Book Review: The Silent Sea Clive Cussler

The Silent Sea by Clive Cussler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The story starts off with five brothers making a discovery, a discovery that leaves one dead and the older three brothers shamed by their family. In the present, Juan Cabrillo, the chairman of a private corporation that does military operations and recons for the CIA/government as well as they hire themselves out as security for the insanely rich. Juan and his men of the Oregon, are sent on a secret mission into Argentina to recover a downed satellite that landed within Argentine border. They discover an old blimp that went missing many years back and decide to explore it before pressing on. After losing one of their own, Juan makes the decision to find the last remaining Ronish brother to deliver a message he found on the blimp. That meeting ends horribly with the Argentines hot on their tails. Juan and his crew discover that the Argentines are in Antarctica and have built a massive base there. And then there is the Chinese government who has an interest in the downed blimp, the Argentine presence in Antarctica AND the Ronish brothers discovery, a discovery that could change history as we know it.

The Silent Sea was a very interesting read. Mr. Cussler did a great job keeping me in the dark about what the Ronish brothers found and how it tied into the devastating world affairs that panned out in the story. He also opened my eyes to some very cunning and deceitful actions that governments can or may do to keep secrets and world affairs straight and out of the public's eye. Yikes!

As with all his books, The Silent Sea is packed with action. I think that is one of the main reasons I his books. I like constant action and entertainment. Even when the action was low, there was a lot of fun banter between the mc and his crew. There is a lot of gun fights and shooting in this book. I'm pretty sure it is the same in his other books but for some reason, it seemed like a LOT of shoot outs and dead bodies. I always get real tense when important people (or people close to the mc) die in stories. I wonder how things will turn out. *Spoiler Alert* When the last surviving Ronish brother is killed by the Argentine force who are looking for answers to a major mystery, I kind of lost hope that Juan Cabrillo would put all the puzzle pieces together. I have to say though, I just loved Cabrillo. He was a well-balanced character. He reminded me of a veteran GI Joe that is humble enough not to turn me off with his arrogant I can survive/do/defeat any and everything/one but cocky enough to show everyone who's the boss and command respect.

Cussler's heros always seem to survive and save the day at end of the story so when it got to the second to the last page and Juan was "dead" I was shocked and a little sad. But then I find out he did survive and how he managed to survive the "big fallout" and then I was a bit under-whelmed by the good news. I guess I wanted to "see" his escape. I mean, if a hero is going to beat the odds, I should at least see how he does it. :D But in all, it was a great read. I'm on to my next Cussler book, Spartan Gold. A Fargo Adventure. I love the Fargos :D



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