As always, Clive Cussler's latest novel stays right on top of current geopolitical events. Arctic Drift, set in 2011, centers on global warming and the financial crisis.
The bad guy of the story, Mitchell Goyette, is a Canadian energy tycoon with a public facade of green technology and renewable resource businesses. However, his dark underbelly conceals heavy involvement in oil and natural gas.
South of the Canadian border, the United States faces a financial crisis of unequaled of proportions, a crisis intensified by the looming boycott of the U.S. by the international community if the country does not cut its greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning and automobiles.
The sitting American president, who in 2011 is neither Democratic nor Republican but an independent, hopes to use Canadian natural gas to replace coal for producing electricity and even for powering cars converted to run on natural gas.
However, Goyette is in a perfect position to take advantage of the United State's desperate gamble, and he does so without conscience. To the Canadian public, Goyette is an environmental hero who invests millions in wind power and carbon sequestration. Unbeknownst to the masses, he's unscrupulously involved in every dirty industry that will make him more money, in particular the oil sands of Athabasca, Alberta, and the Melville natural gas fields of the Canadian Arctic, over which he has full control.
With one hand, Goyette makes a deal with the U.S. government to supply nearly limitless amounts of natural gas at market price from the Melville fields to help solve the American energy crisis, and indirectly the financial crisis. But with his other hand, he secretly strikes a deal with the Chinese to instead sell them all of the gas from Melville at 10% above market prices, with no intention of honoring his agreement with the American government.
(The truth is, in the real world it is hard to see how Goyette's business would survive the breach of such a huge and important contract. But it makes for a good story line.)
However, Goyette's double-dealing with the U.S. and China may actually be the least of his crimes. He's also guilty of assassination, bribing politicians, creating toxic waste that kills people and wildlife, and almost instigating a war between the U.S. and Canada.
The only fly in Goyette's ointment goes by the name of Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's action hero of 35 years. In the end Pitt prevails over Goyette, and multiple crises are averted.
The co-authorship between father and son Cussler in Arctic Drift appears seamless. Their penmanship cannot be separated. Whatever parts of the book were written by the younger Cussler, he did a magnificent job of adopting his father's inimitable style. (Intentional oxymoron!)
All in all, Arctic Drift is an excellent action thriller. It's does not have the cover-to-cover non-stop action of some of the older Dirk Pitt novels by Cussler, but it does have quite enough action, plus the story line is brilliant and intriguing and keeps you wanting to read more. And as always in Dirk Pitt's world, the villains are as clever as they are evil, and the heroes as pure as Arctic snow.
The bad guy of the story, Mitchell Goyette, is a Canadian energy tycoon with a public facade of green technology and renewable resource businesses. However, his dark underbelly conceals heavy involvement in oil and natural gas.
South of the Canadian border, the United States faces a financial crisis of unequaled of proportions, a crisis intensified by the looming boycott of the U.S. by the international community if the country does not cut its greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning and automobiles.
The sitting American president, who in 2011 is neither Democratic nor Republican but an independent, hopes to use Canadian natural gas to replace coal for producing electricity and even for powering cars converted to run on natural gas.
However, Goyette is in a perfect position to take advantage of the United State's desperate gamble, and he does so without conscience. To the Canadian public, Goyette is an environmental hero who invests millions in wind power and carbon sequestration. Unbeknownst to the masses, he's unscrupulously involved in every dirty industry that will make him more money, in particular the oil sands of Athabasca, Alberta, and the Melville natural gas fields of the Canadian Arctic, over which he has full control.
With one hand, Goyette makes a deal with the U.S. government to supply nearly limitless amounts of natural gas at market price from the Melville fields to help solve the American energy crisis, and indirectly the financial crisis. But with his other hand, he secretly strikes a deal with the Chinese to instead sell them all of the gas from Melville at 10% above market prices, with no intention of honoring his agreement with the American government.
(The truth is, in the real world it is hard to see how Goyette's business would survive the breach of such a huge and important contract. But it makes for a good story line.)
However, Goyette's double-dealing with the U.S. and China may actually be the least of his crimes. He's also guilty of assassination, bribing politicians, creating toxic waste that kills people and wildlife, and almost instigating a war between the U.S. and Canada.
The only fly in Goyette's ointment goes by the name of Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's action hero of 35 years. In the end Pitt prevails over Goyette, and multiple crises are averted.
The co-authorship between father and son Cussler in Arctic Drift appears seamless. Their penmanship cannot be separated. Whatever parts of the book were written by the younger Cussler, he did a magnificent job of adopting his father's inimitable style. (Intentional oxymoron!)
All in all, Arctic Drift is an excellent action thriller. It's does not have the cover-to-cover non-stop action of some of the older Dirk Pitt novels by Cussler, but it does have quite enough action, plus the story line is brilliant and intriguing and keeps you wanting to read more. And as always in Dirk Pitt's world, the villains are as clever as they are evil, and the heroes as pure as Arctic snow.
About the Author:
Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and three children. She runs her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been one of her favorite writers since she read his Trojan Odyssey, a Dirk Pitt Novel, in 2003 and she writes reviews like this one on Arctic Drift for the fun of sharing that excitement.
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