Product Description

Frozen inside a million-ton mass of ice--the charred remains of a long-missing luxury yacht, vanished en route to a secret White House rendezvous. The only clue to the ship's priceless--and missing--cargo: nine ornately carved rings and the horribly burned bodies of its crew.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57936 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-02
• Released on: 2004-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780425197387
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

New York Daily News

"Get-to-the-next-page excitement... Dirk Pitt is a combination James Bond and Jacques Cousteau...." -- Review

From the Publisher

A BIZARRE OCEAN VESSEL WITH A CREW OF CORPSES...
A DEADLY ARCTIC CONFRONTATION...
A VICIOUS INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY TO
HIJACK A CONTINENT!

Frozen inside a million-ton mass of ice -- the charred remains of a long-missing luxury yacht, vanished en route to a secret White House rendezvous. The only clues to the ship's priceless -- and missing -- cargo: ornately carved rings and the horribly burned bodies of its crew.

DIRK PITT, intrepid hero of Clive Cussler's smash bestsellsers Dragon, Sahara, and Inca Gold, confronts the most lethal network of intrigue and murder in his war against international crime. Only his strength, skill and daring can thwart a supercharged scheme that could blow every fuse on earth!

About the Author
A bestselling author who has had an adventurous life - sought lost gold mines in the American southwest, dived in isolated lakes of the Rocky Mountains for lost aircraft and dived for shipwrecks of historical significance.

Customer Reviews

Early Cussler work still delivers the goods
It is close to heretical to say so in Clive Cussler fan circles I am sure, but I enjoyed this Dirk Pitt adventure (the second one published though the third actually written by Clive) precisely because of the absence of Dirks close friend and NUMA colleague Al Giordino.
You see, my favorite novels of the fantasy/action-adventure/thriller genre include those where it is the individual battling the good fight. So I was pleased as I came to realize reading this early Cussler work to find that it was Pitt doing all the investigative work and mixing it up with an assortment of hoods and villains.
One thing I did find distressingly absent from this work was the trademark Cussler style of tying in some seemingly unrelated preludes together. My favorite preludes (I have so far read) is the Viking history and Capt. Nemo chapters that formed the beginning of the later `Valhalla Rising.' I imagine their absence here is due to this being one of Cussler's early works when he was still searching for his own voice and still using Alistair MacLean's style as a template on which to paint Dirk Pitts adventures.
The plot revolves around the discovery of the burnt remnants of a ship encased in an iceberg and sinister goings on that takes Pitt from Iceland to Disney. I really enjoyed the early chapters with Pitt and Dr. Honeywell investigating the iceberg though I was surprised to find the Cold War references somwhat dating the piece.
With some fun action sequences and a decent plot this novel isn't half as bad as some Cussler fans might have you believe. Certainly the author still has yet to hit his stride (a feat he probably first achieved with `Raise the Titanic') and it is almost intolerably politically incorrect in its portrayal of the female characters but for page turning entertainment I liked this novel.

Another winning adventure for Pitt
How many times has it been said, 'Nobody does it better than Cussler'? Well novel after terrific novel that holds true in a big way. This was one of Pitt's earliest adventures (yes, even in his pre-Titanic days he kept busy) and just a winning combination of fun and adventure. First we've got a great mystery in the ship frozen inside an iceberg, Dirk acting less than manly in one portion of the book (and when I say less than manly, well you just gotta read it to find out how UN-manly he acts) and a show-down inside the Pirates of the Carribbean at Disneyland--what more could you ask for in a book (other than the obvious absence of Giordino)? From one harrowing cliff-hanger to another, Dirk manages to do his best to pull off the impossible (yet AGAIN) and he does it in style. On occasion if you'll recall, Dirk goes back to his hanger/home at the airport and it's loaded with his cars, and all kinds of items he's collected over the years...well, if you'll recall his plane and ever wondered where it came from, 'Iceberg' will answer that question for you (that is if you ever HAD that question floating around in your noggin' in the first place...). All in all this wouldn't be Cussler's most intellectual novel, but I don't read a Pitt adventure to expand my intellect anyway. I'm looking for pure fun, and that is exactly what 'Iceberg' provided for me. I'm sure it will for you as well.

Dirk Pitt - Man of Action (and fashion sense).
I started reading Cussler beginning with "Atlantis Found" and I have gone back to the begining and have been reading the earlier Pitt novels. I would say "Iceberg" is better than "Pacific Vortex" and on par with the "The Mediteranean Caper." It interesting reading (or watching)the characters who are so well developed in "Inca Gold," "Atlantis Found," and "Valhalla Rising" develop. I was disappointed in the absence of Al in this story, kind of like Holmes without Dr. Watson. Pick this book up if you haven't read it and have read others in the series, but I would start off with "Inca Gold" or "Flood Tide" if you haven't read a Pitt adventure before. The later novels in the series feature strong female characters, however, the female character(s) in this one are just window dressing. It is important for the unread Dirk Pitt reader to know that Cussler has learned to write female chraracters much better at time has gone on.