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bookishdea's review against another edition
4.0
The thing to keep in mind during this book is when it was published. It's a good book, a fun read, implausible but amusing, and I certainly have a weak spot for books like this. But as a modern reader who wasn't born when this book was published, I definitely had to keep telling myself that this book was published before the Berlin Wall came down, before the internet or truly modern communication, etc. That doesn't really take away from the story, but it's still something to remember when you want to go "but why not do X" and then remember that X didn't exist yet, or that we were still not at all friendly with Russia, etc.
hckilgour's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
As far as Cussler novels go, this was kind of a let down.
The first 100 pages you yet again don’t really see Pitt. And much of what’s going on… doesn’t really seem to tie into the story. I was also confused as to why it felt like Canada was being talked about as if it was still properly or the UK throughout the book. And I still don’t get why the power plant was even mentioned at all; it too had nothing to do with anything.
And by the end I could safely say the whole Canada portion of the story with the wife and Villon and the prime minister was so stupid. It literally had nothing to do with anything.
The boat portion of the story was the most exciting and the actual finding of the train just felt like so much of a let down.
The women of the story were also huge let downs. They were written as hot bimbos who were just kind of there. Poor Heidi was the reason for the entire story and she was so horrible written.
Not the best Pitt novel, that’s for sure.
kimvermaak's review against another edition
5.0
I always enjoy a Clive Cussler. It is good clean adventure.
jpv0's review against another edition
4.0
One one hand, wow can you tell that some of these books were written in the 80s. The energy crisis is top on everyone's mind and the USSR still stands.
This lays the groundwork for a bizarre alternate reality where a North American Treaty was signed between the UK and the US with the formerselling Canada to the latter for $1 billion . It's a fairly ridiculous premise for a series that otherwise more or less takes place in our world, but that's become something of par for the course for Dirk Pitt. And it doesn't matter (in universe) anyways, since after the treaty was lost, two of the three copies were mysteriously lost: one in the (real life) ship wreck of the RMS Empress of Ireland (only 465 survivors out of 1477); the other lost when a train--The Manhattan Limited--falls through a bridge into a river.
It's a crazy coincidence for the most part, but it does set up the part where the Dirk Pitt novels really shine: digging through historical documents to pin down where the ship and train are and then going through what I assume (given Cussler's own experience) are more or less the real techniques that would be employed to salvage a ship/train from the bottom of their respective rivers. Also: ghost train. Because why not.
There's also a strange Canadian politics / energy trade / Quebec independence plotline that I didn't care overmuch for. That mostly acts as motivation and funding for a few of the weirder bits of the main plot.
Overall, it's a fun adventure and nautical salvage book. Pitt remains the James Bond of ocean salvage, unable to fail, but that's okay--he's the BIG DAMN HERO.
Suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. This is the Dirk Pitt I remember from high school.
This lays the groundwork for a bizarre alternate reality where a North American Treaty was signed between the UK and the US with the former
It's a crazy coincidence for the most part, but it does set up the part where the Dirk Pitt novels really shine: digging through historical documents to pin down where the ship and train are and then going through what I assume (given Cussler's own experience) are more or less the real techniques that would be employed to salvage a ship/train from the bottom of their respective rivers. Also: ghost train. Because why not.
There's also a strange Canadian politics / energy trade / Quebec independence plotline that I didn't care overmuch for. That mostly acts as motivation and funding for a few of the weirder bits of the main plot.
Overall, it's a fun adventure and nautical salvage book. Pitt remains the James Bond of ocean salvage, unable to fail, but that's okay--he's the BIG DAMN HERO.
Suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. This is the Dirk Pitt I remember from high school.
jenraye's review against another edition
4.0
I sure like Dirk Pitt. Implausible. Yep. Predictable. Yep. But I still love him.
bookishdea's review against another edition
4.0
The thing to keep in mind during this book is when it was published. It's a good book, a fun read, implausible but amusing, and I certainly have a weak spot for books like this. But as a modern reader who wasn't born when this book was published, I definitely had to keep telling myself that this book was published before the Berlin Wall came down, before the internet or truly modern communication, etc. That doesn't really take away from the story, but it's still something to remember when you want to go "but why not do X" and then remember that X didn't exist yet, or that we were still not at all friendly with Russia, etc.
brettt's review against another edition
2.0
Before Clive Cussler and his "co-authors" worked themselves into a several-books-a-year publishing schedule, as much as three years would elapse between the adventures of National Underwater and Marine Agency scientist, adventurer and Square-Jawed Hero Dirk Pitt. So although Night Probe came out eight years after Pitt debuted, it's only the fifth Pitt adventure and we can see Cussler still working on his storytelling groove.
Set in 1989, seven years after the publication date, we find a United States on the verge of economic collapse because of the depletion of Middle Eastern oil supplies and the lack of native-generated alternatives. Almost a quarter of the nation depends on power generated by a massive Canadian hydroelectric plant, but Canada faces the possibility of Quebec seceding from the nation and causing the kind of chaos a precariously-balanced situation doesn't need.
Into the mix comes US Navy officer and researcher Heidi Milligan, who has found evidence of a mysterious U.S.- Great Britain "North American Treaty" from 1914 that seems to have disappeared from all public record. Milligan's work brings the treaty to the notice of the president, who directs NUMA and Pitt to locate copies believed to have sunk in the St. Lawrence River after a horrific train accident in 1914. Great Britain, on the other hand, would rather the treaty stay buried and so recalls retired agent Brian Shaw to learn what Milligan knows and stop the recovery.
There's quite a bit of skullduggery amongst the various parties of Quebecois separatists, high-level domestic intrigue and bed-hopping, British military secret missions and et cetera and et cetera. Cussler wildly overplots the story and overindulges himself with characters, villainy and geopolitical gamesmanship and commentary that he's not particularly equipped to handle -- one notes the fact that Middle Eastern oil reserves did not run out in the early 1990s, for example.
It would be a few books later before Cussler took his strengths -- action scenes, underwater exploration and maritime and oceanographic expertise and straight-ahead, no-frills talespinning -- and drilled down to keep them in the forefront of the Pitt adventures. Night Probe shows a number of those already present, but mires them in way too much et cetera to rank much above middling in the series.
Original available here.
Set in 1989, seven years after the publication date, we find a United States on the verge of economic collapse because of the depletion of Middle Eastern oil supplies and the lack of native-generated alternatives. Almost a quarter of the nation depends on power generated by a massive Canadian hydroelectric plant, but Canada faces the possibility of Quebec seceding from the nation and causing the kind of chaos a precariously-balanced situation doesn't need.
Into the mix comes US Navy officer and researcher Heidi Milligan, who has found evidence of a mysterious U.S.- Great Britain "North American Treaty" from 1914 that seems to have disappeared from all public record. Milligan's work brings the treaty to the notice of the president, who directs NUMA and Pitt to locate copies believed to have sunk in the St. Lawrence River after a horrific train accident in 1914. Great Britain, on the other hand, would rather the treaty stay buried and so recalls retired agent Brian Shaw to learn what Milligan knows and stop the recovery.
There's quite a bit of skullduggery amongst the various parties of Quebecois separatists, high-level domestic intrigue and bed-hopping, British military secret missions and et cetera and et cetera. Cussler wildly overplots the story and overindulges himself with characters, villainy and geopolitical gamesmanship and commentary that he's not particularly equipped to handle -- one notes the fact that Middle Eastern oil reserves did not run out in the early 1990s, for example.
It would be a few books later before Cussler took his strengths -- action scenes, underwater exploration and maritime and oceanographic expertise and straight-ahead, no-frills talespinning -- and drilled down to keep them in the forefront of the Pitt adventures. Night Probe shows a number of those already present, but mires them in way too much et cetera to rank much above middling in the series.
Original available here.