Read by Michael Pritchard
Listened to: April 2014
Description (from Amazon)
Japan, 1945: Two US bombers take off with atomic bombs. Only one gets through.
The Pacific, 1993: A Japanese cargo ship bound for the United States is instantly, thunderously vaporized, taking with it a Norwegian vessel. Japanese fanatics have developed a chilling plan to devastate and destroy the Western powers. From the ocean depths to the discovery of cache of lost Nazi loot, Dirk Pitt is untangling a savage conspiracy and igniting a daring counterattack. While Washington bureaucrats scramble, a brutal industrialist commands his blackmail scheme from a secret island control center. And Dirk, the dauntless hero of Sahara and Inca Gold, is taking on death-dealing robots and a human-hunting descendant of samurai warriors. Pitt alone controls the West’s secret ace in the hole: a tidal wave of destruction waiting to be triggered on the ocean floor!
Brief reactions (and a spoiler or two) after the break:
Overall:
This was a strong entry into the Dirk Pitt series so far, which makes it fine. Adequate.
There was a lot of stupidity in the plotting. For instance: Why smuggle a massive underwater tractor to pull a bomb from a decrepit plane crash, when just smuggling a bomb would be sufficient? The tractor could even pull it into place, if we wanted to go there.
I also found myself re-writing dialogue as I listened. The pacing was good, but the plotting felt contrived. Many of my standard complaints still apply - overly verbose conversations, conversations about things that both people know fully well (just clumsy exposition), and I still don't buy the power politics.
The gender presentation is getting better - at least the women are starting to be shown as people. The listening experience was ok. I think the audiobook reader is improving as the series moves along.
Rating: 3
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