Raise the Titanic

Rating:
Summary: Another 5 stars for another great Dirk Pitt novel.
Review: I'm really amazed at how good a writer Clive Cussler is. I think he ranks up there with Stephen King and Tom Clancy in keeping the pages turning. Every book reads like a James Bond novel and Dirk Pitt is a worthy James Bond. It's pretty cool (a little silly sometimes, but still cool) that Pitt & his comrades use a famous historical object in each novel to assist them in their mission. Obviously in this one they use the Titanic to try to recover this rare chemical element buried in its vault to build a missle defense system. That idea doesn't sound too original today, but consider that this book was published in 1976, before the Titanic was found (Cussler includes a well-written forward about this) and before a missle defense system was discussed regularly by the government. The point I'm trying to make is that the book deserves praise not only for a well written, adventurous story, but also for its originality.

Rating:
Summary: The Titanic Is Worth Raising!
Review: Ahhh, sweet memories!...Raise The Titanic was my first book by Clive Cussler and I consider it to be among this man's best. However, I didn't fall in love with it instantly. The story took some time to get rolling and it wasn't extremely fascinating at first. But halfway through I couldn't catch my breath! Things were so unexpectable, thrilling and jaw-dropping that I was restless until the end. The whole WHAT-IF? basis is what his later books lack. The idea of raising the Titanic itself, the wild race of the superpowers for getting there first, the great knowledge of special deep-sea gadgets (naturally) is what makes it desirable. The single flaw: Some Russian names are too unreal. But it's not very important. Bottom line: If you want the real Cussler experience, get it.

Rating:
Summary: let the preformance begin....
Review: As always Dirk Pitt is there in all his glory. The mixture of fact with fiction, and impossible elements make a Cussler novel all you are looking for. I read the book 15 or 20 years ago and just read it again without realizing until I was well into it. It did not matter, a good read never grows old, please keep going Mr. Cussler, your fans are waiting.

Rating:
Summary: Action packed!
Review: This book was written before they found Titanic. That didn't take anything out of the story though. It was action packed, and had a great twist ending. This is my first Cussler book and I feel that I will read more adventures of Dirk Pitt!

Rating:
Summary: Watch Friends Instead
Review: Horrible! Trite, predictable and filled with cardboard cut outs disguised as characters. Not quite as interesting as a sit-com. I couldn't finish it.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling, although not Cussler's best work
Review: I love Clive Cussler's works, and this is certainly one that will be one of my favorites. And though I still consider "Cyclops" one os his best, this is certainly up there on quality. It has that wonderful action adventure sense to it that only a true novel can give. And although it starts kind of slow at the beggining, it certainly picks up - and in the end, the excitment of the climax makes up for the slow start. I loved how Cussler had those wonderful descriptions about the Titanic, even though he was writing these in the mid-seventies. I also loved the wonderful pace to it. It also had a different perceiption than usually Clive Cussler, especially on Dirk Pitt. He's not the rugged, dashing hero-type. He's much more down-to-earth and sophisticated. Overall, though, it's a wonderful book, and I will consider it one of my favorites. I would certainly recommend it to not only Cussler fans, but all readers of action and suspense.

Rating:
Summary: BY FAR, CUSSLER'S BEST !
Review: This is the book by Cussler that definitely established DIrk Pitt as one of the greatest action heroes of our Century ! He and his pal Al Giordino fight against the russians, for something that valious that's deep into the TITANIC. Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Raise The Titantic
Review: The novel "Raise the Titantic!" is the most intriguing and exciting book of the year! It has got to be the best book by Clive Cussler to date. The star of the story, Dirk Pitt, is under the sea once again searching for the famed Titantic. Clive Cussler, the author of "Sahara" and "Deep Six" sends our hero Dirk Pitt in a race against time and other countries to salvage the giant ship with a secret cargo that could prove to be the key element to the defense of the United States! No one can do it like Clive Cussler, no one!

Rating:
Summary: Raise the Titanic-originally published by viking press 1976
Review: ok high speeds i read the book about 13 years ago, but some of the thought behind the negative reviews is simply turning my top. the logic patterns behind them are simply too much to bear. lets start with the year the book was written, 1976. Id like to repeat that because it sounds, VAGUELY IMPORTANT! the year the book was written was 1976... so with this in mind just how much positive information do you think was available for study back then? humm? not a whole lot, thats how much. some of us out there are critiquing the book as if it was published last month. the ship was not even found until 1985. think about it. there were numerous reports of the ship breaking up as it went down, yes this is most definately true no arguement, however conversely several ships officers, who we will credit with being competent, if somewhat on the stressed side claimed that it did not. also keep in mind a very large number of the people who reported the break up were passengers, most in a very high state of stress. it is plausible that their testimonys might have been blown off. or maybe its something else. humm... in reality what difference does it make. in writing there is something called artistic licence, (ah ha here it is) it is frequently used in a work that is termed historical fiction. a real historical event is either used as a setting for a fictitious tale to be told. sometimes this means that the event will be described near 100% accurate and only the people involved with part of this event will be fictitious. however, yes another however my short tempered friends, sometimes it is all encompassing. the event while still based upon what happened will be twisted enough to meet the needs of the story, along with the people historically real, composites of several people in one or entirely fictitious are changed and adapted to make the story do what the author desires. i think that is part of the joy of being an author, you can alter the setting to how you want it. life does not always work that way. so, how soon shall this tirade end? soon i should think, i could have condensed all of this into about one paragraph about when the book dates from and how people critique the book on information that BEGAN to be gathered 9 years later. and the book criticized 24 years later. not to mention i wanted to give the bored among us something to read. time periods people, remember that. another question, ive got my choise in mind, ponder this, pick a great book that you have read, that involves an historical event but is not entirely accurate in its description. does that make it a bad book?

Rating:
Summary: A great plot with a whopper-of-an-ending
Review: I still think 'Cyclops' is Cussler's best novel, but 'Raise the Titanic' is a close second. There is plenty of action in this novel. Basing a story on something as haunting as the loss of the Titanic is bound to be exciting. The only aspect of this novel that I disliked involved the relationship between Dana and Gene Seagram. It really had nothing to do with the main plot. The worst scene, in my opinion, was the opening of the vault on the Titanic. What ruined the scene was Gene Seagram's lunacy. His dismantling the head of a 76-year old corpse during his psychotic breakdown seemed odd. His marital problems and mental exhaustion were brought to light several times throughout the book. I just didn't think that the problems were extreme enough to lead to violent insanity. Perhaps his turmoil would have been better represented in movie format. Despite these minor flaws, 'Raise the Titanic' was still an energetic read from beginning to end. The production of a movie based on this novel would be great. The best part of the book was the ending. Without giving too much away, the vault scene led me to believe that the ending couldn't possibly be good. Cussler, like all fans know he can, managed to come up with a dramatic twist. The ending is what made me give 'Raise the Titanic' four stars. Overall, every minute detail was meticulously thought out. Of course, only Dirk Pitt could put all the pieces of the puzzle together in the end!!!