Flood Tide by Clive Cussler Review

Simon and Schuster, Sep., 1997.
Hardcover, 544 pages.
ISBN: 0684802988.
Ordering information: Amazon.com.

Clive Cussler strikes again as America's foremost action storyteller with Flood Tide. In Cussler's 11th undersea adventure, Dirk Pitt and his sidekick Al Giordino are up against the evil billionaire Qin Shang. As the fourth richest man in the world, Shang smuggles Chinese by the millions into the U.S., Canada and Europe. With the population of the U.S. exploding, it seems that the Chinese will soon control the West Coast. Could the U.S. be setting up for another civil war? Pitt picks up on the trail of the smuggling operation while vacationing on Orion Lake near Seattle. On the bottom of the lake, Pitt discovers thousands of dead Chinese murdered by Shang and his operatives. Meanwhile, Qin Shang has bought off all of the politicians, including the president. As Dirk continues to nose around, it turns out that the evil billionaire is constructing his biggest operation yet. He has constructed a billion dollar port above New Orleans that defies all economic logic. Aside from using the port as an entry point for smuggling operations, Shang has a plan that will divert the Mississippi back into her former bed. This nefarious plan would then give his new port a monopoly, and put everyone else under water -- literally!

Pitt and his gang from the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) unravel Qin Shang's plans bit by bit using remote submersibles and other fun high-tech gadgetry. The final showdown between Pitt and the evil billionaire takes him to the site of a shipwreck that was filled with treasures by Chiang Kai Shek and possibly containing the bones of the Peking Man. A speedy and fun adventure which Cussler fans will relish.

--James A. White, Jr.