Nighthawk

NUMA Files #14

by Clive Cussler, Graham Brown

The world s most dazzling new technological advance may turn out to be mankind s last, unless the NUMA crew can beat the clock. The thrilling new NUMA Files novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling grand master of adventure.

When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate the fallen machine. Russia and China covet the radical technology, but the United States worries about a darker problem. They know what others don t that the X-37 is carrying a dangerous secret, a payload of exotic matter, extracted from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and stored at a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it remains frozen, the cargo is inert, but if it thaws, it will unleash a catastrophe of nearly unthinkable proportions.

From the Galapagos Islands to the jungles of South America to an icy mountain lake many believe to be the birthplace of the Inca, the entire NUMA team will risk everything in an effort to avert disaster . . . but they may be caught in a race that no one can win."

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Action, Audiobook, Suspense, Mystery

454 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 2017

About the author

Cussler began writing novels in 1965 and published his first work featuring his continuous series hero, Dirk Pitt, in 1973. His first non-fiction, The Sea Hunters, was released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the Maritime College, State University of New York, considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded Cussler a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997. It was the first time since the College was founded in 1874 that such a degree was bestowed.

Cussler was an internationally recognized authority on shipwrecks and the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, (NUMA) a 501C3 non-profit organization (named after the fictional Federal agency in his novels) that dedicates itself to preserving American maritime and naval history. He and his crew of marine experts and NUMA volunteers discovered more than 60 historically significant underwater wreck sites including the first submarine to sink a ship in battle, the Confederacy's Hunley, and its victim, the Union's Housatonic; the U-20, the U-boat that sank the Lusitania; the Cumberland, which was sunk by the famous ironclad, Merrimack; the renowned Confederate raider Florida; the Navy airship, Akron, the Republic of Texas Navy warship, Zavala, found under a parking lot in Galveston, and the Carpathia, which sank almost six years to-the-day after plucking Titanic's survivors from the sea.

In addition to being the Chairman of NUMA, Cussler was also a fellow in both the Explorers Club of New York and the Royal Geographic Society in London. He was honored with the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration.

Cussler's books have been published in more than 40 languages in more than 100 countries. His past international bestsellers include Pacific Vortex, Mediterranean Caper, Iceberg, Raise the Titanic, Vixen 03, Night Probe, Deep Six, Cyclops, Treasure, Dragon, Sahara, Inca Gold, Shock Wave, Flood Tide, Atlantis Found, Valhalla Rising, Trojan Odyssey and Black Wind (this last with his son, Dirk Cussler); the nonfiction books The Sea Hunters, The Sea Hunters II and Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed; the NUMA® Files novels Serpent, Blue Gold, Fire Ice, White Death and Lost City (written with Paul Kemprecos); and the Oregon Files novels Sacred Stone and Golden Buddha (written with Craig Dirgo) and Dark Watch (written with Jack Du Brul).

Clive Cussler died at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 24, 2020.

Reviews

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all of Clive Cussler's books this is a great beach read. Full of action, great characters, and a good plot, I highly recommend it as a good read

[Christian D. D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite possibly the most entertaining (in terms of plot elements, action scenes, high-tech gadgetry, humour, international intrigue, and characters alike) novel yet in the NUMA Files series; at the risk of a spoiler, I daresay the Epilogue in particular is the funniest I've read in a long time.

This time Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA crew team up with the lovely, super-intelligent, witty, and tough-as-nails NSA (No Such Agency?) operative Emma Townsend to retrieve the wreckage of a crashed super-secret space plane (the titular Nighthawk) before the Russians or Chinese get it?

Soon, however, Kurt and his pals can't help but wonder if there's more to the Nighthawk story than the NSA is letting on, something that's really motivating all parties involved in the chase....and is there a more sinister third party involved?

As enjoyable as this book was, however, a few technical gaffes and inconsistencies prevent me from giving this book a perfect 5 stars, which I shall hereby elaborate on......

RANDOM STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS (from the Nook edition)

--p. 31: RADM Rudi Gunn a West Point grad? I thought he was Annapolis like Jim Sandecker??

--p. 32: Rudi is "Now in his late forties?" Did Cussler and his co-authors decide to re-boot the timeline of the books so as to keep the characters from again too much?
(Otherwise, Rudi would be in his 70s by now, Dirk and Al in their 60s....and Jim Sandecker a centenarian!)

