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In the year 2000, a mysterious plague is killing large numbers of marine animals and
humans. Falling over where they stand, there are no signs of viruses or
weapons. An independent government office, the U.S. National Underwater and
Marine Agency (NUMA), has sent a team out into the Pacific Ocean to
investigate. Special Projects Director, Dirk Pitt heads up the
team. After finding the plague's latest victims, Pitt comes up with a theory:
sound waves that travel through the water with a force enough to kill. Where do
the waves come from? Where will they strike next? How can they be
stopped? These are the questions that Dirk, NUMA, and his friends try to answer
as SHOCK WAVE unfolds.
SHOCK WAVE is a more than a tale of adventure and action; it is also about greed, cruelty,
and power. Dirk's nemesis, the Dorsett family, struggles to control the world's
diamond market, mining the precious stones with a new, faster, cheaper technique using
sound. If Dirk is the all-time good guy, the Dorsetts are the ultimate
super-villains. Unfortunately, it is often hard to believe that the Dorsetts
are as powerful and as single-mindedly evil as they are. They force a Canadian
Mountie to fly off without Dirk Pitt; they send killer shock waves into the ocean without
anyone knowing; and, if they were in any other adventure series, they would be completely
distracting.
This is a Dirk Pitt story, however, and no one can overshadow him. If Pitt and
friends can scale cliffs, brave freezing Antarctic temperatures, face a small private
army, and battle the sea, then the Dorsetts can attempt to destroy life as we know it
without anyone interfering (except for NUMA, of course).
Dirk Pitt is touted by the book as "the world's greatest adventure hero," and,
impossibly, he is. He bravely enters into deathly situations in order to rescue
two children from their evil grandfather. He tries to infiltrate one of the
Dorsett family mines, not only for the valuable evidence it will produce, but also simply
for the challenge of it. It is his love of playing a game with death that
almost drowns him, guns him down, and almost buries him in a volcano
eruption. Amazingly, it all seems right: Dirk Pitt should survive these
hopeless situations; and, if he didn't, something would be horribly wrong with the world.
Simply put, Shock Wave is like a good action movie in a book. Despite the
sometimes-unbelievable plot and the outrageous villains, it's easy to suspend reality and
just enjoy the high-sea adventures of our hero. Thanks to Cussler's
storytelling, which is fast-paced and descriptive, it's easy to become Dirk Pitt's biggest
fan. Rooting for him, struggling along with him, and in the end, wishing to be
him.
--- Reviewed by Amee Vyas
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