Product Description

Unabridged CDs • 13 CDs, 16 hours

An exhilarating new adventure in the New York Times– bestselling Oregon Files series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1258405 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-04
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 695 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Cussler, writing with Du Brul, offers the fifth installment of his Oregon series, which follows the exploits of a covert ship that does the government's dirty work as long as the price is right. Scott Brick reads with a flare of the theatrical, at times sending his voice soaring, up, up, up in an attempt to create tension and excitement. Brick's characters are over-the-top and his pronunciation is slightly unbelievable. His reading is certainly entertaining but at odds with Cussler's staid prose that is layered with rich detail and deeply researched information. The story flows well and draws the audience in, but Brick's theatrical performance distracts. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 14). (June)
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From AudioFile
Jason Culp's masterful use of accents sets the scene when Captain Juan Cabrillo of the OREGON boards a cruise ship adrift at sea. He finds the ship littered with hundreds of dead bodies, except for one survivor in sick bay. With dramatic delivery and timing, Culp captures the rising tension when Cabrillo learns of the Responsivists, a group intent on controlling the world's population. Their diabolical plan is to sterilize the world with a virus strain that may link back to Noah's Ark. The virus, an archaic but powerful weapons-delivery system originally intended for dispersal by Stalin, is thwarted by Cabrillo. Undaunted, the Responsivists' new plot is almost foolproof. Authentic sound effects complete this action-packed audio. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Oregon files back to their best
Once again the Cussler novels mix comic book type fiction with real life hitech military scenarios so well. In the dependably entertaining if less than top-notch fifth Oregon Files thriller from bestseller Cussler and Du Brul (after Skeleton Crew), Capt. Juan Cabrillo, who heads the Corporation, a covert military company for hire, and the multifaceted crew of the Oregon, a high-tech ship disguised to look like a tramp steamer, take on a group known as the Responsivists. The Responsivists publicly espouse a program of global population control, but are secretly planning a devastating attack on the human race utilizing a virulent virus found aboard an ancient ship that may be Noah's Ark. The authors are up to their usual high standards when in fighting mode, though the chief villain, the doctor who heads the Responsivists, falls short of Juan's billing as the single-most-evil human being I have ever met. As a thriller writer myself I struggle to find books I really enjoy, but Cussler books are always good fun. Readers may wish that next time out the bad guys put up more of a struggle

Cussler's star rises again!
The Corporation is a mercenary private enterprise for hire by any government agency that can afford its fees. Juan Cabrillo, the Chairman, runs his black ops from a ship called "The Oregon". Disguised as an overused, out of date, non-descript mercantile vessel that's destined for the scrap yard, the Oregon is actually a state of the art war vessel packed with high-tech intelligence gathering equipment, powerful weaponry and a fully muscled set of magnetohydrodynamic engines that, pushed to flank speed, will give virtually any ship on the high seas a run for its money. If you've read any Clive Cussler novels at all, it won't be a surprise to hear that Cabrillo is right over the top - an entirely unbelievable lead character (think Mr Phelps from Mission Impossible on steroids) leading an equally unbelievable crew with uncanny intelligence and virtually superhuman strength and endurance. The missions they accept in Cussler's Oregon Files series are typically of the "save the world from domination by a nefarious lunatic" variety.

When I reviewed "Golden Buddha", the first in the Oregon Files series, I gave it a grudging single star and swore that I would likely never read another Cussler novel again. Frankly, it was just awful! I abstained for two years but, perhaps it was my past fondness for Cussler's earliest novels that made me relent and pick up "Plague Ship" for another try at Cussler's work.

OK, OK ... nice job, Mr Cussler! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This time out, Cabrillo and his team of merry men (and women) are pitted against a cult-like organization called The Responsivists who believe in stern birth control measures and a rigid, disciplined reduction in the world birth rate. In marked contrast to its public pacifist exterior, however, the Responsivist leaders are not willing to sit back and simply wring their hands over the world's burgeoning population problem. They intend to do something about it by releasing a virus that will make the Ebola and Marburg viruses look like a case of weekend sniffles. Bio-terrorism is a frightening, timely topic and this time out, Cussler did his fans proud with a well-written high speed thriller that is easily the equal of his earliest Dirk Pitt novels!

And, I confess I particularly enjoy a thriller that is spotted with info-dump sidebars of a technical nature that enhance the thriller without distracting from the pacing of the plot. There was lots of these goodies to enjoy along the way - the physics of ELF (Extremely Long Frequency) radio transmission and reception; the translation of cuneiform and the possible origins of mythological flood stories; the philosophies of cults and de-programming; left over high tech weaponry from the US-Soviet Cold War era; and the use of north-south satellite orbits for space based weaponry as opposed to geosynchronous orbits for weather or communication satellites!

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

fun summer read!
Shhhhh....don't tell anybody but Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels have been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. Not high literature but I can't help myself. In recent years Cusslers branching out and combined efforts have watered down the product some, but I still find his efforts with Du Brul very entertaining (I sense that Mr. Du Brul is the primary author here). Anyway, Plague Ship is light summer entertainment for the beach.