Ah yes, Mexican Coke in a glass bottle, the best way to drink it, with real cane sugar, not that corn syrup-laden plastic bottled crap they make Stateside! (Okay, correction, Ecuadorian Coke, but y'all still get the idea and general principle of the superiority of Coca-Cola that's produced south of the U.S. border.)

--p. 52: "Megalodon versus the Giant Squid." LOL, I'd actually pay money to see a movie with that title, and I'd bet my buddy Mark Robert Holcomb would too! ;-)

--p. 92: Ahem, that would be petty officers, Joe, not "NCOs."

--p. 122: WIKIPEDIA LOOKUP: Glomar Explorer and K-129.

--p. 129: Um, Captain Victor [sic] Tovarich, as in Victor "Comrade?" And wouldn't the correct spelling be "Viktor?" And is he a Captain 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Rank? And shouldn't "Mikael" [sic] be Mikhail?

--p. 134: Wouldn't Russkies (and the other non-American characters in the book, for that matter) be using meters instead of feet?

--p. 169: "Heckler & Koch HK45?" Wouldn't that be HK USP .45?

--p. 173: "'I like this,' Emma shouted over the noise. 'Can I keep it?'" [in reference to Kurt's HK45] My kinda girl! :-)

--p. 271: Manually weaken a Zip-Tie enough to snap it? Um, I kinda doubt that...

--p. 280: "'There's a difference between governments and terrorists.'" Um, maybe, but it's a pretty thin line sometimes.

--p. 325: "during his time in the Air Force?" Wait a minute, I thought Kurt had been a Navy man??

--p. 329: Russian military personnel still using the term "comrade" this many years into the post-Soviet era?

--p. 366 (final page): LMAO, effing priceless ending, most hilarious-ever ending to any of the NUMA Files novels, I daresay!

CENTRAL CASTING: Alberto Del Rio as Joe Zavala, Danny Trejo as Urco, Julianne Moore as Gamay Trout, Gerard Depardieu as Paul Trout (if he can do a passable Boston accent), George Clooney as Kurt Austin, Kirsten Dunst or Laura Prepon ad Emma Townsend

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cutting edge technology combined with an edge of your seat thrill ride provide ensure that this entry in the NUMA Files is one of the best. This is popcorn eating, beach reading at its finest.

[Peter Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly top notch. It's hard to say which of the Cussler books I like more, but for sheer edge-of-the-seat adventure, this one takes the cake. Every time you think you have a handle on where this is going, he shoots you another det0ur and ramps up the action. His heroes, Kurt Austin and his sidekick Joe Zavala, are a never-ending trouble team. But the plot is extremely clever too. I won't spoil it for the potential reader except to say that it took an extremely fine imagination combined with some excellent technical research to come up with this one. And if there is a more wicked villain in literature I'd like to meet him. (Perhaps only a Dean Koontz mastermind rivals this bad boy.)

[James Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clive did it again!

What a unique mix of old world and new technology...wow. Scary times for the world thwarted by the NUMA crew to keep all of the world safe.

[Galem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I love Clive Cussler's books. Had this one on my calendar so I downloaded it the day it came out. Ready for the next one.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fourteenth in the NUMA Files action/adventure thriller series and revolving around Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala who troubleshoot for an oceanographic institute.

My Take
It’s all about greed, and the lengths to which people will go — using global third-person subjective point-of-view certainly helps us to understand the thoughts of many of the characters — to obtain their goal.

Cussler/Brown used an action hook in the prologue to grab my attention — and a boring hook (!) in the first chapter. After that it becomes something of a dramatic Keystone Kops series of actions as all three nations step up, fall down, and run around like mad.

I thoroughly enjoyed Paul Trout’s flyfishing technique, lol. The history of the natives of Peru was also fascinating, if tragically sad. Even sadder was the whole business-as-usual vibe amongst the three competing governments. It’s like a game for them, lying and cheating to get what they want. If they don’t win? Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. Well, okay, in this instance, there may not be a tomorrow.

It is horrifying what is revealed, what that kickstart was for the mad genius. And they wonder why American citizens don’t trust their government…

It truly is a simple purpose behind the hijacking and that ticking clock scenario created by those convoluted (and quite ingenious) after plans is effective, especially for the planned effect. It’s a revenge I can understand, even if I don’t agree with it.

The resolution to the story will crack you up…and reinforce that game plan I mentioned earlier. At least this one will leave you laughing.

