Rating: 
Summary: Like a really bad Bruckenheimer film
Review: Imagine a bunch of rich, perfect, shallow guys and gals dressing up as a cover-rock band so they can steal a piece of art...they have high-tech gadgets, they spew one-liners, they are completely unlikely. This is a Disney-meets-Bruckenheimer film in type. Maybe the worst book I've ever read. No sense of reality, no sense of place, no real characters, and NO intrigue.
Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: The Golden Buddha by Clive CusslerOver the years I have been reading most of Clive Cussler's adventure stories. They were always very entertaining and some of the descriptions quite beautiful. The stories are at all times fast moving with good development of their often implausible tales. They had a kind of inner truth which an adventure story achieves by good storytelling. Always good fun! If you are a reader of Clive Cussler's books I need to warn you that "The Golden Buddha" fails on all counts. There is lots of confusing plot, poorly developed, dialogue is so banal that it is an insult to the reader.
Mysterious? The greatest mystery is the question who actually wrote it? Is the name Clive Cussler used only as a brand-name to make a quick buck?
Where is Clive Cussler? Does he still write?
Rating: 
Summary: MIGHT BE BETTER ON FILM
Review: This is my first Clive Cussler read. My wife adores the writer and has read all of his books from the Dirk Pitts to the NUMA to this Oregon bunch. I thought I'd give him a try by going with his shortest series, the Oregon crew. Well, don't tell my wife, but if the Dirk Pitt books are like this, I don't know what she's seen in them!
GOLDEN BUDDHA is filled with so many characters, you have to keep referring to the cast of characters in the front of the book just to keep track of who the heck they are. None of them have any real personalities, they merely serve as a kind of Mission Impossible team, donning disguises, coming up with unbelievable weapons, etc., and setting right the wrongs of the world, while getting disgustingly rich doing so. The head guy, Juan Callebro, is about as exciting as doing laundry and the bad guys are so out and out stupid, they offer little suspense or intrigue. If there's anyone who can write a better action novel out there, one need look no further than Matthew Reilly, whose Shane Iforgethislastname books offer non-stop action, a little more fleshed out characters and some incredible action scenes. Cussler may carry the weight of being a best selling novelist for years, but if Golden Buddha is an indication of his skills, I don't feel that motivated to read any more. It might be better filmed as we could dispense with all the sophisticated albeit boring narrative and get to the action.
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