Clive Cussler's Hellburner (Oregon Files)

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Mike Maden, one of the Tom Clancy Estate's collection of legacy authors, knows his way around the geopolitical thriller genre. This felt more like a plodding series of events instead of the rip roaring, fast paced adventures of the Oregon Crew. A massive Russian underwater bomb has gone missing and the Oregon must find and stop it before it goes off. They will steal a 100-megaton bomb and explode it underwater in the Bosporus to cause a tsunami that will “drown sixteen million dirty Turks in a flood of their own radioactive bathwater. I thought the series ended with the death of Cussler but discovered it is now being written by Mike Maden.

A Russian doomsday weapon and a huge LNG gas transport ship give the team of the Oregon all they can handle in this fast-paced book. It is not included in promotions available to our main range products, as stated in our terms of service. The primary antagonists are two businessmen named Hakobyan and Katrakis, one Armenian and the other Greek, who have known each other for more than 50 years. While the evildoer Hakobyan will “do business with the Devil himself if it turned a profit,” Cabrillo will never do anything against American interests. A group that sits with its finger on the trigger of a torpedo so deadly it could level entire cities.Juan Cabrillo is now on the same level as Superman - indestructible and the ONLY one that can save the world. I can admit that I'm probably just getting burnt out on the Oregon series having read a lot of them in the last few months, but even so, there really wasn't anything here that hasn't been done better beforehand. Although a good read, I could tell this was not a book written by Cussler and I had to downgrade to 4 stars. Second, Juan is on the verge of being a superhero towards the ending- a little OTT, and third, PLEASE, no romance, don't turn The Oregon into the Love Boat. The narrator, soon established as Elliot Chase, then zooms out to address the reader directly, introducing the players—most importantly movie star Lana Farrar.

Hey, we're on a pier, now we are in the middle of the ocean, nope now we are approaching another country, wait we're in the US, no wait. As the series’ fans know, the Oregon is a 590-foot “rust bucket tramp steamer” on the outside and a technological marvel on the inside.

Though he isn't present in every scene, he conveys each piece of the story leading up to the murder as if he were an omniscient narrator, capable of accessing every character's interior perspective. Spectacular fighting scenes ensue, with ex-SEAL Cabrillo displaying tenacity and skill worthy of the best fictional heroes. I'm not familiar with Maden's work, but he did a fine job keeping the familiar feel of all the unique characters in the Oregon Files. Here we have a crew member blinded in an attack, but I honestly didn't even care because I knew by the end of the book - just like Linda's deafness and Murph's paralysis in earlier books - that they'd be back to normal with no physical or psychological damage. Not sure why the author used "The Dragon" as a reference to hardship and that it is blood-soaked pavement, I guess they have never been to Deal's Gap.

Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker.Example: Murph and Eric have a team now and their team gets thanked, and Eddie has a job other than head of shore ops, Julie is Huxley all the time and talks differently. We learn about Kate’s possibly stalling career and Leo’s plan to apply to acting schools against his mother’s wishes. Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon must track down a criminal dynasty and a nuclear torpedo - before World War III is unleashed . Edge of your seat fast paced action and adventure including a member of the Oregon's crew getting badly injured and possibly not able to come back from that injury! This stand in author for him has gone overboard with details of gun makes and models and mansplaining how things worked.

I'll read the next book because I like the series, but if I hadn't already been invested in Juan and the gang, I wouldn't read any further.From the start it seemed like I was in a Star Trek story, bring on a new character just to kill them off. In addition, you knew that all the corners the hero found himself in, were going to be overcome no matter the odds. I don't think I have ever given a Cussler book 3 stars before but this one is just not traditional Clive. All of our books are 100% brand new, unread and purchased directly from the publishers in bulk allowing us to pass the huge savings on to you!