The Story
It’s a race among the Americans, the Russians, and the Chinese to reach that plane. Whoever gets it first will hold all the power…or not. It all depends on those fuel cells holding out.

If the cargo thaws, that’s it.

And there is no honor among partners…or thieves.

The Characters
Kurt Austin’s past experiences with marine salvage, the navy, and the CIA make him ideal for his current position as a troubleshooter for NUMA. Joe Zavala is Kurt’s partner, an amateur boxer, part of Special Projects, and a mechanical genius. Merlin is a helicopter he “picks up”. The Angler is a multimillion-dollar submersible.

Today
NUMA is…
…the National Underwater and Marine Agency founded by Vice-Admiral James Sandecker; he's now vice-president of the U.S.A. Its mission is to explore, study, and preserve the world’s oceans. Dirk Pitt is the current director. Hiram Yaeger is the head of their computer department and designed Max years ago. Priya Kashmir is his new assistant. Rudi Gunn is the deputy director. Collin Kane is a bomb disposal expert.

Drs. Paul (Ocean Sciences) and Gamay Trout (her doctorate is in Marine Biology with a Master’s in Marine Archeology) are married and an important part of Special Projects; they’ll be stationed aboard the Catalina . Ed Callahan is the captain.

DUMBO is the Dynamic Underwater Monitoring Band, a series of highly sensitive listening posts throughout the Pacific Ocean.

Vandenburg Air Force Base is…
…control central for bringing back Nighthawk , a hybrid vehicle. Steve Gowdy, the director of ExAt projects for the NSA, is overseeing the final stage of a secret mission, Ruby Snow. His adversary, Air Force Colonel Frank Hansen, is the flight director.

The NSA is…
…the National Security Administration. Emily “Hurricane Emma” Townsend is a results-oriented specialist, no matter who it hurts, and in this case, if she fails, she’ll blame it on NUMA. A few years back, she’d been part of NASA’s Daedalus Project with Beric, who had been team leader. Hurns and Rodriguez are agents.

The MS Reunion is carrying a cargo of fruit; Buck Kamphausen is her captain.

The Russians
Constantin Davidov is the head of the Directorate for Technical Resources Acquisition. The Varyag is a Russian missile cruiser captained by Admiral Sergei Borozdin, a friend of Davidov’s. A Russian Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine is nosing around. Its captain is Victor Tovarich of the Russian 1st Salvage Flotilla. Mikael is his First Officer. Major Yuri Timonovski was flying the second Blackjack; his flight engineer also survived.

The Chinese
General Zhang is with the Ministry of State Security; Lieutenant Wu is his aide. Captain Li Ying is the liaison officer in the People’s Liberation Army. Daiyu “Black Jade”, an extremely capable agent, has been indoctrinated into seeing the state as her mother and father. Juan Feng is her partner, and another of the unborn.

Peru
Urco is a Peruvian archeologist working a dig connected to the Chachapoya (the Cloud People). Vargas and Reyes are his associates.

The Falconer, a.k.a., Birdcaller, is a lone gun working a multitude of his own deals.

1525, South America
Diego Alvarado is under attack. Don Costa has funded the expedition. Francisco Pizarro is leading it, I think.

The Cover and Title
The cover finds the Nighthawk re-entering a gray and white atmosphere in an enveloping blaze of oranges, reds, and yellows. Cussler’s name is HUGE in white with a black outline at the top; Brown’s name can almost be seen underneath it and to the right. The title is in a deep red outlined in black at the bottom with the series information above it in white and an info blurb reminding the reader whose adventure it really is at the very bottom.

The title is the focus of this desperate hunt, the Nighthawk.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Graham Brown for restoring my faith in the Cussler universe with Nighthawk. “A top secret NSA space-plane has been sent off course. It must be found soon. Within it are containment units of antimatter gathered in space. If the batteries shit down, the explosion could change humankind. Kurt and Numa are tasked to find it. It’s location in a Peruvian jungle is no accident. Everyone is not who they appear to be. Can Kurt and Joe get to the Nighthawk in time?” This book is simply an escape book. It goes from one action scene to the next (with a couple of breaks to catch your breath) The only time it slows is when the maniacal bad guy monologues about why he wants to end civilization. (He even sounds like he has a handlebar mustache - mwa ha ha) Reminds me of some older Cussler books, back when he was still writing them. This is the audiobook and the narrator does a fantastic job. If you are a fan of Cussler, you should like this book. Nice story from Brown.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I listened to while walking the dog. This was a fun and exciting novel to listen to. Well written with plenty of action, drama and suspense. Sure, some of the dialog was predictable but it was pure Clive Cussler. The gist of the story is: Nighthawk, a secret NSA space ship, returns from space and mysteriously "crashes" . China, Russia and of course the USA rush to find the craft. A shadow figure- known as "the Falconer"- is the key to finding out the HOW, WHAT, and WHY of Nighthawk.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining book. With US, China, and Russia racing to find the Nighthawk and its cargo in the Pacific ocean. Quite an adventure.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clive Cussler is constantly blowing my mind with the amazing idea he can portray using his wide understanding of wartime and action writing knowledge.

