Arctic Drift (Dirk Pitt) (U)

As with all Clive Cussler's dazzling Dirk Pitt novels, critics said Treasure of Khan amazes, informs and entertains (Publishers Weekly), the action zipping along until a final powerhouse showdown (Entertainment Weekly). What's not to like? proclaimed the Los Angeles Times and hundreds of thousands of readers agreed.In his new novel, however the twentieth Dirk Pitt adventure Cussler may have topped even himself.A potential breakthrough discovery to reverse global warming . . . a series of unexplained sudden deaths in British Columbia . . . a rash of international incidents between the United States and one of its closest allies that threatens to erupt into an actual shooting war . . . NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his children, Dirk. Jr. and Summer, have reason to believe there's a connection here somewhere, but they also know they have very little time to find it before events escalate out of control. Their only real clue might just be a mysterious silvery mineral traced to a long-ago expedition in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. But no one survived from that doomed mission, captain and crew perished to a man and if Pitt and his colleague Al Giordino aren't careful, the very same fate may await them.Filled with the breathtaking suspense and audacious imagination that have become his hallmarks, this is a tour de force further proof that when it comes to adventure writing, nobody beats Clive Cussler.Publishers WeeklyBestseller Cussler and son Dirk imagine the U.S. and Canada on the brink of war in their third collaborative Dirk Pitt novel (after Treasure of Khan and Black Wind). In 2011, as the price of gas hits $10 a gallon, President Garner Ward must contend with a corrupt Canadian cabal that's subverting efforts to solve America's energy problems. Pitt barely escapes serious injury when a bomb destroys a D.C. lab along with records of research into an artificial photosynthesis process that could, almost immediately, eliminate the threat of global warming. That discovery may be connected with a legendary failed 19th-century sailing expedition to the Arctic as well as a series of deaths due to the phenomena that the Native Americans of British Columbia know as "the Devil's Breath." The Cusslers won't suspend many readers' disbelief, but thriller fans in search of a quick, exciting read should be satisfied. 750,000 printing; author tour. (Dec.)Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.