Trojan Odyssey

Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino, marine engineers become involved with a international conspiracy that relates back to ancient history 5000 years in the past.
Reading( or in this case listening) to a Cussler is like being on a speeding boat during a sea storm. You never know what is going to happen. His main characters get into all kind of scrapes but always survive. They are like every superhero or protagonist in every blockbuster Hollywood movie. It's unreal at times. I try to focus on the story and not the unrealistic characters. The story is usually interesting and cleverly includes some history, if not a re-telling of. This particular volume focuses on the theory of what if Odysseus' Odyssey was not about the Mediterranean Sea, but about show more his crossing of the North Atlantic. And what if Helen of Troy did not cause the Trojan war(the Spartans vs the Greeks) but the Celts vs Artheans and Danaans over the tin mines. This is actually the star of the book. But because the characters are so out there, the book on gets a 3. This might be why I can only read one Cussler every year or two... show less

A diabolical plot to change the climate of the Northern Hemisphere is intertwined with an historically significant discovery with one man finding himself in the middle of it. Trojan Odyssey is the seventeenth book in Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series which sees the titular hero, his best friend, and his two grown children take on a multinational corporation in the Caribbean and Central America.

The book opens with a fictional historical overview of Homer's Odyssey as told by Odysseus, who withhold details. In the present day, Dirk Pitt, his son Dirk Pitt, Jr., his daughter Summer Pitt, and friend Al Giordino are involved in the search for the source of a brownish contamination around the waters of the Caribbean. While searching off the show more coast of the Dominican Republic, the Pitt twins find bronze Celtic items leading to the finding of a burial of an important druidess resulting in NUMA concluding that Iman Wilkes’ theory of the Trojan War occurring in England and Odysseus’ journey occurring in the Atlantic is correct. Meanwhile Dirk and Al search around the coast, rivers, and lakes of Nicaragua leading to them finding out about a diabolical plot by the multinational corporation Odyssey and China to divert the Gulf Steam through four tunnels to the Pacific and freeze North America and Europe while selling them newly created fuel cells at massive profits. Dirk and Al foil the plot then rescue the twins when Odyssey’s leadership captures them and attempt to sacrifice them in a neo-druidic ritual, afterwards they decide they are too old to continue saving the world. Al plans to transfer to another NUMA department or quit depending on Admiral Sandecker’s response, however Sandecker tells Dirk he will be nominated for Vice President and has set things in motion to make Dirk the new Director of NUMA. Finally, Dirk and Congresswoman Loren Smith get married.

Utilizing the theory presented in Iman Jacob Wilkens’ Where Troy Once Stood, Cussler creates two mysteries that intertwine but are relatively independent from one another. Dividing the ancient and the modern mysteries between the Pitt twins and the team of Dirk and Al brought a better narrative flow as well as allowing Cussler to develop the newly introduced twins that will carry the series going forward. While the Gulf Stream diversion plot is unique, it was easy for it to be foiled given that one of the interconnected tunnels runs right next to a volcano that is set off by a bomb. Odyssey’s leader mysterious lead who happens to be the druidic high priestess who disguises herself as a overweight man was pretty underwhelming. Cussler attempted to put back the retcon genie he unleashed in the previous installment, but unfortunately created another when he resurrected Loren’s father for the wedding. Through there really is not an antagonist and Cussler focused on developing the Pitt twins, this book read a whole lot better than the previous installment though again not up to the quality he achieved a few books ago.

Trojan Odyssey is the last book of the Dirk Pitt series that Clive Cussler solely by himself, while not his best work it is an improvement over the previous installment. It will be interesting to see if Dirk Cussler will help the overall quality of the series going forward. show less

Dirk Pitt and the gang remain one of my favorite guilty pleasures, even though I've fallen a few books behind in the series. The plots are far-fetched, the plot holes are sometimes gaping, and the dialogue is often stilted. (Someone in this day and age referring to something as "heavenly"? Or a 24-year-old woman saying "I shall"?) But there is always some interesting science and speculative fiction behind the main plot, and this one is no exception. This time around, the historical question centers on whether the modern-day Turkey location is the true site of the ancient city of Troy, along with some interesting discussion of the ramifications of an alternative theory that gets presented as part of the narrative. And another thing that show more this one has, given that it's the 17th outing in the series, is some serious character development. In the last outing, Pitt met a couple of people whose existence had been unknown to him. This time around, there are more changes taking place in his life and the lives of some of those closest to him, as well. So that's all good. But honestly, the bad guy(s) in this one are silly, and their motivation is even sillier. And lastly, the whole thing reads as if it had originally been two (or more) separate stories that were cobbled together into one narrative. Not only because some of the transitions are awkward, but because, on more than one occasion, the reader is told the same thing that he has already been told earlier in the book. Several characters, for example, reappear later in the story and are introduced as if they were new characters. Pitt's home and its environs (an aircraft hangar filled with vintage automobiles and interesting knick-knacks) is a setting twice, and each time gets a similar introduction. Weird. It just seemed as if I was reading two (or more) separate and partial stories tied into one complete novel with some particularly bad editing, or else there were two writers writing different parts of the thing. show less