This book is packed with excitement that will get your heart racing from the start. Although the action may seem to start slow, in reality when you reflect on it the foreshadowing will hit you, clear as day! When an incident happens that would cause for some alarm. It seems as if there is too much alarm. Even from the other side of the world. Why is everybody so interested in this one thing. And why was NUMA chosen to stop it? The answer lies with the Nighthawk, located somewhere, with a load of hidden secrets.

This whole story represents the relationship in the world right now. If something like the plot of the Nighthawk were to happen now, the response would barely differ from the story Cussler has presented with this incredible book. Maybe the world is not the friendly neighborhood that we have all thought it was?

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm blown away— this is another fantastic Kurt Austin adventure. Possibly my favorite in the series. If you're a fan of the series, this is a must read book. If you're new to the series, start from the beginning or grab this book to get a taste of the series. You won't regret it!

[Saulėtoji Vapsva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knygą sudomino su aprašymų, atrodė, kaip geras sic-fi, kosmosas, Amerika ir Rusija. Knyga gulėjo lentynoje ir laukė savo eilės. Prieš perkant net nepasidomėjau, kad tai yra iš knygų serijos ir jau keturiolikta dalis (woops), tačiau skaityti tam nesutrukdė.

Vos po kelių puslapių supratau, kad skaitau apie amerikietiška Džeimsą Bondą, Harį Hulę, kuris yra pats geriausias. Greitai išlindo ir tai, kad Amerika vis dar gyveno Šaltojo karo metais ir buvo tehnologiškai geriau išsivysčiusi keliais dešimtmečiais nei Kinija ar Rusija. Trump would be proud! Tik tada pradėjau googlintis, kad autorius savo pirmas knygas pradėjo leisti dar 80's, tai ir liko prie senojo mentaliteto.

Skaitėsi lengvai, nors ir kiek užtrukau. Veiksmas vietomis užsitęsdavo ir vienam veiksmui reikėdavo apie 10+ skyrių (primena After). Bet skyriai trumpi ir kalba nebuvo labai sudėtinga.

Iš pradžių viskas atrodė lyg ir nuspėjamai: numuštas amerikonų erdvėlaivis hibridas, po trijų metų kosmose neaišku kur ir kodėl staiga nukrenta į Žemę ir geriausiam NUMA agentui, reikia jį surasti ir apsaugoti planetą. Jis aišku gauna geriausia amerikietiška komandą iš NASA ir NSA. Rusai ir Kinai aišku nori to laivo ir atsiranda kova kas gi bus pirmas.

Viduryje knygos yra įpynimas geras plot-twist, kuris pagyvino knygą ir sudomina. Visgi hibridas erdvėlaivis nėra toks jau paprastas (nors vėliau paaiškėja, kad pagal konstrukcija nėra kažkuo ypatingas), jame yra saugoma paslaptis. Ir numuštas jis buvo rusų, bet tam buvo priežastis. Į tai įsivelia dar viena kompanija. Ir dėl ko gi visas tas pragaras prasidėjo tikrai nustebino.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another formulaic entry, but that being said, it is better than quite a few of his recent Dirk Pitt forays. Again, this may have something to do with his writing partner.

In 1525 a Spanish expedition in Incan Peru trails behind Pizarro and runs into trouble. As usual with Cussler, the scene set in the past reverberates throughout the plot. Fast forward to the present, when the United States attempt to bring down a satellite code-named "Nighthawk" after a three-year mission goes awry. Enter Kurt Austin and his second-string NUMA team of regulars, familiar to devotees of the series from previous novels.

