Medusa by Clive Cussler

This is a Kurt Austin Adventure who is one of my favourite heroes of Clive Cussler books. These are part of the NUMA adventures. For many years I had seen the books on library and bookstore shelves but not read any, as I thought it was all about ships and marine things. I was not interested in ocean themes and read about raising wrecks or ocean travelling. Little did I know that these books are as exciting as other adventures and mysteries that I have read. While Medusa is not my first book by Clive Cussler, it’s the first I have read since writing book reviews on my blog. I have some of his books and as I reread them I will put up information about my impressions of the novels.

So NUMA is this underwater US government agency which handles all sorts of things from marine research, oceanography, raising old wrecks and helping with any world threats that involve ships, submersibles and all things deep…. Kurt is a big man with a background in CIA and knowledge of ships and oceans while his partner is Joe who is a brilliant engineer and can design and use all sorts of machinery. From submersibles to planes he can pilot all.

In this story, as in most Clive Cussler books, there are a couple of strands that run parallel for a while and then merge into the single plot. One strand is about an outbreak of a virulent flu (even worse than SARS) in a small village in China. A Dr Lee is sent to work with an American research team headed by Dr Kane, to look for a vaccine made from deep sea. While the second strand runs with a publicised dive in a bathysphere which will descend to great depths by its maker and pilot Joe from NUMA. Dr Kane has been chosen to accompany Joe on this dive. Something goes wrong and the cable is broken off sending the machine plummeting to the ocean floor and sinks into the mud with the force of the impact. Austin mounts a rescue, only to discover sabotage by cutting off the cable and is himself attacked by something. He manages to fight it off and get a piece of metal from it.

What is the link between this and the hijacking of an underwater research facility where the final stages of vaccine production was taking place? Some vast organisation only can be at the centre of this, as it is a worldwide and organised crime – the sinking of bathysphere, having a submersible capable of cutting underwater cables, crippling the ship that stood as a link with the underwater lab with a missile and finally just picking up the lab and moving it to some unknown location.

With the lab missing and the threat to the flu outbreak getting closer NUMA is offers to help the Navy find the lab and to get the vaccine back from whoever has stolen it. There is also a link (yet another strand) of an ancient tale / legend of whalers. A whaler got swallowed by a whale but survived to tell the tale and the ship’s crew got a virulent illness from one port visit. They were mysteriously cured after landing on another island and the people thinking the whale survivor (who has grown aged looking and totally white) was a ghost and if they did not help the crew it would curse them. Was this ancient medicine anything to do with the current research into the flu vaccine? It appears that the chemicals or microbes seemed to protect the individual from all illnesses.

The metal piece found by Austin leads them to a big Chinese company that is a front for the triads and is extremely rich and powerful across the world. The Trouts are part of Kurt’s team and they are sent to get more information on this legend as well as find out more about what is happening at the research lab that was on an island where Dr Kane’s team worked before moving part of the lab underwater in secret. The story as usual is full of action and excitement with danger lurking at every turn whether on a dive to search for the ancient ruins of the Nan Madol temples or finding an atoll that looked harmless but was at the site of the ancient island where the whalers of past had landed. The strands from all ends keep a tight grip on you as the author also goes into what is the motivation and methods of the Pyramid who are bent on being the sole owners of this vaccine. The heroes are all over the place, kidnapped to a warehouse by the Chinese henchmen, shot at by them underwater, ambushed on their ship, taken prisoner of an old Russian submarine…………. Of course they find the lab but will they be in time to stop the pandemic that threatens the world?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it kept the level of excitement constant. The heroes kept your faith in them…. Kurt and Joe make a wonderful team along with the Trouts who all are best in their field.