He smiled to himself at remembering what a reporter wrote about him, in one of the few times his feats had gained distinction. There is a touch of Dirk Pitt in every man whose soul yearns for adventure. And because he is Dirk Pitt, he yearns more than most.

So. Homer's Odyssey was real. But they weren't Greeks but rather Celts and they weren't in the Mediterranean but rather in the Americas? Sure. The baddies are a cult of Celtic Druid superwomen, all hot as heck kickass redheads? Sure. The evil plot is to dig a giant tunnel to redirect the Atlantic Current and freeze Europe?

It makes me want to actually ready Homer's Odyssey, so there's that.

Exactly as expected, it's fascinating having a new main character. And confusing as heck when show more they're both referred to as Dirk/Pitt/Dirk Pitt. You can figure out which is which via context, but it really does feel like Cussler realized that Dirk was getting old and didn't want to write that anymore. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually miss Pitt flirting with/sleeping with every woman he meets. The brother/sister dynamic is strange.

Overall, it's one of the weakest of the series thus far. I'm just not sure what the point was. It feels like a lot of tropes we've done before. Which I guess after 17 books is somewhat hard to avoid.

Random thought:

It seems everybody but the admiral knows that Al secretly buys the cigars from the same source, said Dirk, smiling.

That feels really weird to spell out. Why now?

--- MINOR SPOILERS ---

So in the end, Dirk Pitt and Loren Smith finally get married. You know what? Good for them. It's a solid send off and you get a nice cameo from all the big names of the series (including of course Cussler himself).

If the series ended now, that would be the way to send it out and pass the torch to the kids in a new series (which I imagine is happening anyways). I almost stopped listening for exactly that reason, but at this point, I think I'll go ahead and see it through. show less

Trojan Odyssey is an excellent adventure story. It deals with a different version of Homer's Odyssey and the Celtics. The book was highly researched. The situations that the characters get out of are difficult and timing impeccable but it makes for a great story. A fun fact is that the author wrote himself into the story giving the story some "truth." A good book highly recommended and deserves all four stars that were awarded here.

NUMA's crew stumbles across an evil plot to change the world’s climate. Some of it is completely unbelievable, but adventurous, so I just went with it. As always, the book has several plots that interweave--the ending ties it all together. The characters are developing and evolving too. Where's #18?

NUMA stumbles across an evil plot to change the world’s climate and then does something about it.
I’m a committed fan of Clive Cussler. I’ve read at least a dozen of his books and all have proven to be entertaining. But though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all Cussler’s novels (naturally some better than others), this one was disappointing.
As a writer I’m now stuck in edit mode, whether I’m watching a movie or reading a book, which means I’m incapable of just enjoying them without noting the problems with them. In this case, while the story is fairly generic (with edge-of-your-seat action), as Cussler novels go, this one just didn’t pull me in the way the others have.
One of the issues I have is that so much of what is show more included, as to the character’s backgrounds, etc., I’ve already been introduced to, so I skimmed most of the descriptions. Setting that aside, there was so much supporting detail that it detracted from the read. While it’s wonderful that Cussler knows all about the weapons spies use, what dive gear the characters prefer and what the rich eat, I’d have enjoyed the read more if he’d left a lot of that description out, or at least slimmed it down. In addition to too much detail, some of it is actually repeated, in detail, in at least 3 places.
I think Cussler could’ve shorted this novel by several thousand words just by deleting the add-on words, of which there is plenty.
Sorry to give some of the plot away, but any savvy reader will pick up on this in a heartbeat: I knew from the moment the baddest of the bad guys was introduced that Specter was a woman in a fat suit.

There was one glaring omission that really put me off. While rescuing Specter’s grand floating hotel for the uber-rich, Dirk and Al and the crew of the NUMA research vessel accomplish it when the eye of the hurricane calmed the seas, but then the worst of it – the backside of the storm, just vanished. Literary license, of course.
If I were to grade Cussler’s novels, I’d give ‘The Chase’ an A+ and ‘Trojan Odyssey’ a D. But that’s just my take on it. I have recently purchased 5 additional Cussler novels, so you can see this one didn’t put me off his stories altogether. I’m just disappointed with this one. show less