What makes Nighthawk work is not the pedestrian writing style but the plotting/pace. It hurls the reader through the book, and managed to actually have both a credible McGuffin and a credible motivation for the "villain" of the piece. Moreover, supporting characters do not behave in predictable ways.

If you like Cussler, this is one of the good ones. If you haven't read him, this book is a stand-alone, as most of his books are, but it is also a good place to dip into his universe.

[João Leal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clive Cussler: mais uma etapa de uma auto-imposta educação para a literatura popular americana. Aventura sempre a andar de personagens planas. Sob fogo cruzado, em cenário de catástrofe, depois de homicídios violentos acabados de cometer ou entre uma derrapagem em perseguição automóvel à beira de um abismo andino, os protagonistas nunca perdem o sentido de humor nas suas falas. (anoto no bloco: thriller de ação com protagonista de série = humor nos diálogos). Após muitos capítulos de página e meia, omnisciência de narrador seletiva, grande ritmo, capacidades físicas estonteantes, dados cientificos duvidosos, vilão inteligente, mas de uma ingenuidade final que nos enche de perplexidade, e uma ação que não pára para ninguém, porque afinal há uma série de bombas que podem obliterar as principais civilizações humanas e isso é importante, quando a mente, por fim, se entrega ao entretenimento e se deixa de análises literárias, fica um tempo bem passado, empregue e quase de agradecimento.

[Sathwik Ramaprasad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I came across Clive Cussler's work and I am left mighty impressed!
When I started reading the book, I was wondering about the usage of the word 'Adventure' on the cover page. Little did I know the roller coaster of a story that was to follow. A larger than life international setting has been used with all the three means of travel - Air, Water and Land being utilised. The book packs serious pace making it a wonderful page turner.
The novel has a big tinge of a sci-fi thriller, alongside diplomatic and warfare relations between the most powerful countries of the world. Twists and surprise reveals are plenty, and the adrenaline rush doesn't cease across the 450 odd pages.
However, what made me deny giving the glorious 5th star was that the climax seemed to be unnecessarily extended, personally. The story could have well culminated at around the 350 page mark. The final surprise reveal probably made the book lengthier than what could have been the most ideal, and at a point it made me feel - Oh man, c'mon! Let the protagonists celebrate already!
That said, this book has everything in it to make it a potboiler; filled with action, thrill, sci-fi and wholesome adventure aplenty.

[Tom Tischler · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific Kurt
Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate it. Russia and China
want the technology but there is a big problem. The X 37 is carrying a deadly secret.
It has a payload of exotic matter extracted from the upper atmosphere and stored at
a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it stays frozen it remains inert, but if
it thaws it will unleash a catastrophe of unthinkable proportions. The entire NUMA
team will risk everything to avoid this but they may be caught in a race that no one
can win. I think that Mr. Cussler has another winner so I guess he will b e getting
a few new antiques. I gave it a 4.

[Kyla Zerbes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio.
Story went by very quickly. I liked that the team was together more than in the last few books. Not sure how accurate the science was in this one but it made for a good story except for the fact that NUMA kept helping look even when they thought the rocket ship must be on land and entirely by chance ended up in the lake...

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graham Brown and Clive Cussler have written another excellent installment in the NUMA series; filled with the thrilling action packed adventures we've come to expect, and topped off with humorous banter (especially between Kurt and Joe - the last section of the book had me snorting with laughter). A must read

[Shannon Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I will admittedly that at first I thought this book would be a cliche. Cause the author wrote so many books...I wasn’t sure if I will enjoy it. I was plenty wrong. This book was quite enjoyable but on a pretty fast pace. Obviously, I don’t know the depth of characters but the author was really nice to drop a bunch of hints about them. That was the key to know who’s and who’s. The mix of adventure and science is a fun part for me. Umm, since I was surprised by this book so I gave it four.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good, but a little bit confusing with all the matter

[Eion Hewson · Rating 2 out of 5]

very formulaic

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fourteen in Cussler's NUMA series featuring Kurt Austin. A weak sister entry. Jumbled plot and too sketchy characters. Move onto next book of series and leave this one on the shelf.

[Dan Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book!

