Review by Booklist Review
The latest Oregon Files adventure opens with Juan Cabrillo breaking into a Russian supermax prison to free a friend, the man who had helped outfit Cabrillo's ship, the Oregon, with its high-tech hardware. Shot during the escape, the man soon dies but not before uttering his cryptic last words, about an eerie boat, the Aral Sea, and a name: Tesla. Cabrillo soon one might say almost too slickly soon finds the boat, a pleasure craft built in Pennsylvania for George Westinghouse, who had been a big booster of inventor Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC) electrical system in the late nineteenth century. That pleasure boat vanished at sea in 1902. But what did a mysterious blue cloud have to do with the disappearance, and how did the boat turn up in the Aral Sea, 10,000 miles from where it vanished? And what does any of this have to do with a modern-day superweapon that could change the face of the world forever? The Oregon Files stories don't represent Cussler's finest work, but fans can depend on them to deliver action and adventure, if not full-bodied characters.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this rousing ninth Oregon Files adventure (after 2011's The Jungle) from bestseller Cussler and Du Brul, series hero Juan Cabrillo's attempt to rescue old pal Yuri Borodin from a super-max Siberian prison goes bad. Yuri dies after uttering "Tesla," a reference to Nikola Tesla, the mysterious Serb who invented alternating-current electricity and who is alleged to have developed a number of secret weapons, including a death ray, an earthquake machine, and an invisibility field. Russian fleet admiral Pytor Kenin, "perhaps the second-most corrupt man on the planet," has formed a private army and is using Tesla's secret technology for nefarious purposes. A subplot involves an effort to secure a legendary shipping container with a billion dollars leftover from the second invasion of Iraq, but soon everyone is back to the main mission-trying to thwart Kenin. The conclusion is the usual Cussler nail-biter, though no one ever really expects Juan and his crew to come in second-best. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Juan Cabrillo and his crew are trying to locate and destroy an invisible ship capable of releasing an enormous magnetic field that can destroy any vessel on the sea or in the air. Rumors link the ship to inventor Nikola Tesla, who was working with the navy when he died in 1943. Was he responsible for the experiment? Scott Brick does an excellent job of reading Cussler's follow-up to The Jungle. Brick captures the excitement and suspense of Cabrillo's narrow escapes, the various foreign accents of the characters, and the repartee and camaraderie of the Oregon's crew. Verdict Highly recommended for all Cussler and action adventure fans.-Ilka Gordon, Aaron Garber Lib., Cleveland (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Cussler and Du Brul (The Jungle, 2011, etc.) draw another adventure from The Oregon Files. The book opens with a James Bond action sequence. Disguised as a mobster, Juan Cabrillo infiltrates a Siberian prison intending to engineer Adm. Yuri Borodin's escape, courtesy of C-4 secreted in an artificial leg. Bang! Next comes a high-tension rope ride from a remotely piloted chopper to a souped-up snowmobile. It's a $25 million payoff, but Borodin ends up dead. The admiral's last words--"Aral....Eerie boat....Tesla"--send Cabrillo down a dangerous trail. Borodin was imprisoned by a corrupt Russian admiral, Pytor Kenin, and apparently, Kenin's up to no good in Uzbekistan. Cabrillo's chairman of the Corporation, the go-anywhere, get-it-done CIA-style group on call when things go off kilter. The Corporation's headquarters is the Oregon, a seemingly derelict freighter secretly equipped with everything from military-grade weapons and electronics to magnetohydrodynmic engines and an English butler. With shootouts, knife fights and supertech spying, Cabrillo and company battle from the Aral Sea to the U.S., there discovering a wreck that was George Westinghouse's yacht. It disappeared more than a century ago while participating in an experiment carried out by Westinghouse's friend, the eccentric genius Nikola Tesla. With a detour to rescue a billion dollars of purloined Iraqi aid money being smuggled to Indonesia--a book-worthy story itself--the slam-bang action sails along, pausing occasionally to introduce characters forgettable--technogeek or ex-military Oregon crew members--and memorable--L'Enfant; the horribly burn-scarred criminal Mr. Fixit. Cabrillo and company confront assassins, torpedo duels and undersea rescues, decipher Tesla's invention of an optical cloaking device and then battle the Serb genius' weaponized technology. That means destroying the Tesla-based device-equipped stealth ship tasked to sink an U.S. aircraft carrier en route to prevent Chinese-Japanese hostilities over islands sitting atop an oil patch. Above-average action from Cussler.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
