Black Wind

A long-range plan by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conquer the South is spearheaded by a businessman with a deadly plan to strike the United States with a pandemic of a hybrid strain of smallpox, but Dirk Pitt Jr. appears on the scene. Black Wind is the eighteen novel of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series the first featuring the young Pitt in the lead as well as the first with Cussler’s son Dirk as his co-author.

In December 1944, the commanding officer of the Japanese submarine I-403 is given orders to launch a mysterious attack on the United States, a mission involving Japan’s notorious biological warfare group, Unit 731. The I-403 reaches the U.S. northwest coast but is sunk before the mission can be carried out. show more Over 62 years later, a team of CDC researchers, including field epidemiologist Sarah Matson, are unexpectedly infected by a deadly and mystery illness in the Aleutian Islands; they are rescued by Dirk Pitt Jr. (hereinafter Pitt Jr.), who is nearby on a NUMA research vessel. Pitt Jr, with friend and coworker Jack Dahlgren, return to the site to investigate, but their helicopter is downed by gunfire from a mysterious trawler. They survive, eventually determining that the illness resulted from a toxic compound of cyanide and smallpox. In Japan, the U.S. ambassador is golfing with his British counterpart when he is assassinated by a sniper named Tongju. Tongju later assassinates the ambassador’s deputy and a semiconductor executive, leaving clues that appear to identify him as a member of a Japanese terrorist group. Investigating the toxin, Pitt Jr. consults marine-history researcher St. Julien Perlmutter, who finds records of the I-403. Pitt Jr. and Dahlgren find and dive on the sunken I-403, but its mysterious ordnance has been removed. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Dirk Pitt senior (hereinafter referred to simply as Dirk) and his friend and colleague Al Giordino are also discovering forgotten Japanese ordnance that is poisoning marine life. In Incheon, South Korea, Dae-jong Kang, a multi-millionaire industrialist, is secretly a North Korean sleeper agent who has been using corruption to press for rapid reunification of the divided peninsula under the DPRK's rule. Kang reviews his plans with his assistant; they include framing a U.S. serviceman for the murder of a South Korean girl to foment unrest, while Tongju retrieves more of the World War II toxin from a second sunken submarine. Learning of the interference of Pitt Jr., Kang sends assassins to eliminate him, but they fail through ruin a classic car Pitt Jr. had just purchased. NUMA researcher Hiram Yeager has discovered that the toxic ordnance was also carried by a Japanese submarine lost in the South China Sea. Pitt Jr. joins his sister Summer aboard a NUMA salvage vessel that locates the wreck, but Tongju and his commando team seize the vessel. After taking the recovered toxin and kidnapping Pitt Jr and Summer, the North Koreans sabotage the salvage ship and leave the imprisoned crew to drown, but actions by the Pitt siblings before leaving enables everyone to escape. Pitt Jr. and Summer are taken to Kang’s yacht, where the multimillionaire taunts them with a general threat of infecting the U.S. with the hybrid toxin, then leaves them to drown. They escape and make their way back to the United States. Unaware of the exact nature of Kang’s plan, the NUMA team coordinates with government agencies to search for cargo vessels that might be carrying the toxin. However, the real plan goes forward as Tongju and his commando team pirate Sea Launch, a seaborne rocket-launching platform, preparing to fire a toxin-laden warhead at a G8 summit meeting in Los Angeles. When Dirk and Giordino spot the launch platform from a blimp, a deadly countdown is already underway. However, Dirk manages to infiltrate and alter the launch, resulting in the rocket crashing harmlessly into the sea. In the final showdown, Pitt Jr. and a team of Navy SEALs infiltrate Kang's base as he prepares his final getaway aboard his luxury yacht. However, after a showdown on the bridge, Pitt Jr. sends Kang and his yacht to a fiery crash.

As this is the first book that featured the younger Pitt as the main character, his character was more rounded out than his previous appearance. Unfortunately, he is too much of a chip off the ol’ block from his father, in fact its hard to see any differences between the two from physical appearance to their interests (classic cars as shown in this novel) and even getting himself onto a SEAL mission. It could be said that there are a variety of ways that a younger character could be seen as their parent’s kid, being exactly alike is the cheap way out. The overall plot of the book is one of the better ones of the series and an improvement over some of the previous outings, save for a few glaring head scratch moments that don’t ruin things but diminish the quality enough. The evil mastermind (Kang) and his top henchman (Tongju) are among the best in the series as well as head and shoulders over any since probably Inca Gold. If there is one glaring thing in the book, it’s that Summer Pitt sometimes feels like an add on though she’s given enough agency to be more than a damsel-in-distress due to some genes from her father, I guess.