[Diana S · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't one of my favorites. It was a little boring 🫤

[Jane Russo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way longer than it should have been.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read, and I was a bit surprised by the ending (or, maybe the direction the narrative went). It moved at a fast pace and held my interest from start-to-finish. It felt like it was going to go down the road of the “omniscient, omnipotent villain” but fortunately veered away from that to head in a better direction. The character development was okay; I can’t say too of the “new” characters had much character development in the book (other than the villain and Priya Kashmir, a computer expert who works with Hiram Yaeger with Max in this novel). The technology described in the book is crazy and scads of fun; I don’t know how truly feasible it is to create some of the technology described in the book, but it still is fun to read about how it might be used today.

I thought the author did have some interesting tones in this book I don’t recall coming across very often in prior such books in Cussler’s various series. The author starts out by describing how the death of a small Spaniard force left behind in a village in South America had a large impact upon the local indigenous population(s) because of the diseases brought with them to the South American continent, how it nearly wiped out the various tribes and made it easier for them to be conquered by Spain in the end. This theme in the opening chapter ties into what happens at the end of the story, and I thought the author did a solid job with this painful topic. Granted, he made the villain a descendant of one of these tribes that had been wiped out, so it does make one wonder if perhaps the author is trying to say that Indigenous Peoples are “still a problem” and should be wiped out from the modern world (or forced to assimilate)? Actually, that is a thought that came to my mind as I was typing this paragraph when I “realized” the villain is an Indigenous person who wishes to destroy the modern world and return the world to the state of living off just the land and zero technology. Intellectually, I “knew it” from reading the book, but reviewing what I read put it into a different perspective. I don’t think that was the author’s intent, nor do I see Indigenous People as “the problem”, but we in “the modern world” (or maybe “first world nations” would be a better way to put it) do need to be better at how we interact with the world around us.

The book seemed to be filled with “conspiracy theories” about how we cannot trust “the Government” or any government agency because they will never tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am not disputing we should not trust the government 100%, but the “villain” is a survivor of a failed assassination attempt by the United States because he was opposing the policies of the American government at the time and planning to release information into the general public so that everybody had access to his knowledge and ideas about . . . something (I think it was using the combined state of matter/antimatter that occurs in outer space over the North and South Poles during the Aurora Borealis and other such cosmic events. I know I am not explaining it very well, and that is fine. The gist of it is that the U.S. of A. government decided to harvest a unique form of energy from outer space despite there being various laws in place that are supposed to prevent such a thing from occurring. But as nobody was really able to oppose the U.S. in this endeavor, we went and did it anyway while ignoring the opposition as to why we should do it. The NSA was lying to NUMA about why the Nighthawk needed to be found. NUMA was playing it close to the vest as Hiram hacked into NASA to hack into the NSA. Comments were regularly made about how we cannot trust government agents or agencies or representatives because they do not have the best interests of humanity at their heart.

Also, it had an interesting “discussion” about pacifism and how pacifism does not work towards the end. Emma, the NSA agent, was originally a pacifist who went to work at NASA but became disillusioned when a close friend was killed by terrorists in a bombing incident aboard a commercial aircraft. Because of this disillusionment, she joined the NSA because she realized the only way to combat violence was with violence, that “bad/evil people” had to be physically opposed (my paraphrase). THEN we find out her friend survived the bombing and that it was actually an assassination attempt by the U.S. government to silence him when he threatened to go public with what he knew. He was also a former pacifist who turned to violence; however, his level of violence was the intended destruction of the modern world (i.e. – the U.S. of A, Europe, and China) through the destruction of the containment units housing the matter/anti-matter “mixtures” (sorry, not sure what else to call it) that each country would have. The ensuing destruction would ensure that the only survivors would be those Indigenous people living on the margins, living off of the land, and not needing technology to survive. It was expected the Southern Hemisphere would survive, but most of the Northern Hemisphere would be destroyed in “his” cataclysm. But the villain also had an “epiphany” in that he realized pacifism would not work, could not work, and would never work because force was needed to combat force, to make changes. And the “only way” long lasting change can take place is through the use of violent, deadly force. So he decides to take revenge when he discovers the U.S. government is using his plans to harvest this new “material” from space and plans accordingly.

Best line of the book: Feed these to the mole. Best regards, Kurt Austin.

I thought it was crazy that the Russians and Chinese worked together to fund a project to hijack the Nighthawk on its return to Earth to get the new, unique form of exotic matter collected from space by modifying two supersonic bombers (I don’t think the author ever identifies these bombers as existing Russian aircraft or some kind of new, experimental model, but I assume they are Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire bombers) so that they can chase the Nighthawk and force it to land on the back of the first Backfire chase aircraft. The plan works until the NSA “mole” reactivates Nighthawk’s computer systems. As the Nighthawk comes back to life, it tears away from the Russian bomber and flees towards South America. The second Russian chase bomber follows and is forced to land on a dirt runway while the Nighthawk lands in a mountaintop lake.

