Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed

by Clive Cussler

  The epilogue is used to tie together the loose ends of the story as wellas introduce the tradition of Pitt ending up with a prize for hisefforts. In this case, he receives the Maybach-Zeppelin town car thatHeibert owned.

  All in all, The Mediterranean Caper lays a firm groundwork for thenovels that follow. The interplay between Pitt and Giordino is evident,as is the detailed description of planes, automobiles and other modes oftransportation for which Clive is famous. If the novel can be faulted,it would be for the tendency to make too many leaps of plot. Instead ofallowing the reader to attempt to discover the direction throughwell-littered clues, this is instead explained by Pitt in the form ofdialogue. Still, the novel has held up well, with references to thetime it was written few, so it has not become dated.

  If anything, The Mediterranean Caper should be read by Cussler fans ifonly to understand better the journey the Pitt books have made over theyears.

  Originally published1975 and in 1977 by Bantam Books, Inc keberg became Clive's firsthardcover published. First editions of the hardcover are quite rare,and collectors of Cussler memorabilia find the supply of books limitedand the price high. The book enjoyed modest sales success, sellingthirty-two hundred of the five thousand printed in hardcover, althoughreprints have kept it in print to this day.

  Iceberg begins with a neat hook: the first paragraph in the prologue isactually what the copilot of a plane is reading, a book within a book.

  From there, we progress to a Coast Guard patrol plane spotting aniceberg with a ship embedded inside. They mark the iceberg with dye,then fly away toward their base. AsIcebergby Dodd Mead & Company inthey leave, a pair of men climb from inside the iceberg and call someoneon a portable radio.

  Chapter One finds Pitt piloting a helicopter toward a Coast Guard shipand landing on her deck. As is Clive's custom, he mentions his previousbook by having the commander of the ship, when introduced to Pitt, say,"By any chance the same Pitt who broke up that underwater smugglingbusiness in Greece last year?"

  'the plot features a missing billionaire mining engineer and genius whowas involved in negotiations with the United States government. Theengineer has built a device that can detect underwater mineral deposits.

  The theme of underwater mining is also common in future Pitt novels.

  Pitt pilots a helicopter and an old plane, a Ford Trimotor, which helater buys and places in his aircraft hangar/home. In addition, Pitt'sdiving skills are on display as he dives on a mysterious jet that hadattacked the helicopter he was flying.

  The villains in this tale are a group of industrialists who form a planto take over South America. Clive begins to expand on his writing skillin Iceberg. Well written descriptive scenes include a trip to arestaurant named Snorri's and a showdown with the villains in anIcelandic mansion. Rather interestingly, Pitt is beaten severely in thebook, something that would probably not occur nowadays.

  A fantastic climax to the book is a scene in which Pitt foils theattempted murder of the presidents of French Guiana and the DominicanRepublic at Disneyland. Here the writing truly jumps off the page.

  Iceberg is unique for another reason: Clive has the genius engineerundergo a sex-change operation. He later uses this idea in Vixen 03,where a shadowy spywe are led to believe to be a man is found to be a woman.

  The plotting of Iceberg truly begins Cussler's habit of convoluted storylines and high-stakes action. He uses the Cussler "what if" formula togood effect.

  keberg sets the stage for the next Cussler novel, Raise the Titanic!

  in that it introduces the idea of a mineral important to nationaldefense, in this case zirconium. It is rather unique among the Pittnovels for a very important fact: at no time does Al Giordino make anappearance.

  In addition, Cussler has Pitt pose as gay, something rather odd. Idoubt that nowadays Clive would have written that into the book.

  The novel continues the development of the Pitt novels. It is moredetailed with more richly written scenes than the previous effort, andPitt's personality and motivations are explored more deeply. Aninteresting side note: nowadays, if Clive makes even a mmor technicalerror, he receives numerous letters setting him straight. In Iceberg,at least as it was originally published, -Kristjan and his sister Kirstiwere described as identical twins-of course, that is impossible forsiblings of different sexes. Clive told me he never received a singleletter pointing out the error.

