Book Review + Giveaway: Medusa by Clive Cussler

It has been a really hectic week both on and offline!! I participated in the adventure tale, Ahoy! Sea Serpent! Blog Hop hosted by Kerri Cuevas and this week started the Warm Fuzzies Blog Fest hosted by Juliana Brandt. This week also saw the final episodes of the Rule of Three Writing Challenge hosted by Damyanti Biswas, Stuart Nager, Lisa Vooght and J.C. Martin. With all the happenings of this past few weeks, I have not been able to do any interviews. However, I could not let this Friday pass with out some kind of book giveaway!! So, here is the most recent book I've read:

Medusa by Clive Cussler

This is my second book by Clive Cussler and so far I am loving his novels! 

Summary: 

From Goodreads: In the Micronesian Islands, a top secret, U.S. government- sponsored undersea lab conducting vital biomedical research on a rare jellyfish known as the Blue Medusa suddenly . . . disappears. At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere is attacked by an underwater vehicle and left helpless a half mile below the surface, its passengers-including Zavala-left to die. Only Kurt Austin's heroic measures save them from a watery grave, but, suspecting a connection, Austin puts the NUMA(r) team on the case. He has no idea what he's just gotten them all into. A hideous series of medical experiments . . . an extraordinarily ambitious Chinese criminal organization . . . a secret new virus that threatens to set off a worldwide pandemic. Austin and Zavala have been in tight spots before, but this time it's not just their own skins they're trying to save-it's the lives of millions.

My review:

I really like the Medusa. Right from the beginning I was hooked. I don't know much oceanography but I do love anything that has to do with the ocean and sea mysteries. The story starts off a long time ago when an 1848 whaling expedition undergoes a mysterious experience on an Island when they have to dock their ship due to the ship's crew becoming deathly ill. Unable to explain their quick recovery and the fact not one of them every became sick after the incident remained a mystery. Fast forward to the present, an outcast Chinese doctor in a rural village is called back to work by the Chinese Government to work on a cure for new strain of SARS virus that is near to becoming even deadlier than the first outbreak. What she does not know is that someone is out to kill her and the scientist she is working with because they are close to creating a vaccine that will cure the outbreak. 

In the Bermuda, during a test drive of the bathysphere, Dr Max Kane and Joe Zavala are attacked and left to die in the blue waters. When Kurt Austin goes down to find and rescue them, he is also attacked by a strange metal creature. At the same time of this attack, Dr Kanes secret gov't lab working on a vaccine for the new strand of SARS is hijacked off of the ocean floor. When they find out that the creature is a submersible used by a Chinese Company and that the company has ties with the triads, things get really dangerous for Lee, Austin, Zavala and all of his NUMA friends as they try to solve an old mystery. Austin and his team have to find out who is behind the lab-jacking, who wants them dead and why.

I loved that there was very little romance involved, though there were some slight insinuations. The pace was fine, something was happening in every chapter. I give this book a 3.5 out 4.0 stars :)