Black Wind is a return to the better quality of books in the Dirk Pitt series, whether it’s focusing the series on a younger protagonist or that fact that Clive Cussler was joined by his son Dirk in writing the book can be argued. While not perfect and nor the best in the series, this is a very fun and engaging read. show less

When I read fiction, one of the things that I do is to maintain a list of problematic questions regarding the narrative and the choices of the author in terms of plotting and the like. And when I get to ten questions of this sort, I stop with the list and either continue to read with my brain turned off or throw the book against the wall and read something else. Well, I'm pretty sure that I could have come up with dozens and dozens of questions about the plot of this one, and if it hadn't been for my love of *Clive* Cussler's work in the past with some of these characters, this one would not have survived my 50 page rule. But I hung in there for the sake of Dirk and Al and Rudy and Sandecker more than for the sake of The Next show more Generation. And it never got better; it remained extremely stupid and unbelievable from start to finish. I don't know if I'll continue with the series anytime soon (especially with Cussler's son Dirk getting more involved with the writing), but I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. Still, it's sad to see a series in decline like this. In short, this one is for the complete-ists out there, but I would not recommend it to anyone else. show less

A good page-turning read involving a World War II biological weapon that has lain on the seabed since the close of the war, when the submarines carrying it were sunk before it could be deployed. A North Korean industrialist with plans on driving the Americans from South Korea sets out to recover the weapon with the intention of using it against American cities. A trial release in Alaska leads to unexplained seal corpses, which soon prompts a NUMA investigation. Dirk Pitt becomes obsessed with uncovering what’s happening and rapidly finds himself on a collision course with the Korean and his henchmen.

The story is slightly spoiled by a lack of realism in how the villain treats Pitt: rather than simply shooting him when Pitt is captured show more (as he does other opponents without hesitation), he repeatedly chooses to keep him alive instead (for no apparent reason), allowing Pitt to return and disrupt his activities again, and the cycle repeats. In very James Bond story fashion, during one encounter, the Korean shackles Pitt in a cave that is about to flood and leaves him there to die; and on another occasion, ties him to the support structure below the base of a rocket that is about to be launched so that the flames will kill him. In both instances, of-course, Pitt escapes, only to go after the villain once more.

That lack of realism disrupts what would otherwise be a very absorbing story with a strong plot. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the overall read, which kept me eagerly turning the pages to the final full stop. show less

After 18 of these, they're starting to sound awfully familiar. Basically, combine a bit of the Japanese influence from [b:Dragon|41694|Dragon (Dirk Pitt, #10)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316996422l/41694._SY75_.jpg|1120322] and a bit of the mysterious deaths on islands from [b:Shock Wave|41704|Shock Wave (Dirk Pitt, #13)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349053006l/41704._SY75_.jpg|41240] and you have [b:Black Wind|41696|Black Wind (Dirk Pitt, #18)|Clive Cussler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334317756l/41696._SY75_.jpg|6841871]. Doesn't make it bad by any stretch of the imagination... just show more samey.

I think the crazies part of listening to this book was doing so while on lockdown from COVID-19. It's not quite as bad as a weaponized smallpox by a long shot, but Cussler's descriptions of the world shutting down, health facilities and morgues being overloaded was disturbingly prescient. Given that he passed in February, before the full extent of what was coming had really hit the United States, I wonder if he could have imagination it coming to life.

Overall, the book is fine. If you're not a completionist, you could probably skip it. The mix of Pitt/Giordino and Dirk/Summer remains odd, but at least the kids are starting to grow on me. show less

Black Windis by Clive Cussler is the eighteenth Dirk Pitt novel and the second one co-authored by son Dirk Cussler. Dirk Pitt Jr. is called into rescue some researchers mysteriously ill on a remote Aleutian island. It appears their illness (and the deaths of some others nearby) is related to the recent discovery of a WWII era submarine.

Two things in thrillers make me cringe: dirty bombs and airborne WMD. This one relies on a the latter — a WWII era chimera which combines a variety of airborne diseases into one super weapon. Except it's been sitting at the bottom of the ocean in a submarine for five decades.

Sure it's related to a Japanese plot, but if I were North Korean agent posing as a South Korean businessman and arms dealer, I'd show more stick to sarin gas. It's just as deadly and doesn't require tracking down old sunk submarines (and thus drawing unnecessary attention to one's self).

Black Wind would have been so much better had the submarine plot been a complete red herring. From reading other reviews, though, it appears the Cusslers were distracted with Hollywood's version of Sahara (and a failed law suit, therein). show less

I am a huge Cussler fan and have been reading his books for over 30 years. Every book has been just as exciting to read as the last....until this one. I know this is the first one penned by his son, and I will say that the story outline was well thought out and interesting, but the actual written story was just hard to get through. It seemed as though it was about 100 pages too long, and those extra hundred pages were just extra words added to make the book longer. It was torturous to read five or six pages of description that was leading to something about to happen, but when it did finally happen, you were too exhausted to care. On the upside, the first chapter historical based story was great.

(Alistair) I'm not ashamed to admit it. I like the Dirk Pitt series. Sure, it may not be exactly demanding or hard-genre stuff, but I've always had something of a soft spot for good, old-fashioned pulpish adventure yarns. And thus, I have so far been satisfied with the enjoyment I've had from pretty much all of his previous books.

It is unfortunate, then, that Black Wind sucks harder than this 482MW pump-turbine.

The inter-character chemistry is gone (may just be the transition to a new core team, Dirk Jr. & sister, but this applies even to the old characters), the characterization is flat, the plot doesn't have the zing of older plots even if it's of the same milieu, kiss goodbye to the humor, and oh, dear God, but is it cliched. And, show more oh, speaking as a professional proofreader for a moment, the editor should be shot for letting this make it to the printer unproofread.

Overall: Awesomely awful. Would not recommend to anyone. I might pick up the one previous to this after the last other one I have, which was still good, but the series post this book is dead to me now.

(Is it just me, or does every attempt - this is, I believe, the first of this series to have the "and Dirk Cussler" added to the authorship - to pass the authorial torch down the generations suck? At least Brian Herbert has the excuse that his father's dead and can't... explain his problems to him.)

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2009/01/black_wind_clive_cussler_di... ) show less