  Raise the TitaWc!

  This is Clive's breakout book, where the formula he created for Pittfinally comes together seamlessly. For starters, he uses a preludebased in the past for the first time. The continuing characters are nowfully developed. The Cussler "what if" scenario is utilized with greatresults. And the writing is fast-paced and action-packed.

  Clive even uses a brilliant surprise ending. The book made him amillionaire, and rightly so.

  It has stood the test of time and reads as well today as back in 1976when it was first published by the Viking Press in hardcover and laterby Bantam in paperback. The book was serialized in the Los AngelesTimes as a cartoon strip, and Raise the Titanic! was the only Pittnovel to be made into a movie.

  The prelude, Clive's first set in the past, describes a man on the edgeof madness who is awakened aboard a ship by an undefined noise.

  Through clues, the astute reader realizes the man is aboard the Titanicand the ship is sinking. At gunpoint, the man forces one of the ship'sjunior officers, named Bigalow, to show him below decks. There, the manlocks himself in a vault to die with the ship. Bigalow survives.

  As the novel progresses, we learn that a top-secret defense projectcalled the Sicilian Project requires a mineral named byzanium, thoughtto have been mined out of existence. The only traces that might stillexist are located on a Russian island. A NUMA oceanographic expeditionis used to provide the cover for a mineralogist to search the island.

  Pitt makes his appearance early and with excellent dramatic effect. Asis the case in later works, he appears larger than life as he saves themineralogist and carries him to safety.

  It is learned that the island mine had contained byzanium but was fullymined, and a search is on to find out what happened to the mineral.

  Then we learn that the byzanium was placed aboard the Titanic, and anintricate and expensive plan is hatched to raise the ship.

  The novel features a subplot about a deterioratingmarriage along with a cast of Russian secret agents intent first onlearning what the Sicilian Project is about and later attempting to stopthe project by infiltrating the Titanic, then attempting either to takecontrol of the ship or sink the vessel so the United States cannotrecover the byzanium.

  Pitt is lacking a true love interest in the story, though Clive alludesto his skill in seducing the opposite sex. It's the ending that trulycaptures Clive's style in convoluted plotting. After all the work toraise the Titanic, the millions of dollars that were spent and the livesof numerous people, we learn that the vault that should contain thebyzanium is empty.

  After hearing this, Pitt remembers what Bigalow had told him about thenight the Titanic sank and about his confrontation with the madman whotook him hostage. He returns to England, searches a grave in the townof Southey and finds the byzanium. At the end of the novel, Bigalow isburied at sea and the Sicilian Project is tested and proves successful.

  An interesting sidelight to Raise the Titanic! is that in the originalmanuscript, the president of the United States is single, and he has anaffair with Dana Seagram, the NUMA archaeologist whose marriage isdeteriorating. Clive was on a talk show shortly after the book cameout, and a caller asked why the president and Seagram never consummatedtheir relationship when it appeared that was about to happen. Clivetold the caller, "They did, it's on page . . . " and reached for a copyof the book. After examining the novel, he found the scene had beenedited out. Clive never really found out why the scene was cut, butit's interesting to note that Jackie Onassis was at the time an editorat the same publisher. Maybe Bantam thought the scene would offend her.

&nbs
p; Vixen 03

  For Vixen 03, Clive kept the plot closer to home. The novel begins atan airfield less than thirty miles from where he was living, and a largeportion of the story is based in Colorado. Even though Clive had scoredbig on Raise the Titanic! he remained in his tract home in Arvada,Colorado, and wrote Vixen 03 in his unfinished basement.

