Odessa Sea

Three eras of Russian history in the last century converge in a dangerous combination of treasure, war, personal greed, and personal vengeance that affect four nations in various ways. Odessa Sea is the twenty-fourth book in Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series and the seventh cowritten with his son Dirk.

After three consecutive books that had fun narratives but were weighed down by tired tropes compared, the Cusslers wrote a book on par with their first three collaborative efforts. The backdrop of the still ongoing, even in 2021, Russo-Ukrainian war and an apparently duplicitous industrialist that appears to be selling weapons to both sides but with an agenda quite different was a great twist at the end of the book. The black-market show more smugglers-salvagers that the elder Pitt deals with throughout the book’s main subplot were competent villains, one half of which were stopped by Pitt and Giordino doing their thing while the other half were taken out by the antagonist of the second subplot. Dirk and Summer’s battle with a Russian spy to find missing Romanov gold was a fun mystery—that once again took them to London which is becoming a trope now—which featured the antagonist-antagonist battle and Summer for once not being a damsel-in-distress but showing she had the Pitt genes to take care of herself.

Odessa Sea is the penultimate collaboration between Clive and Dirk Cussler, but of the seven it probably is the best overall book featuring two intriguing subplots that interact in interesting ways without being weighed down by the tired tropes that hampered their previous three efforts. show less

Dirk Pitt, director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) and his sidekick Al Giordino, are in the Black Sea on a turquoise ship, looking for a lost Ottoman shipwreck, when they responds to an urgent mayday call. The two barely escape with their lives, with the crew of the sinking ship faring worse. Sound familiar? If so, that's how almost all Cussler's books start. Lots of explosions, subterfuge, kidnappings, weapons smuggling, underwater and on water disasters, lost gold, etc. So many plots and people, the Cusslers need a character summary before the book even starts, and yet, it's still kinda fun. The highlight of this one is detonating an underwater bomb to release hydrogen sulfide trapped in the Black Sea (and show more elsewhere) to create a deadly gas bubble to kill an entire city. show less

Couldn’t put it down – yet again Mr Cussler gave me a problem with my reading time! Grabbed by the historical start, and then hurled around Europe in an effort to keep up with Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino and Dirk’s twins, Dirk Junior and Summer as they try to solve mysteries whilst at the same time thwarting the efforts of those who would either make an enormous amount of money or wreak havoc and destruction, both of which are at play here.
Missing atomic bombs or components thereof always make a good starting point, as do conspiracies involving gold, the ill-fated Romanovs, and British warships during the First World War. The interplay of “historical facts” always makes for intriguing reading, and I am sure that there are some show more elements of truth in the tale, as there definitely is in the geography covered by the book.
A vastly entertaining book, with the twins playing an ever-increasing role in the story, although never detracting from the inventiveness of Dirk Senior and Al. Other Cussler fans will love it. show less

Another rollicking good tale by the Cussler's. Lost gold, a nuclear bomb goes astray and death by Hydrogen Sulfide gas are the themes that drive the story. Bulgarian thugs, Ukrainian weapons smugglers, and some opportunistic Russians are the bad guys in these adventures. A Hannibal Barca-type escape aided by an antique Isotta-Fraschini antique car saves the boys and their crew. Lots of action on top and underwater in various European and eventually, US waters culminating with the USS Constellation defending our shores with an antique Parrott gun. And, oh yes, another good story and fun read for this very dependable series

action-adventure, suspense

Never met a Cussler novel I didn't love, and this one is no exception! Two parallel plots, one with Dirk and associates, the other with Summer and Dirk the younger make for classic nail-biting suspense. The only tidbit that I'll tease with is the part where Dirk comes out of a black powder cloud with a cutlass in his teeth to face off with a villain!

