Mirage

Mirage by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul is another excellent book in the Oregon files. The books starts out with the Chairman posing as a prisoner entering a secret Russian gulag to rescue a Russian admiral. The admiral dies during the escape but his final words set the Chairman on a path to take revenge against the Russian responsible for imprisoning his friend.

The story revolves around an invention by Tesla. The invention was a method of bending optical light waves around an object to render it invisible. Don't know whether this was something that Tesla was experimenting with or not, but it makes for a great story line. Based on some of his other experiments, it is possible that he was involved with it, which makes the story show more plausible.

Eventually, the Chairman and his crew dig up enough information on the corrupt Russian to discover the plot against the US. They then take steps to stop the plan.

The story involves all kinds of unbelievable actions like most of Cussler's novels. The story like most of his books has just enough facts to make for a good entertaining read. show less

There are certain authors that simply become synonymous with their genres. Stephen King is a horror/thriller genius, Tom Clancy knew more about military tactics and espionage than the Secretary of Defense, George R.R. Martin knows how to blend alternative history and fantasy together like no other… and when it comes to Clive Cussler, well let’s just say that nobody can write an adventure quite like he can.

Mirage revolves around the mysterious tale of Juan Cabrillo, who is on a dangerous mission to save his old friend Yuri Borodin from a maximum Siberian prison. But the mission goes terribly wrong and Yuri dies in the process. However, with his dying breath, Yuri says: “Tesla”, which sends Juan on a mission to find out why. Now, show more for the Nikola Tesla fans out there (yes, I am one of you), we see our favourite scientist being characterized once again, but this time he’s somewhat more himself, albeit a little eviller than we’ve seen in the past. Apparently, Tesla not only invented alternating-current electricity, but he’s also developed a number of secret weapons, including a death ray, an earthquake machine, and an invisibility field and basically everything evil scientific geniuses could think of. But Juan has to find out the secrets before these weapons, and something even more sinister, can be auctioned off. The stakes are high, the threat is real, can Juan Cambrillo save the world before it’s too late?

I love a good adventure and I enjoyed Mirage so much that I can’t put it into proper words. It’s well written, got a nifty plot and some cool characters to spice things up (I think Nikola Tesla was the best inventor since Leonardo Da Vinci. Thank Sanctuary for my obsession there), and then we have the whole “the world will end” type of scenario that always entertains the hell out of me. So, yes. Mirage was awesome and I really think that if you’re in the mood for a fantastic little adventure, this will be the book to guide you on your exploration. Let’s be honest though, any Clive Cussler book will sweep you away to a whole new world filled with some fantastic adventure or another…

(review originally posted on www.killeraphrodite.com) show less

Clive Cussler, author of the bestselling National Underwater and Marine Agency and Dirk Pitt series, created his most intriguing high seas action hero: the enigmatic captain of the Oregon, Juan Cabrillo who was introduced with the first Oregon Files series Golden Buddha in 2003.

Juan Cabrillo is Chairman of the "Corporation", a special US Government-sponsored group that operates out of a ship called the Oregon; a marvel of scientific research equipment bristling with state-of-the-art weaponry - but disguised as a heap of junk.

Cabrillo and his crew of mercenaries with a conscience are able to cross the high seas in their 'rusting' tub unmolested, seeking out those beyond the arms of the law and dealing out justice to any who would plot show more chaos on a global scale.

Fans of Clive Cussler who waited for almost three year since the release of the last book in the series will heave a sigh of relief, and gobble up this latest addition to the Oregon Files series, Mirage, which is a continuation of the extraordinary adventures of Juan Cabrillo beginning with Golden Buddha (2003), and followed by Sacred Stone (2004), Dark Watch (2005), Skeleton Coast (2006), Plague Ship (2008), Corsair (2009), The Silent Sea (2010), and The Jungle (2011).

In Mirage, Cussler with co-author Jack Du Brul bring to the reader Juan Cabrillo on a dangerous mission to save his old friend Yuri Borodin from a maximum Siberian prison. But the mission goes horribly wrong and in the process Yuri dies. But the mention of "Tesla" by Yuri before his death takes Cabrillo in a new direction trying to unravel why a dying man would utter "Tesla."

"Tesla" mentioned by Yuri is Nikola Tesla, a mysterious and shadowy Serbian scientist whose immense knowledge and understanding of modern science and technology could prove disastrous if it is not use for good purposes. Tesla has invented alternating-current electricity and it is also widely believed that he has also developed a number of secret weapons, including a death ray, an earthquake machine, and an invisibility field.

Dubbed the second-most corrupt man on the planet, Russian fleet admiral Pytor Kenin is a man with sinister designs. To serve his nefarious purposes he has formed a private army and is using Tesla's secret technology to that end. When there is talk of a new weapon soon to be auctioned Cabrillo embarked on the most dangerous mission of his life and discovered that the stakes are much higher than earlier thought to be. What is Pytor Kenin up to? Will Cabrillo manage to thwart him?

Mirage is exciting, engrossing and totally enjoyable, and fans of the Oregon Files series will find the latest addition a great reading escape. show less

The Oregon Files is an extraordinary series that will appeal to fans of adventure, intrigue, mystery, with a dash of the scientific and a good dose of history. Anyone that has read about any of Tesla's experimenter will soon be caught up in the mystery of how a 1940's ship ended up in the now dry sea bed of Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The characters are likable and the reader will soon come to regard them as family....okay...a family with a punch.

Juan Cabrillo and his Corporation is hired to break into a Russian prison in Siberia to save a man that he considers his friend. It doesn't hurt that this Russian has friends who are willing to pay Cabrillo and the Corporation to rescue him. In doing so the friend passes along information that will lead Cabrillo and his crew on an adventure of epic proportions.

The main plot centers around the work of Nikola Tesla, the man who truly developed electricity. He was not just a genius but he had inventions that are still moving the world today towards accomplishments such as, time travel, teleportation, stealth technology, binding light, etc. What Juan and crew are going to discover is that Tesla's inventiveness has lead to the development of show more a "cloaking device" that can be used to make a ship invisible to those around it. (See the Philadelphia Experiment). Of course there are other uses for this electromagnetic field... it can also be used to destroy things and in the wrong hands it can be used as a powerful and destructive weapon.

I really like this series but I had problems with the number of adventures Juan and the Oregon crew encountered. I believe there were two that could have been books all by themselves. The prison break set the story and the electromagnet devise plot was good in itself. As usual the authors went into a lot of mechanical descriptions that I have learned to just skip over. So...4 stars. show less

This book in itself is an entertaining read, however compared to other Cussler works I find the Oregon series is a little sub par compared to the others. It's a little bit too fantastic in my opinion, normally there's a reasonable amount of realism in Cussler books yet the Oregon books, and Mirage in particular, seem to go a bit of the deep end into the realm of science fiction / gee whizz technothriller.

No don't get me wrong, the book is a great fast paced full on action thriller but I just don't feel it's as good as the others.

What did the genius Nikola Tessa create in the early 20th century which a power hungry Russian general desires in the 21st century? Juan Cabrillo and his crew attempt a mission to break a prisoner out of Siberia's most infamous prison. In doing so, a clue is given which takes Juan from the desert of the Aral Sea to the eastern US seaboard to China. The story is a bit far fetched, but an entertaining read nonetheless. I enjoyed the intertwining of the genius of Tesla with a wild action adventure.