Skeleton Coast

Like all Cussler novels, this one begins with a story from the past, this time about millions of dollars worth of diamonds that disappear off the African coast. DeBeers investigator Sloane MacIntyre is searching for them when she needs to be rescued from some very dangerous men by Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon.

The Oregon happened to be in the area because of a job delivering weapons to some rebels on the Congo River that had gone awry. The ship also intercepts a piece of a satellite phone conversation regarding a kidnapped industrialist and, ever the capitalist, Juan Cabrillo decides to send in a team to rescue him, sure of a handsome reward. Of course, the same people who kidnapped the American businessman and one of his show more employees are also involved in an even bigger scheme that threatens millions of lives, and it also ties together with Sloane MacIntyre's diamond hunt.

I found Cussler's brief sidebars on the evolution of hurricanes and the importance of ocean currents and water temperature in their development particularly interesting. Great literature? Certainly not! But a perfectly enjoyable break from the workaday world that any thriller reader will enjoy. show less

The storytelling is severely hampered by the silly political sermonizing of the author. I'm sure great propagandists from Stalin or Hitler would be proud of how the author has taken a group of "good guys", and created fiction that turns them into villains.

The essence of the story is that Cabrillo and crew must save the world from eco-terrorists. The author then proceeds to look for every opportunity to deliver a sermon about the evils of all the conservationists and environmentalists in the world, lumping them all together as crazy hippies who just don't understand how the world works, and creating a world where they're among the most evil forces we face.

I'm a hunter and fisherman. I spend a great deal of time outdoors. I consider show more myself a conservationist, and at times perhaps an environmentalist. I found the book deeply offensive to any shred of common sense or sensibility, and kept wondering whether the author was on the payroll for Big Oil in general, or perhaps for BP or Exxon.

I've read an awful lot of stuff from the Cussler stable, and I find this particular author from his stable to be a bit irritating in his tendency to try and be a propagandist for his political views. This book takes that beyond irritating and well into the world of offensive. I won't be buying any more from this series, and it's certainly turned me off to anything else from the stable for quite a while. show less

[Skeleton Coast] by Clive Cussler & Jack DuBrul
Oregon Files series Boo# 4 (group read)
4 ★'s

From The Book:
juan Cabrillo and the crew of the covert combat ship Oregon have barely escaped a mission on the Congo River when they intercept a mayday from a defenseless boat under fire off the African coast. Cabrillo takes action, saving the beautiful Sloane Macintyre - who's looking for a long-submerged ship that may hold a fortune in diamonds. But what surprises Cabrillo is her story about a crazy fisherman who claims to have been attacked on the open sea by giant metal snakes in the same area.What begins as a snake hunt leads Cabrillo onto the trail of a far more lethal quarry - a deranged militant and his followers who plan to unleash the show more devastating power of nature itself against all who oppose them.

My Thoughts:
The story reads from start to finish like a James Bond movie. The crew of the Oregon barely has time to catch their breath before they find them selves in another battle.

Even though I didn't completely understand it all, I found Cussler's brief information on the evolution of hurricanes and the importance of ocean currents and water temperature in their development interesting. This book also offers yet more brief glimpses into the lives of the Oregon's crew. While this wasn't exactly my favorite book in the series it certainly rated very high. I recommend this series to anyone that wants a well formed and executed adventure with likable and believable characters even if they are a cross between James Band and Superman. show less

You are always in for a rip roaring adventure when you read one of the books in The Oregon Files series. The fourth book, Skeleton Coast, starts out with an interesting prologue set in 1896 where four Englishmen are fleeing across the Kalahari Desert with stolen diamonds. They reach the HMS Rove just as the Herero warriors reach them, and what happens next is anyone's guess. Coming forward to present time, we meet the intrepid crew of the Oregon, a high tech ship disguised as a decrepit tramp steamer. They have been on a mission to deliver tagged weapons to Congolese rebels so the CIA can track them. When they hear about the kidnapping of Geoffrey Merrick, a famous industrialist, they decide to stick around for awhile.

If you've never show more read an Oregon Files book, let me briefly explain that the crew is a “corporation” that takes high paying jobs while disguising their intelligence gathering resources. Ex CIA agent, Juan Cabrillo, and his crew do anything and everything they can to complete their mission. Each and every character is interesting, especially Juan, and this book focuses a lot on him and some of the things that have happened to him in his past.

This series is like going to an action movie. There are multiple plots including environments terrorism, global warming and stolen diamonds. I thought it was an entertaining story with non stop action, maybe too much for some people. show less

You are always in for a rip roaring adventure when you read one of the books in The Oregon Files series. The fourth book, Skeleton Coast, starts out with an interesting prologue set in 1896 where four Englishmen are fleeing across the Kalahari Desert with stolen diamonds. They reach the HMS Rove just as the Herero warriors reach them, and what happens next is anyone's guess. Coming forward to present time, we meet the intrepid crew of the Oregon, a high tech ship disguised as a decrepit tramp steamer. They have been on a mission to deliver tagged weapons to Congolese rebels so the CIA can track them. When they hear about the kidnapping of Geoffrey Merrick, a famous industrialist, they decide to stick around for awhile.

If you've never show more read an Oregon Files book, let me briefly explain that the crew is a “corporation” that takes high paying jobs while disguising their intelligence gathering resources. Ex CIA agent, Juan Cabrillo, and his crew do anything and everything they can to complete their mission. Each and every character is interesting, especially Juan, and this book focuses a lot on him and some of the things that have happened to him in his past.

This series is like going to an action movie. There are multiple plots including environments terrorism, global warming and stolen diamonds. I thought it was an entertaining story with non stop action, maybe too much for some people. show less

Overall this was an enjoyable book. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter, which gave the backstory from the 19th Century, and was a good read on it's own. There was plenty of action, and if I was to be very picky possibly too much action which detracted to a certain extent from the flow if the story (at least for me!). I did enjoy the book, the characters, the plot line, the dialogue, however I feel it could have benefited from shorter chapters in places. It is an enjoyable series but with a few tweaks could easily be lifted to an excellent series. I do intend to continue reading the series.

This book was my introduction to the Oregon and its crew. It was refreshing to see a lead character who was an amputee. While the prosthesis allowed for some items that even 007 would envy, Cabrillo's loss of a leg does not seem to hinder him. The only drawback from this trade paperback edition were some editing errors; however, they should not discourage the reader from one heck of a good yarn.