Book Review: Poseidon's Arrow by Clive Cussler & Dirk Cussler

Poseidon's Arrow by Clive Cussler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The huge leap forward in technology has the United States poised to make every submarine fleet obsolete, but the need for rare earth metals and industrial espionage put it at risk. Poseidon’s Arrow is the twenty-second book of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series and the fifth with his son Dirk, as NUMA Director Dirk Pitt finds himself attempt to protect the interests of the United States like he did back in the day.

In 1943, an Italian submarine-turned-freighter sails the Indian Ocean with material from Japanese-occupied territory headed for Germany when an American plane flies over and damages it so it can not complete its mission. In the present day, the President learns of a secret prototype attack submarine the United States is developing, but just after he learns about it a ruthless an Austrian-born multimillionaire with a vendetta plans on stealing its plans to sell to the Chinese while stopping the development of the prototype. A group of mercenaries knocks out a California mine that specializes in rare earth metals and kills an engineer and defense contractor that are developing the new sub then steal the engineers plans before also stealing one of the submarines revolutionary new engines. Dirk Pitt and NUMA enter the scene when bringing up the dead engineer’s boat only to be attacked by the mercenaries, then it is a race between the two to find first the plans then later the engine with the mercenaries always a step ahead or right on Pitt’s tail which leads to him and Al Giordino getting captured while attempting to stop a hijacking of a shipment of rare earth metals to the United States thanks to an informant. The Chinese while not opposed to paying for all the technology they can get, learn that the millionaire is stealing their rare earth metals as well and decide that enough is enough. A Chinese spy plans to destroy the millionaire’s secret refining facility alongside the Panama Canal where Pitt and Giordino were taken eventually meeting Pitt when he escapes. Pitt, alongside his children, leads a Panamanian security back to the facility just before it blows to save everyone else slaving away there when he learns that the stolen engine and plans are coming through the Canal. Pitt stops the stealing of the engine and gets back the stolen plans though doing so results in the destruction of one of the Canal’s locks. Meanwhile off Madagascar, Dirk Jr. and Summer are attacked in a NUMA submersible by a boat owned by the same antagonist after getting to shore Summer finds the remains of some of the crew of the Italian submarine as well as the boat’s logbook. After finding their father in Panama, the two’s investigation leads them to Terra del Fuego where the submarine had been washed up on shore decades after it’s last appearance. Inside, the twins find tons of rare earth metals that the United States’ purchases from Italy to complete the prototype submarine.

Once again, Dirk Cussler’s writing alongside his father brought a fun narrative to the series. Unfortunately for the second book in a row there were issues that weren’t present in the first three books that father and son cowrote. There were two major issues that were really annoying with the first being Pitt at his age and what he had gone through doing what he did during the climax especially since several books ago he complained he should not be put in those situations again. The second was that the chief mercenary instead of killing a NCIS investigator that he happened upon while stealing the engine, he takes her with him so he can have sex (rape) just so she can be in danger during the Panama Canal chase. The appearance of a Chinese spy and the regulation of Dirk Jr. and Summer to an essentially tertiary position in the story makes me fearful that Clive wants to go back to Cold War spy novels that the early books of the series had while completely forgetting why he decided to retcon the existence of twins, the age of Dirk Pitt.

Poseidon’s Arrow continues a string of good narratives written by Clive and Dirk Cussler, but for the second book in a row there are issues that while annoying doesn’t derail everything.

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