritual, afterwards they decide they are too old to continue saving the world. Al plans to transfer to another NUMA department or quit depending on Admiral Sandecker’s response, however Sandecker tells Dirk he will be nominated for Vice President and has set things in motion to make Dirk the new Director of NUMA. Finally, Dirk and Congresswoman Loren Smith get married.

Utilizing the theory presented in Iman Jacob Wilkens’ Where Troy Once Stood, Cussler creates two mysteries that intertwine but are relatively independent from one another. Dividing the ancient and the modern mysteries between the Pitt twins and the team of Dirk and Al brought a better narrative flow as well as allowing Cussler to develop the newly introduced twins that will carry the series going forward. While the Gulf Stream diversion plot is unique, it was easy for it to be foiled given that one of the interconnected tunnels runs right next to a volcano that is set off by a bomb. Odyssey’s leader mysterious lead who happens to be the druidic high priestess who disguises herself as a overweight man was pretty underwhelming. Cussler attempted to put back the retcon genie he unleashed in the previous installment, but unfortunately created another when he resurrected Loren’s father for the wedding. Through there really is not an antagonist and Cussler focused on developing the Pitt twins, this book read a whole lot better than the previous installment though again not up to the quality he achieved a few books ago.

Trojan Odyssey is the last book of the Dirk Pitt series that Clive Cussler solely by himself, while not his best work it is an improvement over the previous installment. It will be interesting to see if Dirk Cussler will help the overall quality of the series going forward. ( )