The Mediterranean Caper

The first Dirk Pitt book published and the second chronologically, [b:The Mediterranean Caper|41701|The Mediterranean Caper (Dirk Pitt, #2)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442726835l/41701._SY75_.jpg|2861842] is kind of ridiculous. It's 70s action at it's finest, with more of a focus on old airplanes (the novel opens with a dogfight between a World War II flying boat against a World War I fighter plane) and smuggling than ocean salvage, but it's still a enough fun read. I miss the ocean focus and salvage we saw in [b:Pacific Vortex!|361081|Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt, #1)|Clive show more Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1269478239l/361081._SY75_.jpg|6841892] and later books though.

The sexism is ... pretty ridiculous in this book, wherein early in the book, Pitt meets a woman, finds out she's a widow of several years, slaps her and tells her to move on with her life, and has sex with her--all within minutes of meeting her. Add that to all manner of comments about 'feminine' so and such. It's maddening. We'll see how that changes as the series continues to advance through the years.

Overall, it's mostly an interesting book in a completionist state / to see where the series came from. If you're jumping around in the series or reading only the best of Dirk Pitt, you can probably go ahead and skip this one. show less

I am a huge Dirk Pitt fan (Atlantis Found is probably my favorite), but I hated this book, vehemently. If this had been the first Cussler book I had read, I would never have touched another one, and I would have missed out on a (for the most part) really fun series.

This book, often incorrectly labeled as the first Dirk Pitt novel (Pacific Vortex was the first Dirk novel that Cussler wrote, but it wasn't published first), is a mess. Dirk, normally so likeable, is such a cocky jerk in this book. He meets this lovely widow on the beach who has had a hard time getting over the death of her husband. What does Dirk do? He slaps her across the face and tells her to get over it by sleeping with him (which he does).

Beyond that, the book is show more dull. I had to force my way through it hoping to find some evidence that this book belonged with the rest of the series that I love. I found nothing.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one. If you have already had the misfortune of reading it, don't let it sour you on an otherwise really entertaining series. show less

A lazy Sunday afternoon at a U.S Air Force base on a quiet Greek island is shattered when a WWI-era German fighter attacks and then finds itself in a dogfight with a WWII-era seaplane. The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler was the first published book featuring Dirk Pitt and started off a four decade long series of books that sold millions of books and multiple times on the bestseller list.

Dirk Pitt and his best friend Al Giordino, heading to the Greek island of Thasos on a special assignment to a NUMA vessel, fight off a WWI German fighter attacking a nearby U.S. Air Force base in a WWII-era seaplane. The next morning Dirk takes an early morning swim and meets Teri von Till, niece of a reclusive shipping magnate who lives on the show more island. After meeting with the NUMA vessel’s captain, Pitt goes to meet Teri’s uncle Bruno for dinner and finds out he was a German pilot in World War I with a model submarine in his study. Von Till attempts to kill Pitt with his dog, but Pitt escapes and the next day with Giordino invade von Till’s mansion and kidnap Teri only to be detained by a member of an INTERPOL drug task force. Pitt and Giordino learn that von Till is a suspected drug smuggler and are ordered by the NUMA director to aid INTERPOL in stopping a massive shipment of heroin from reaching the U.S. After boarding the suspected cargo ship with the heroin, Pitt figures out how von Till hasn’t been caught. Pitt then leads a group of scientists to look for and find a massive cave in which they find several submarines, though caught by von Till and a mole from the INTERPOL task force it’s an elaborate trap as Giordino, several INTERPOL agents, and military personnel had raided von Till’s mansion and listened in on Pitt explaining to von Till everything he had figured out including that he was actually a Nazi war criminal which von Till didn’t deny.

This is a quick pacing book and has numerous cliché elements that one would expect to find in an early 1970s adventure novel with the main character notably inspired by James Bond. While I could knock the disjointed narrative flow or the weak character development of some of the other characters given the time period it was to be expected, the biggest eyesore is Dirk Pitt himself. The term “jerk” is a cleaned up way to describe Pitt’s interacting with anyone in the book including his best friend, Al, and his way to make a woman interested in him, slapping her for still mourning her late husband. This is not the same Pitt that appears in Pacific Vortex! or later in the series and would be a definite turn off for anyone encountering the character for the first time.

The Mediterranean Caper is a quick adventure that is sometimes fun, but today has a lot of problems. Though Clive Cussler’s portrayal of Dirk Pitt has improved over the last four decades, I would not recommend this book for those either interested in reading or listening to a Dirk Pitt novel. If you have read or listened to later books then be warned this is not the same Dirk that you’ve encountered. show less

Wow - you can definitely tell this was written in the seventies. Chock full of adventure, big dick energy, and blatant sexism; the second Dirk Pitt novel was a gollywhopper. The plot of it was quite interesting, but the way Dirk Pitt treats women (he literally slaps one across the face because he is disgusted that she hasn't been with a man in ten years since her lover died) is... not great. The way he refers to Black people also leaves a lot to be desired. I know, I know - it's a product of it's time but man! Dirk Pitt is basically an American James Bond, and I guess I'm into that? I'll keep going with the series, I'm assuming it will get less exist the closer we get to the twenty first century?

Grabbed this on a whim, as I've read, and enjoyed, other books in the Dirk Pitt series, but out of sequence, and hadn't read this yet. Unfortunately, it's safe to say that had I actually read this one first, and not Inca Gold, I probably wouldn't have read any more in the series. The Pitt books have always been formulaic mind candy to me in any case, and this one certainly follows the formula, but unlike the other books, Pitt here comes off as a massive jerk, and I found almost nothing admirable or sympathetic about the character.

The Mediterranean Caper is the kind of book that will appeal to people who are looking for adventure, and a lot of it. The main character, Dirk Pitt, is the kind of self-assured, no-nonsense, take-charge hero that you expect to find in old-Hollywood war movies or James Bond films. The plot gets very complex at times, and so is hard to describe, but here goes: Major Dirk Pitt's services are requested at a scientific research vessel in Greece that's been experiencing acts of sabotage. While Pitt is flying in to visit the vessel, he stumbles across an attack on a U.S. Air Force Base by, of all unlikely things, a World War II biplane. Soon after, he meets the seductive niece of the German shipping guru who promptly tries to murder Pitt. show more Suffice it to say that these events are all connected. The mystery is in how they're connected, and how Dirk Pitt will survive his investigation. If you're looking for sympathetic, vibrant characters, this is probably not the book for you. The emphasis here is on thrilling action topped with adrenaline served up in the exotic location of the Greek Isles. show less

Marked (rightly) as Dirk Pitt #2, 'The Mediterranean Caper' was the first book the enormously prolific Cussler got published but it was not the first manuscript in the Dirk Pitt series.

Its predecessor - 'Pacific Vortex' - was not published until a decade later but it should probably be read first. This book refers to events in the first manuscript.

The story is a conventional thriller set in Cussler's natural environment, sea-going adventure albeit, in this early work, with little of the imaginative leaps into pseudo-history that were later to make his books so much fun to read.

We get hints of the later Cussler here but in ways that I regrettably can't tell you about since there is one thing this book does not need and that is a show more spoiler. It is very much of its time: the plot revolves around a super-criminal into global narcotics and other smuggling rackets.

Still worth reading for fans who want to get a complete picture of the Dirk Pitt universe and brilliantly plotted (in this case) in the traditional American mystery tradition. It was justifiably nominated for an Edgar Award. show less