I went into a library the other day looking for a book when a librarian approached me and asked me if she could help me find something. I explained that I was looking for a work of light fiction as I had left the book I am currently reading at home. She asked me a bit about what I read--which doesn't really help narrow things down any since I read just about everything. After a bit of questioning I finally settled on looking for something in the adventure or fantasy area. At this her eyes lit up and she rushed me down a aisle to the Clive Cussler books. Now this isn't an author I am familiar with but her description made him out to be a bit of a Tom Clancy--who I think is occasionally a fun read--so I thought I would give him a go. Later I pulled the book back out and took a look at the cover flap and this is what I read:
"In Shock Wave, Dirk Pitt meets the most intriguing and sinister villain of his adventurous and legendary career--a billionaire Australian diamond king with three beautiful Amazon daughters--in a conflict that is waged above and below the sea for the survival of vast numbers of sea creatures and more than a million human beings"
Got your interest yet? It gets better:
"In 1856, a British clipper ship sinks after a storm while transporting convicts to an Australian penal colony. After horrible carnage on a raft, the pitiful survivors, among them Betsy Fletcher and Jess Dorsett, are washed up on a solitary tropical island, where they discover an immense source of diamonds and found a powerful and wealthy dynasty.
One hundred forty years later, Maeve Fletcher, one of their descendants, is stranded on an island in Antarctica with a party of passengers after their cruise ship seemingly abandons them. Dirk Pitt, on an expedition to find the source of a deadly plague that is killing dolphins and seals in the Weddell Sea, finds Maeve and the passengers and rescues them from death.
When Pitt later uncovers the cause of the plague, he discovers that Maeve's father, Arthur Dorsett, and her two sisters are responsible because of their diamond-mining technology. A deadly race develops to stop Dorsett from continuing his murderous mining operations and to head off a disaster that will kill millions."
It's still not over:
"Pitt's struggle to foil Dorsett's ruthless plan to destroy the market for diamonds and thus gain a monopoly of his own takes him from harrowing adventures off the west coast of Canada to being cast adrift in the Tasman Sea in a small boat with his good friend Al Giordino and the lovely Maeve Dorsett.
Through trial by storms, hunger, and thirst, Pitt's inventive genius and relentless drive to survive eventually bring him to a final, spine-chilling confrontation with Arthur Dorsett himself, at the very heart of his domain, with the clock ticking against devastating tragedy--a confrontation in which Pitt gains triumph, but at the cost of great personal loss, as he discovers a lethal surprise that will shock and astonish the reader."
I've got to say that the flap reading alone as me shocked and astonished. Have you ever heard the amazing Beth Horner tell her story about her encounter with a romance novel? (basically Beth, a former librarian, reads a romance novel which eventually drives her to tearing the (library) book apart page by page for its sheer ridiculousness--very funny check your local library for a recording) Well, I think I have just found the book to match hers. I have started the book and am happy to report that at the very least the actual book is not as bad as the flap--I'm not saying it brilliant or anything as extreme as that just that it is readable, but I am still anticipating lots of fun rolling my eyes and throwing the book down--I'll try not to rip any pages out of it.
3 comments:
Interesting! That is a lot of detail on the book, I thought you had read it and were telling us all about it! I need a good book but I think I will pass on this one. Good readings!
Hilarious. I can't believe you dove in. :) Have you read the Sevenwater Trilogy? Juliet Marillier.
And about your last post--just fascinating. I would love to see what each expenditure is as a percent of the monthly income. That would be the REAL shocker--you have to look pretty closely to see the actual diets.
STM--dove right in is the truth. I see updates on my reading progress coming in the near future--and I can no longer promise not to tear pages from the book. Tell me about the Sevenwater Trilogy. I was actually thinking of reading Eragon as suggested by your site as a good journey.
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