The Typhoon submarine modified for underwater salvage was an awesome idea! I loved it! It was pretty cool to read about how this underwater salvage vessel might have worked, and I could see it being done in reaction to the Glomar Explorer’s mission of lifting the remains of the Russian missile submarine from the bottom of the ocean for intelligence purposes. I thought it was a most excellent idea of taking the idea of the Glomar Explorer one step further and creating a submerged machine capable of salvaging a wreck completely underwater and thereby never revealing the fact that a salvage mission was being performed. It was a perfect idea, and I could see something like that being done.


Plot points: An interesting point is made in the book how the Russians and Chinese knew where the American spacecraft supposedly went down because both nations had salvage fleets already on the way to the crash site. Which is weird, because the objective was never for the Russian bomber to crash into the ocean with its prize but for it to . . . fly to some land occupied by both Russians and Chinese so that the exotic matter could be split evenly between the two nations AND both nations could acquire the technical knowledge to re-engineer the American spacecraft. So were the fleets on their way in case there was some kind of technical damage, anyway? It’s a major “plot point” in that it allows Kurt to deduce that the NSA still has a mole inside the agency that is feeding the Russians and Chinese information (mainly because it would have taken a week or so for the two fleets of salvage vehicles to be quickly put together and then sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the crash site, but they were already on their way before the crash occurred, so something was going on). Not only that, but the modified Russian Typhoon is practically onsite and ready to collect the debris from the downed aircraft. How could it have already been onsite if the expectation was for the American craft to be captured intact and flown to a secret base? These two opposing salvage fleets make no sense to me whatsoever as I think some more about this plot point/hole.

This is picking a nit, but the flap of the book claims that the downed aircraft is the X-37 when that is not the case. While the Nighthawk is based upon the X-37 space plane, it is in fact much larger and can carry a larger payload. This spacecraft was in orbit for nearly three years, which is pretty cool to think about, but it would have been nice of the dustjacket was correct about the type of aircraft that went down.

I find myself wondering if the “command structure” of NUMA has changed now that Dirk Pitt is in the top seat of this government agency. In the Dirk Pitt books, whenever there was some kind of serious palaver going on between government agencies that wanted to use NUMA’s resources, Vice-Admiral (now V.P.) Sandecker was always involved in those meetings. He never missed them, no matter how “minor” they might have been because he was always looking out for the turf of his beloved agency. However, Dirk Pitt does not show up at these meetings that I can recall. I would have expected Dirk to make an appearance because of the nature of this top secret emergency where only NUMA can get the job done – if they fail, then the planet could literally be destroyed because of the interstellar exotic matter captured by the NSA and brought down to Earth. Instead, Rudi Gunn represents NUMA at the meeting between the NSA, NUMA, and whatever other agencies are involved in the search-and-recover operation. I don’t know; I know Rudi is the Assistant Director, but I still felt like Dirk should have been involved in at least this meeting. It did not strike me as believable that Dirk would not have been involved.

Also, have the ages of Rudi and Hiram been lowered? They are described as being in their forties in this novel; logically they should be much, much older because of when these books were first written (and the dates the stories were to have taken place in those early stories). Dirk alone should be in his sixties, but he’s not. So it is funny that the ages of the characters have been somewhat “frozen in time” because of how long these characters have been around, hahahah. But this is not unlike James Bond, who has been active since the early fifties and his age has not really changed. Or superheroes in comic books – they remain fairly ageless, all things considered.

I always find it funny when NUMA has more advanced technology that the U.S. military (or any other military); in this case, the SOSUS system. Not only that, but that NUMA now has their own SOSUS system scattered around the world in waters that nobody else has. Pretty convenient that they have this level of technology available in this book (now) when it was never previously available to them when it might have helped them and their teams in other novels/adventures. Be interesting if this super sonar system of theirs will appear (or has appeared) in any future novels. I kinda doubt it – that is one of the weaker points in these books. Some kind of advanced technology is introduced in one story to help solve the mystery or provide the answer and then rarely, if ever, used again in future novels even though it would have proved to be most useful in some future story.