Probably not the best in the series--it certainly did not grab me! #24 seems to follow the old formula --- is predictable, too long and boring. This one is even worse than the last two in the series--pitch trim is set for a descent and we're about to crash. To expect the Director of a Cabinet level US agency to be out diving in the Black Sea is complete lunacy: 1) security trolls wouldn't have it, 2) some other agency would eat NUMA up and gobble it's budget. The author doesn't really know what happens in DC. Positive reviews must have been written by a Russian troll-bot to improve ratings in the current Ukraine war. This is terminal writing and I won't bother with another Dirk Pitt novel. DNF -- the ultimate downer.

Odessa Sea, Clive Cussler, author; Scott Brick, narrator
This book will keep you guessing until the last few pages. Numerous characters will enter and exit at will, sometimes confusing the listener. The narrator is excellent with accents and expression, but it was often difficult to discern the individual characters because the only thing separating each was the accent, which rarely varied, and not the modulation or the tone. Still, Scott Brick captured the tension and the mood at all times.
In 1917, during the Bolshevik Revolution, the Ottomans attacked a Russian sub carrying a very unique cargo, unbeknownst to them. The ship was sunk in the Black Sea, and all information on the cargo and end purpose was lost. In 1955, a Russian bomber show more was carrying another unique piece of cargo when it crashed into the Black Sea, during a severe storm.
In 2017, during a salvage operation, it was discovered that a possible lost shipment of gold existed, as did a treaty between the English and the Russians. It might be on the sunken submarine. In addition, there was now a lost atomic weapon which complicated matters further since it might have been on the Russian bomber. This series of discoveries led to the Russian government calling in a double agent, Viktor Mansfield, a superspy who seemed to always be one step ahead of everyone, defying reason, as he searched for the lost document and the missing gold. He, and another agent, Martina, worked together. If they failed in their effort to keep this information from reaching others, they would face dire consequences. Consequently, they would let nothing get in their way.
At the same time, behind the scenes, there is Martin Hendriks, a Dutchman who was the former head of a surveillance company. He has developed a sophisticated, undetectable armed drone. He engaged Valentin Mankedo, an owner of a salvage company and his partner Ilya Vasko, to help him carry out his diabolical plan to seek revenge, although the enemy he is seeking revenge against remains unknown until the very, very end. He needed them to supply him with what he needed in order to arm the silent, sophisticated drone he had created and wanted to sell to the Russians. They will do anything for money. His cryptic plan to attain vengeance placed Dirk Pitt, his children and the Bulgarian agents who were also involved in the search for those who would supply and transport contraband on the Black Sea, at risk. Many casualties ensued. Hendriks served to misdirect everyone in order to avoid the discovery of his real plan which was to avenge the death of his family.
The Bulgarian agents, Ana and Petar, were searching for the Ukrainians who sold the contraband to the Dutchman. The Russian agents were searching for the documents and gold. The Americans wound up searching for an atomic weapon, the missing documents and the cache of gold. The three groups seemed to be unaware of each other’s purpose, but since their needs converged, they often connected with each other with dangerous and deadly consequences as this mystery developed more and more angles.
As background, Dirk Pitt is the Director of Numa, the National Underwater and Marine Agency. He is involved in salvage operations and research. His partner, in charge of the technical side, is Al Giordino. Dirk Pitt Jr. is a Special Projects Director and his twin sister Summer is an Oceanographer. When, in 2017, an SOS is received by NUMA from a ship that appears to be a ghost ship, with all aboard dead or near dead, they all become inextricably entwined in that mystery and the mystery surrounding the ship and the plane previously mentioned. When they investigated the silent ship, they found themselves under attack, without warning. They were like superheroes, surviving one attack after another, often stretching the reader’s credulity beyond the point of no return.
It seemed that during the Romanov Empire, the Russians and the English made a deal that went undiscovered for a century because of the disconnected disasters that took the proof of their deals with them to the bottom of the sea. Simply put, the Russians, the Ukrainians and the Americans were all separately searching for something that would eventually connect each of them to impending disaster. It isn’t until the last few pages that the motives of each of the culprits are uncovered. show less