Rating: 
Summary: Blue Gold
Review: Ok guys this one is worse than bad. The writing is sophmoric choppy short sentences with a failure to develop the story line fully. I have read all but three of Cussler's Dirk Pitt books plus Serpent and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Blue Gold does not even come close to an exceptable Cussler standard. I have to ask what Clive Cussler is doing putting his name on such poor quality work.
Rating: 
Summary: A big welcome back to Kurt and Joe!
Review: In this entertaining second entry in the NUMA Files/Kurt Austin new series by Cussler and Kemprecos, mankind faces a huge threat in the shape of a mutli-billion dollar organisation, Gogstad, who are planning to dominate the world's fresh water supply and ultimately the world. At the start of the book, a plane crashes in the Venezuelan rainforest and Francesca Cabral, inventor of a unique desalination techinque(turning sea water into fresh water) is taken in by a tribe of Chulo Indians. Then, ten years later she is discovered later by NUMA archaeologists Paul and Gamay Trout, who are investigating bio-pirates intent on stealing rare species of plants. Meanwhile, our new NUMA hero Kurt Austin and sidekick Joe Zavala are investigating Gogstad's water purification facility in Mexico when a bomb nearly destroys their submarine mission. Suspecting the facility is killing off rare whales, their trail soon leads them to Alaska and the sinister intrigue of post World War 2 black operations involving a rare atomic substance, and ultimately Lake Tahoe. Can they stop Gogstad from dominating the world and piece all the clues together? We will surely know the outcome(or will we?!), but this winner from Cussler just moves along so well that I never cared - the journey there is part of the fun of reading his books. Cussler features it all - powerboat racing, environmental issues, escaping from certain death, a suitably James Bond style baddie, interesting and well researched locations and a fast pace with simple prose. Plus tons of action and wisecracking humour help to pull it along nicely. In other words, it is well worth the money and one you'll want to re-read again and again. Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Gold That's Worth Your Money
Review: I was sad to see good ol' Dirk and Al vanish into the background of the NUMA files, but I have to admit that I'm warming up to the new heroes of Clive Cussler's books. Cussler had Kurt and Joe bring a new kind of style and action to Serpent's plot. There was an even more interesting plot in Blue Gold. The storylines in the two newest novels are more complicated than those of Dirk Pitt's time. This is definitely a big plus for the readers. You can compare it to the two Mission Impossible movies because it was the more twisted plot of the first movie that made it better than just the non-stop action of the second. I guarantee Blue Gold by Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos to be worth your time and your money.
Rating:
Summary: Much Better Than the first "numa files" book
Review: When i read Serpent written with Paul Kemprecos i thought it was horrible, but this time around it is much more similar to Cussler's writing style. Very Entertaining book!
Rating:
Summary: Sorry to See Dirk Pitt and Clive depart
Review: A sad misrepresentation of a Clive Cussler novel. Gone were the temptations to stay up all night reading of the adventures of Dirk Pitt. Now there seems to be a sad replay of Dirk adventures throught the eyes of "another" writer and another bit actor. Quick unexplained actions with little foresight into realism.I am sorry to say that I will not be reading any more Clive Cussler books if this is the shadow that will be forwarded in the next series from the Numa files.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of his best
Review: I love Cussler's theses. Imagine someone trying to control the world's freshwater supply! Such a great change from the usual spy stuff. But c'mon, adding Kemprecos's overblown prose ("her sweaty brow knitted in concentration", adding "the lovely" as a prelude to any description of the heroine; i.e. "the lovely Gamay Trout") to Cussler's usual great, irreverant, to-the-minute writing style does nothing for Cussler's books. I actually PUT THIS BOOK DOWN (shock horror) for more than a few hours. I've never done that with a Cussler adventure before; usually it's a 2:00 a.m. job and my husband's complaining at me to turn off the (*&^ light. Even the action scenes were rather ho-hum. My heart didn't pound and I didn't get all sweaty reading this like I usually do with a Cussler novel.If you can get past the B-grade writing the plot is just a fun as any Cussler book, but this ain't no "Atlantis" or "Sahara."
Rating:
Summary: where o where is clive cussler
Review: i have read all of the pitt series and have loved everyone of them this new series is a disaster i know cussler can't live forever but better to go out with a successful pitt series than to settle for this new series which lacks all the real numa players
Rating: 
Summary: Blue Gold
Review: I thought Blue Gold was one of the better recent Cussler reads.As usual the action was exciting and intriguing.It did not get bogged down in stage setting and mechanical specifications but moved quickly from scene to scene.I particularly enjoyed the topic of fresh water and its value to us humans.Interesting characters.However,Austin and Zavala are such exact replicas of Dirk and Giordino that I wonder why the name change is necessary. If you like Cussler you will like this book.
Rating:
Summary: His Worst Yet!
Review: The saddest part, after being a loyal Dirk Pitt fan for the last 15 years, is each book is now getting prorgressively worse. The plots are not only completely implausible and just downright stupid, but they are carried out by protagonists that could only exist in ancient Greek mythology. The simple-minded plot 'twists' are written for my nine-year-old to understand, but the problem is my nine-year-old is a smart kid, and he laughed out loud at the silliness when he read this. Cussler has entertained for years, but apparently used an Excel spreadsheet to do a side by side comparison when trying to come up with a new 'hero' for the new millenium. Take some time off, Clive, and go find some sunken ships instead.
Rating:
Summary: An improvement over the first, but still not quite the same
Review: I was very critical of the first joint effort by Mr. Cussler and Mr. Kemprecos ("Serpent") because it was subpar by Cussler standards. I also thought he had let himself fall into the "franchise trap", where he stamps his name on books authored by someone else and watches his credibility and reader base suffer. However, I wound up giving Mr. Cussler the benefit of the doubt and read "Blue Gold". "Blue Gold" is the second novel featuring the NUMA team of Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala. As with the first book, however, one cannot help but continually visualize Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino - the descriptions of the characters are that similar. Oh, there are some minor differences, but they only serve to make you feel that you are reading the adventures of "Pitt Lite" and "Giordino Lite". The Trouts, minor characters spotlighted both here and in "Serpent", are wholly unappealing because they don't bring much to the overall story, other than an excuse to print an extra chapter or two revolving around a chase or escape. This book is much improved over "Serpent" mostly due to its, shall we say, more judicious use of detail. Whereas "Serpent" was bogged down by mind-numbing, superficial detail, "Blue Gold" is free of most of these anchors. The end result is a story that reads slightly closer to the Cussler adventures we fans are accustomed to, and moves along at a much quicker pace. The plot is average, though the closing sequence is exciting and unique, with an interesting turn of events not typically found in the Dirk Pitt tales. All in all, the "sophomore" Kurt Austin adventure is an average effort. It is much improved over the first outing in this series, but continues to be vexed by too many similarities in characters and plot. It seems to me that for this series to fly, Mr. Cussler needs to ditch Mr. Kemprecos and just write the stories himself. Also, if he does indeed have this wealth of material for stories, he should have not bothered creating Kurt Austin and stuck with the tried-and-true Dirk Pitt. After all, Cussler claims Pitt to be his "alter ego", and that familiarity has lent itself to great storytelling. Creating a "mirror" alter ego in the persona of Austin has not had the same effect, in my opinion. I will continue to anticipate and read the Dirk Pitt novels. However, this series has proven to be a general disappointment, and makes me less inclined to shell out a few extra dollars in between Pitt adventures. I hope that Mr. Cussler will realize that he can't keep running with a knockoff version of the character that made him a top-notch author. His reputation will suffer otherwise, and he will quickly find that even lending his name to generate sales won't work the same magic.
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