  Originally published in hardcover in 1978 by Viking Press, it wasViking's second and last Cussler book. The paperback was published byBantam in 1979. The book is not as complex as later efforts, but,strangely enough, the writing has a certain undefined texture. Thedescriptive passages are smoothly written, and Pitt displays a humilitythat is not often in evidence. Vixen 03 also introduces Pitt's loveinterest Loren Smith for the first time.

  The story begins with a United States Air Force jet leaving BuckleyField, Colorado, with a top-secret overweight bomb load. After the jetsuffers engine failure high above the Rocky Mountains, the pilot makes alanding in what he thinks is an open area but we later learn is a frozenlake that is unable to support the weight of the plane.

  Pitt is introduced in the first chapter and, in a rare circumstance, isactually taking a vacation at a cabin that had been owned by LorenSmith's deceased father. Pitt finds aircraft landing gear and an oxygenbottle in Smith's garage. Intrigued, he visits the neighbors, who arenamed Lee and Maxine Rafferty.

  The story unfolds with Pitt trying to determine where the landing gearcame from. Once the serial number is traced, we learn it came from anAir Force' jet on a top-secret mission.

  At the same time in Africa, a former Royal Navy captain named Fawkes isrecruited to lead a suicide mission to discredit the African FreedomFighters.

  Clive moves between times and countries with an ease that would becomemore common in his future works, and the various subplots are welldeveloped and easy to follow. In Vixen 03, Clive shows the seedier sideof Washington, D.C with the introduction of. a corrupt politician whoattempts to blackmail Pitt and Smith.

  The theme of governmental corruption is one Clive will continue to usein future novels.

  Now the hunt is on to find out that the plane's cargo was a poisonousgas called QD. Pitt traces the flight authorization to a retired Navyadmiral, and Heidi Milligan, who appears in a future novel, isintroduced.

  A confrontation with the Raffertys results in a shoot-out. BothRaffertys are killed, but not before Pitt is told where the warheadsremoved from the jet were sold. A plan is put into motion to locate thewarheads.

  Once again, Cussler writes a story featuring high stakes.

  He utilizes biological weapons as a threat long before it becamecommonplace.

  The climax is pure Cussler. The battleship Iowa steams upriver toWashington, D.C with Fawkes at the helm, determined to deliver hisdeadly cargo and discredit the African Freedom Fighters he believesmurdered his family.

  The man-as-a-woman, or, more accurately here, woman-as-a-man, theme usedin Iceberg shows up here as well. A shadowy spy we are led to believeis a man is found out after she is killed to be a woman.

  In the next-to-the-last section, Pitt travels to Africa and buriesFawkes. He then explains that he knows that Operation Wild Rose was anattempt to topplethe current government of South Africa so that the defense ministercould take over. De Vaal, the defense minister, is then killed. Thenovel ends with Rongelo Island, the last location in the world with anyQD, being struck by a nuclear bomb that eradicates the last trace of thedeadly poison.

  Night Probe!

  Following the publication of Vixen 03, Clive started writing NightProbe! Unlike his normal schedule of publishing a new Pitt book everytwo years, Night Probe! didn't show up until 1981, three years afterVixen 03 went on sale. Part of the time lag was due to a switch inpublishers. Clive had been having trouble with Viking for some time.

  The book tour for Vixen 03 was a farce, the promotion and marketing ofthe book almost nonexistent.

  Clive desperately wanted to change publishers, but book contractsspecify that the current publisher has an option on the next bookcreated by the author.

  This practice is still widespread in the publishing business. Forpublishers, it protects them if a writer's works suddenly become hot.

  For writers, it locks them into a first right of refusal on their nextwork.

  To fulfill his obligation, Clive submitted a book on advertising he hadwritten, I Went to Denver but It Was Closed. It was promptly rejected.

  Cussler was now free to change publishers. Clive is rather unique as awriter. Each of his books has outsold the one before. In addition,each has easily paid back the advance and made his publishers money.

  This is less frequent than one might believe. Look at theadvances paid to people like Dan Quayle. Did they really sell enoughcopies of their books to justify the millions paid in advance money?