Also, I could not decide if Kurt was joking about “old football injuries” when he and Joe were racing to reach the Russian bomber’s ladder located in the wheelwell of the forward landing gear. I think I decided he was joking because of the abuse he received before rescuing his teammates and then chasing after the Russians. He had been slightly wounded while fighting underwater, pummeled by a waterfall, had to scale a cliff, and then survive a pitched battle with Urco’s men. I would say he was probably fairly winded by that point, hahahah, but his comment about “old football injuries” just felt . . . “weird” to me. Not sure why.

The last chapter of the book is truly hilarious. Kurt, Joe, and the Russians are on a Caribbean beach playing poker using real gold as chips and drinking twenty-year-old Scotch hoping a passing ship will see their signal fire and rescue them. They have assumed the island they reached is uninhabited after ditching from the Russian bomber. However, a twenty-foot fiberglass security boat approaches them and the security officer tells them they are trespassing on a private island and cannot be lighting fires on the beach. That is when the survivors discover there is a Ritz-Carlton on the other side of the island. It’s one of the better endings I have read in this series, and I loved how much humor the author used to end the book.

The two Chinese agents were crazy! Not “insane” crazy but “kinda cool” crazy. Daiyu (Black Jade) was something else, and I thought she was well-written. I don’t know how “strong” of a character she was in terms of development over the course of the novel, but I still thought she was a believable character (in terms of a person so totally focused on their cause or mission that nothing else matters included with the little amount of emotion that is shown), and I thought she was also a ‘strong character” because she was smart, intelligent, resourceful, capable, and able to think quickly and adjust to changing situations. Her partner Jian seemed almost too thug-like and was a lesser character, in my mind, than she was. Or maybe “weaker” character even though he had phenomenal strength and was just as highly trained as she was. Daiyu was the one who “took charge” and told Jian what to do over the course of their mission; I don’t think Daiyu was made to be weak to make Daiyu look strong, but I did get the sense that Daiyu was the stronger of the two characters (perhaps because she was willing to bend the rules if not break them to accomplish her mission. Kinda like Kurt Austin and even Dirk Pitt.

I thought the author had a great idea for his plot. I thought it was clever how the Falconeer (aka Urco aka Beric) was playing the Russians, Americans, and Chinese off each other to create the best terms for himself and his people in terms of passing out the exotic matter from space. He planned to give some of the exotic matter to the Chinese, who left right away in their supersonic transport aircraft (the FN 190) with Vargas, his right-hand man, as his “eyes” on the Chinese to make sure they did not try to double-cross Urco. The Russians were given two containers and the Americans two containers, which left two containers to be given to whatever group or country Urco decided. I thought that was a novel and clever idea on the author’s part, and I could kinda seeing it happen. But then, the plot twist!

After finding empty containment units and Semtex explosives in a cave, Kurt deduced that Urco has placed bombs in the replacement containment units used to store the exotic matter and plans to destroy the Northern Hemisphere once the exotic matter reaches the appropriate destinations. China, the U.S., and Europe would be devastated by the initial blast, and the ensuing debris field would essentially wipe out modern life in the Northern Hemisphere. Aiding in the devastation would be whatever group Urco would have given the last two containers. Kurt believes that Urco will not destroy the last two containers because the other six containers were not yet far enough away from the remaining containment units and the destruction of the last two would cause the other six units to fail and cause catastrophic damage to South America and kill the people Urco claims to be trying to protect. Urco is crazy and decides to kill the planet. Gamay kills Urco before he can shoot Kurt, which allows Kurt and Joe to chase after the Russians. I don’t know what happened to the 7th and 8th containers; maybe they were left behind at the camp after all of Urco’s men were killed? Emma (an NSA agent teamed with Kurt to find the Nighthawk had taken the two containers for the Americans with her when she left the camp. Or, maybe Gamay and Paul Trout went back for the last two containers after aiding in rescuing Emma from her predicament? Anyway. I loved that plot twist. I was wondering what was going to happen in the remaining 100 pages when Urco started talking about how he was going to split up the exotic matter between three major world powers and a fourth group of his choice.

It was a fun story to read with a twist at the end I did not expect. I could see myself reading this again at some point in the future (so many books to read, so little time, however). I am glad I took a chance and read this book.

[Sandy Whale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of twists and turns. Enjoyed it very much.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast-paced, action-packed, easy read. It was fun in a very James Bond sort of way.

[Ania · Rating 3 out of 5]

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