Jack Du Brul

Sweet Jesus, I hated this book.

It wasn't completely the book's fault. I listened to the audiobook, and the reader was insufferable. The hero spoke in a Charlton Heston voice, and the rest of the cast had ridiculously exaggerated vocal characteristics (accents, etc.) that turned them all into cartoon characters. If anybody spoke to me in real life the way this reader presented his narrative and his characters, I'd walk away.

But that doesn't excuse the book of being bad. There was no end of show more eye-rolling to be done. For me, the most vexing aspect was that several times, the hero surpasses obstacles by literally overcoming the laws of time and space, through nothing but sheer willpower. That's not left to implication or interpretation; it's stated explicitly. Once reality ceases to be applicable, there is no more disbelief to suspend.

Had I not been on a very long drive with no other entertainment, I would have abandoned it. show less

Preposterous. A book with a super-hero good guy and a brilliantly evil bad guy. The hero is a Ph.D. geologist as well as a great shot, a successful investor, and irresistable to women. He also is loyal and righteous.The villain hires vicious mercenaries who kill for pleasure--all to facilitate a technological breakthrough which will make the bad guy billions and put the planet in danger. The entire plot centers around crystals which formed in only one place on the planet. Who will control show more these magical stones? It's a race between good and evil and assisting good are a murderous group of ex-U.S. Delta Force soldiers. They are brave beyond brave aswell as being a platform for the author to rhapsodize on various weapons systems. He also editorializes against climate change activists. The super-Americans never miss a shot, and high-tech toys never malfunction. On the plus side, the author does construct a thriller in which the pages keep turning. show less

From the title, cover and blurb I expected a rather serious crime story or thriller that included the building or the voyage of the Titanic. I had never heard of the author or the series, and therefore I was rather shocked by the prologue. It involves Dirk Pitt, the hero of another series by Clive Cussler, who discovered an 18th-century submarine in New York that is about to be raised. When there are complications, he risks his life and jumps into the submarine. Because he is such a good show more hero, he succeeds in operating this 250 year old machine and there is a hunt along the Hudson River. Phew!
I understand that this might be a lot of fun and that many people will enjoy this kind of Indiana Jones story, but it was simply not what I had expected or what I like to read.

After the prologue, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the protagonist is not Dirk Pitt, but Isaac Bell, an American detective who works for the Van Dorn Agency (modeled on Pinkerton). He is investigating a mine disaster that is connected to the discovery of a rare element (similar to Radium). All is not as it seems, and what follows is a railway hunt through Great Britain, a visit to Paris and a journey on an ice-breaker to the Arctic.
I really enjoyed the crime story aspects of this: The investigation, the combining of clues and the discovery of secrets. The pre-World War One atmosphere is depicted well and I enjoyed the elegance of the time and the description of the settings and places.
What got on my nerves was the perfection of the hero Isaac Bell - I think across the whole novel, there are only two things mentioned that he can't do, related to acoustics and to fighting fire on a ship because he lacks experience. I think a character that is so perfect regarding everything - his personal traits, fighting skills, detective qualities, appearance - is simply boring. I understand that it may come with the genre, but still.
I also think that the story is simply too long, it should have ended at about 350 pages because after that it seems endlessly prolonged with yet another detention, another fight, another complication. It was so "boys will be boys". Yawn!

And then there's the disappointing fact that the Titanic only has a very minor role to play in the story. In fact, when Isaac Bell arrives in Southampton, she's already gone. In the following chapter, he has breakfast with his wife when they hear about the tragedy and realize how lucky they were to escape. I think that scene is well-written, but it doesn't really merit the title and the cover. This seems to be connected to an earlier Dirk Pitt novel where he raises the Titanic in connection to the search of the element featured in this book, but well, I won't dive into that. This will probably be the last Clive Cussler novel I have read. show less

This is the first Clive Cussler novel I have read in years. And I want to say that I liked Captain Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon the most out of all of the Cussler's series; the whole idea of a chameleon warship and crew taking on jobs no one else is really wants and / or are qualified for is a good premise. It’s sort of like Captain Paul Watson trying to enforce international laws on the high seas because no one else is willing to do it, but Watson does so on a shoestring show more whereas Cabrillo is more like Bruce Wayne since the Corporation has unlimited funding.

Long story short, all of the above prompted me to pick up The Jungle and give it a go. Unfortunately I cannot say that I enjoyed it. Maybe I've had my fill of the Cussler formula. But whatever the case, I felt the entire time that this book was written for young, teenage boys (or adult males that have never matured). If your idea of things continually blowing up just to blow up, or let’s say motor vehicles that are obscenely and obnoxiously loud for no good reason is the epitome of cool, then you will love this book. I didn't hate it, but I can't say that it was very good. show less