Sahara (1992)

Dirk and Al get a special job from Sandecker. Cruise up the Niger river and find out where a toxic pollutant is coming from. The problem? Theere is not direct path found, and the country it seems to be coming from is run by a corrupt general, and a corrupt French businessman. From boats to dessert trains and vehicles, subterrainian slave mining camps, historical crashes, and toxic waste dumps, drick finds himself wondering if he will come out of this assignment alive, or if he will fail the world. ( )

Awesome book!! Movie was crap!!! ( )

A typical Clive Cussler potboiler. Either you like his stories or you don't.

I will say though, that he does cook up some really outlandish stories from the past and manages to find a way to connect them to the present day. Who would really think of finding a Civil War era ironclad in the Sahara desert? ( )

It is instantly apparent within two minutes of picking up Sahara that this is the kind of book for people who like action movies in print. Having compared this novel to the film based on it, I would be willing to say that the book is more of a Hollywood movie than the movie is. Action, violence, gunpowder and assassination attempts, right from the word ‘go’, so much so that there would be people in the world who would not classify Sahara as a book at all. Our typical, steely, fearless, accomplish-anything wonder-hero is summed up perfectly by a quote from the book itself – “If anyone can enter hell and walk out carrying a glass of tequila over ice, it’s Dirk Pitt.” Couple him with the comical sidekick, throw in the beautiful woman they save from the jaws of death, and the red-faced, cigar smoking Admiral who gives the orders, and you’ve got the definition of ‘cliché’. An overused, blunt and blatantly American recipe for disaster, but a fun ride all the same.

Starting to read Sahara was an interesting experience for me. Cussler presents the reader with four completely separate, seemingly unconnected stories before finally getting on with the plot. Little by little, he draws them all together as the story progresses. On top of this, Sahara has three main plotlines, which are introduced one after the other, and resolved in the opposite order, like a series of three circles inside each other that the reader passes through the middle of. The central circle is the most intense, climactic and exciting, but it is commendable that Cussler doesn’t go for the typical, unrealistic Hollywood ‘quick fix’ (usually involving some form of explosion,) that solves all three plotlines at once – he solves all three individually and systematically.

As a thriller, this book ranks moderately high. Cussler isn’t the best out there, but he’s far from boring! Be warned, though; if you can’t stand clichés, this is not the book for you. From the outrageous gadgets and vehicles Pitt and Giordino receive, (all of which they manage to destroy,) to the moment where they subject the ‘baddies’ to cruel, inhumanly torturous deaths, (all in the name of peace and justice, and accompanied by a cool, witty quip,) ‘clichéd’ is this book’s middle name. Don’t be too critical, or you won’t enjoy. Sit back, strap yourself in, and enjoy the ride.

a tale led by dirk pitt and bpit mirder, secret angents, adventure etc under the blazing sun of the sahara ( )