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There are few literary pleasures greater than relaxing on a Sunday afternoon with a cool drink and reading a new Clive Cussler novel. Cussler is methodically constructing a parallel universe wherein a bunch of can-do guys are solving the world's problems with technology, money and intestinal fortitude. Cussler's first and still foremost creation is Dirk Pitt, whose adventure begat the NUMA Files, and now with GOLDEN BUDDHA he presents his always loyal and ever-growing cadre of readers with the first novel of what he is calling the Oregon Files.
The Oregon and its captain, Juan Cabrillo, were first introduced by Cussler in FLOOD TIDE. Pitt needed some assistance and Cussler breathed life into a ship that was a rusting wreck on the outside and packed with ahead-of-its-time equipment on the inside. It is available to any government that can afford it for intelligence gathering, transporting, or basically any job that for whatever reason cannot be done by other means.
The mission of the Oregon in GOLDEN BUDDHA is quite straightforward: expel the Red Chinese government from Tibet and reinstall the Dalai Lama, the rightful spiritual ruler of that country, to his homeland. No big deal … all in a week's work. To facilitate this mission, however, the Oregon must recover the revered Golden Buddha. Missing for years, the Golden Buddha has been sold at a clandestine auction to an unprincipled multimillionaire. What he is unaware of is that an equally unprincipled American software designer is planning to steal it from his as well. Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon of course are planning to steal the antique artwork from both of these gents, literally out from under their noses. I'm not telling any secrets out of turn when I say that they're going to do it. It is HOW they do it --- with Cussler and Dirgo accounting for every detail down to its last nuance --- that makes GOLDEN BUDDHA such fascinating reading.
But that's only half of the book! The team still has to get the Golden Buddha back to Tibet, get the Chinese out and the Dalai Lama in. How the team attempts to accomplish this produces a textbook maneuver in empire building. This aspect of GOLDEN BUDDHA almost suffers by comparison with the acquisition end, but nonetheless provides a spellbinding look at diplomacy and the way that the world probably works.
Even with all of this, GOLDEN BUDDHA wouldn't be half the fun it is without all of the toys it features. As always, Cussler, with an able assist from Dirgo, ups the geewhiz quotient exponentially with each turn of the page. Your favorite gadget will always be the one you just finished reading about. You will remain fickle, like a dog in a meathouse, until the last page.
Cussler, with the Dirk Pitt series and the NUMA books already going, would seem to be unable to maintain his present pace, even with assistance. GOLDEN BUDDHA demonstrates however that he is just getting warmed up, and probably won't stop until he becomes a genre unto himself. Recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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