Polar Shift

Clive Who...My God this man writes some good stuff.. I loved Polar Shift it was on par with most of his work. I do prefer though when he works alone..and ...Dirk Pitt....come on Clive hes the best...

I have just finished reading this book in january 2006. I have read almost all of Clive Cussler's fiction books which are far better than his non fiction books. What I found interesting on this last few books I have read is that he mixes true facts with fiction. I have checked the concepts involved in this book in www.google.com and was amazed to find out that they are all true and exist and that is what makes this book so interest to read. I encourage reading it.

In my humble opinion, no one weaves an adventure tale better than Clive Cussler. I have been riding the wave of his stories since "Raise the Titanic" was first published. He extends that long tradition of storytelling in his latest thriller. I also like the idea that Cussler has more recently begun to include other writers on the by-line, in this case Paul Kemprecos. Perhaps Kemprecos' earlier books will reappear in print. Dr. Cussler again returns with his tried and proven formula and even dabbles into the realm of fantasy: something he has done at least once before. Kurt Austin has become a force in his own right and will soon stand shoulder to shoulder with Dirk Pitt. I agree. Men AND women will enjoy "Polar Shift."

Will there be any plot-twist that will stun you in the pages of this latest Cussler/Kemprecos tale featuring Kurt Austin? Nope. Did I enjoy it just as much anyway? Yup. The storyline follows the tried and true Cussler formula that was earlier virtually perfected long ago with the Dirk Pitt novels: begin the story long ago with an amazing event, and somehow manage to tie it together with events of today. Sure 'nuff, this latest tale does exactly that, and since they followed everything tried and true, I just knew I was in for a fun ride. Now since I am NOT any kind of scientist or mathemetician, the explanations about the possibility of an actual shift in the magnetic poles of the planet certainly seemed plausible to me. If of course you understand that kind of science, well you may find some kind of glaring error, but I happily did not. Instead I found the science behind Polar Shift to be pretty convincing. Did a WWII era scientist actually discover a way to shift the Poles using electromagnetic energy (at least I think that is what they used...)? He certainly seemed genuine to the military minds of Russia and Germany that they wanted him to develop a weapon for themselves. A daring escape saves Lazlo Kovacs life and before long, he finds himself in America and hopefully all his theorums lost for good, too dangerous to be left in the hands of the governments of ANY country. Unfortunately a few unsavory people come across these long lost theories and begin to run experiments which cause havoc on weather patterns and possible irreversible catastrophic damage to the earth. They also mistakenly believe that they can reverse the damage once it begins, but nobody apparently knows this for certain. The plans and the backstory as to why this corporation embarks on such a horrible plan are also quite interesting to the storyline. Lets just say if you dislike the so-called *Elites* in the world, you actually may root for the bad guys -- at least for part of the novel. Anyway, the grand daughter of Lazlo Kovacs unknowingly is a pawn in the grand scheme of the featured bad guys in 'Polar Shift'. Does she know the antidote to the Theorums developed by Kovacs? If she does, she is completely unaware of them. Inject an additional side story involving the possible cloning of extinct Wooly Mammoths and you've got a novel worthy of Clive Cussler. I believe that Clive only comes up with the storylines for these books and that Paul Kemprecos actually writes the stories, and whether or not he actually does, the end results are almost always equal to most of the Dirk Pitt tales of the past 12 years or so...heck, Dirk actually makes an appearance in this book by the way. In short, if you have enjoyed the previous NUMA novels featuring Kurt Austin, add this one to your collection and you won't be disappointed.

I read Polar Shift over two months ago after picking up a galley copy (Publishers advance copy) at BEA (Book Expo America, publishing trade fair) back in June. Some say Cussler writes for men, but I disagree. What red blooded American woman would not want to spend the night with Dirk Pitt? He is the original man's man. I have to admit, I have not been as enthusiastic about the Kurt Austin series, but it started to grow on me and I think "Polar Shift" maybe as good as the best of the Pitt Series, and Kurt is becoming a more intriguing character---let's just say I would not mind having Mr. Austin come to my rescue(; I won't rehash the plot except to say the story has to do with some bad guys figuring out a way to switch the magnetic poles causing real havoc for the planet (I guess this has really happened naturally in the past, which I did not know). Of course Kurt, his side kick Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA crew are the only ones who can stop the evil madmen (Yes there are more than one this time!). I got caught up in real suspense here, there are some unexpected twists (ie: the madmen start turning on each other), and this time out success is not guaranteed-at least I did not think so. Most of you who read Cussler know what thrilling, adventure to expect, and you won't be disappointed here.