  Landing at Bantam, a paperback house that wanted to branch out inhardcover, Night Probe! was published in hardcover in 1981, followed ayear later by the paperback edition. For his new publisher, Clivedelivered what he and others consider his best plot.

  As the book begins in the past, we learn that copies of a treaty betweenthe United States and Great Britain have been lost almost simultaneouslyin a pair of freak accidents. One copy is lost when a ship sinks, onewhen a train plunges into a river.

  The book is timely. The United States is in the midst of an energycrisis, as it was in 1981, and Canada controls most of the hydroelectricpower feeding the Eastern Seaboard. We learn that the treaty concernsGreat Britain, in the midst of a financial crisis just before World WarI, selling Canada to the United States.

  Beautifully sub plotted with a group of Canadian separatists, a Britishsecret agent modeled after James Bond and a mystery train that appearslike a wraith in the night, the novel moves with a smooth style. It isaction-adventure at its best. Heidi Milligan, who was first introducedin VLlren 03, is a Pitt love interest who falls for Brian Shaw, theBritish secret agent. Giordino has a large part, and Sandecker, Gunnand most of the other continuing characters appear. The primaryvillain, Foss Gly, who appears in a later Pitt novel, is described indetail.

  There are plenty of underwater scenes for the diehard Pitt fan. And thetools NUMA uses to locate shipwrecks are beautifully detailed andexplained. Pittpursues his hobby of collecting old cars by attending an auction.

  The book has a definite time line. The treaty must be recovered by Pittbefore the British get their hands on it, and the president of theUnited States is facing national insolvency. In the end, Pitt recoversthe treaty and delivers it to the president just in time. The presidentthen announces the formation of the United States of Canada.

  The novel ends with Pitt delivering Milligan to Shaw, who is suspectedof being James Bond.

  Deep SixClive followed the success of Night Probe! with Deep Six. It was hisfirst effort for his new publisher Simon & Schuster and built upon hismultiple-subplot formula which he would use with increasing frequency inthe years ahead. Published in hardcover in 1984 and followed the nextyear by the paperback edition published by Pocket Books, a division ofSimon & Schuster, the book works on various levels. In addition, itbegins the Cussler tradition of having maps and artwork inside the book.Deep Six definitely should be read by the Dirk Pitt fan if only for onereason: it features one of the single best Dirk Pitt scenes everwritten.

  When one of the villains of the novel, Lee Tong, makes his escape in atowboat pushing a barge, Pitt gives chase in the Mississippipaddle-wheel steamer Stonewall Jackson. The scene is brilliantlywritten.

  A few years ago, Clive was asked how he developed the idea. He claimedthat, as is often the case, hehadn't planned the scene. He usually has the germ of the plot-usuallythe beginning and often the end but just begins writing the body of thebook and unfolding the story in his head as he progresses. TheStonewall Jackson scene was different, however. Stuck without aclimactic event near the end of the book, he was lying in bed one nightwhen the scene unfolded in his mind in 3-D Technicolor. He raced to thecomputer and got the scene on paper befo
re it faded.

  Be glad he did.

  The novel begins once again in the past, 1966 to be exact, when a meekbank teller named Arta Casilighio robs the bank where she is employed,then escapes on the cargo ship San Marino. It seems she has gotten awaywith the crime until she realizes that her evening drink has beendrugged. Through a haze, she watches as the crew of the San Marino arebound and tossed overboard. Moments later, Arta joins them at thebottom of the ocean.

  In Chapter One, the Coast Guard vessel Catawaba comes across a driftingcrab boat in the Gulf of Alaska. When a boarding party, including adoctor, is sent aboard the crabber, they find the crew dead. Two of theboarding party quickly succumb, while the doctor radios back to theCatawaba that he, too, is being affected by whatever is on board. Heorders the crabber quarantined, then, with his dying breaths, explainsthe symptoms he is feeling.