Cheap Night Probe! (Book) (Clive Cussler) Price

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Customer Reviews of Night Probe!

Unique, if not over-the-top actioner
It's Pitt to the rescue, again, when America & the UK tangle over an obscure, never ratified treaty that may mean the salvation of America. In the early 20, twin disasters separately take the lives of two men - diplomats for England & the USA. Unknown is that each carried copies of a treaty giving Canda to the USA. Fast forward to the near-future - America faces an unprecedented energy crisis. Luckily, billions of barrels of oil is available just off-shore. Unfortunately, it's on (or under) Canadian waters. Heidi Milligan, a USN Officer and frequent Dirk Pitt companion, discovers reference to the obscure treaty while doing historical research. Knowing the implications of the treaty, NUMA and Dirk Pitt soon join the treasure hunt. Learning of the treaty themselves, the Brits pull out the stops to secure it first. (It's unclear if the Brits are aware of the massive petro-implications at stake, but they're not about to give up Canada.) Routine, and hardly the globe-hopping romp of novels like "Valhalla Rising" or "Cyclops", "Night Probe" is still worth a look. Like Pitt, "Probe" knows what we want, and delivers the goods. The story also adventurously tries a less-than patently evil adversary - with Pitt facing a british agent who's bound by duty, but not given to the bad-guy speeches or grandiose plans. He's probably the most sympathetic foe Pitt has ever faced. For Pitt fans, definately worth a read.

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A massive waste of my time
I've always been fond of Clive Cussler books, although his more recent ones have had me groaning a lot because he keeps appearing in them as himself, never a good thing for any author. <
>Nightprobe, however, is his one duff effort. The concept of Great Britain signing Canada over to the US is so implausible that I actually laughed - no British Government would have done such a thing, especially as the War was supposed to be over "by Christmas", according to popular wisdom. <
>And given the fact that the US entered the war three years after the fictional treaty was signed, that would kind of make it obvious that the terms had not been adhered to. So why, after 70-odd years, would the treaty still be valid? <
>The other thing which increasingly irritated me is the fact that Cussler seems to have had no idea as to how the Empire worked. Britain couldn't have signed Canada away because it didn't own it - the Dominion of Canada had its own Government, as did Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. And the thought of George V signing Canada away is so laughable that it's totally implausible. Cussler seems to have had the notion that what London said the Colonies followed. Well, times had changed. <
>Read this book if you want a lesson on a silly plotline.

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Just an observation
Ok, So I read this book over 20 years ago and hardly remember the plot, though I did enjoy it ahd every other Dirk Pitt novel, and I have read them all. But that isn't what I want to talk about. I picked this particular book to voice this opinion on because of another review I read here, take a glance at the other reviews and you will know which one I mean. <
>I am writing this to make a simple request to would be reviewers. If you have read only one book in a long standing series like this please read more of these books (particularly the early ones) so you can make informed remarks and not bore the rest of us with your ignorance. Some little comment made by the protagonist in the 42nd book in a series might leave you scratching your head when in fact everyone else in the world is going "Wow! so thats why Doc shot Jane back in <the 38th book>" <
>Bottom line, we need coherent opinions here, not the soapbox shouting of self appointed pundits who are obviously clueless. <
>And if anyone else out there feels like comparing Dirk Pitt to Gonad the Bavarian, go back to your tinkertoys.