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Atlantis Found (Dirk Pitt) | 
 enlarge | Author: Clive Cussler
Creator: Michael Prichard
Publisher: Putnam Berkley Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy Used: $2.95
You Save: $47.00 (94%)
Used (13) from $2.95
Rating:  359 reviews
Sales Rank: 1057270
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 12
Pages: 22
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.1 x 2.7
ISBN: 0399146083
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399146084
ASIN: 0399146083
Publication Date: December 6, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Dirk Pitt, indestructible hero of 14 previous Clive Cussler novels and special-projects director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (which is something like the CIA of the ocean depths), makes James Bond look like a tuxedoed, martini-swilling poseur. Pitt has raised the Titanic, escaped massive volcanic eruptions, ducked nuclear explosions, foiled criminal plans for world domination, saved everyone on earth from germ warfare, and mastered the ins and outs of various electronic gizmos and futuristic vehicles while evading every imaginable form of almost certain death. (Of course, he's also wildly successful with brilliant, beautiful women, but in an admirably circumspect, sensitive-guy way.) It stands to reason Pitt's the right man to handle a crisis of millennial proportions. When mysterious black obsidian skulls and other artifacts of an exceedingly ancient culture begin to turn up in odd places, Pitt jumps in with both feet. It soon becomes dangerously apparent that a powerful, amoral group of fanatics calling itself the Fourth Empire wants the strange discoveries to remain underground. Pitt teams up with a beautiful red-haired expert in ancient languages to decipher the meaning of the artifacts. They were made 10 millennia ago in a then-temperate Antarctica by a seafaring civilization advanced enough to predict its own destruction by a comet impact. Now the Fourth Empire (whose literal and figurative progenitor comes as no surprise) is predicting a similar disaster in only a matter of months, and preparing to take control of the earth. Cussler's known for hands-on research--his hobbies are the backbone of Pitt's adventures: flying, climbing, diving, racing. The scientific and historical riffs that fill in the background of Atlantis Found are the weakest parts of the book--they're Pitt-less, and they give every discovery in the book away early. But what the heck--Cussler's not the king of suspense, he's the emperor of nonstop action. Atlantis Found bounces along on a good-humored techno-joyride, and for Cussler's legion of fans, that will be more than enough. --Barrie Trinkle
Product Description
Dirk Pitt discovers Atlantis, in a breathtaking novel from the grand master of adventure fiction.
Unabridged 22 hours on 14 cassettes
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| Customer Reviews: Read 354 more reviews...
 Atlantis? Better Left Unfound! September 23, 2008
This is the first book I've read by Clive Cussler and I doubt I will read another. The writing is amateurish at best, the dialog is poorly written, and many of the situations in the plot are ludicrous. Much of the plot reads like a teenage boy's daydream during a boring algebra class, an issue that is exacerbated by Cussler's tendency to write himself into the story in a variety of ways.
The science background that is supplied to support the storyline is full of serious errors and inconsistencies. This I could forgive if the book provided a 'rippling good yarn', but the overall story is pretty lame and highly derivative. By the end I was surprised that the Nazi bad guys weren't also zombies.
One of the biggest problems with this book is that it is just PACKED with inconsistencies and ludicrous statements/situations. Examples of this can be found on almost any randomly selected page of the book, but here are a few samples: (1) At one point in the book a group of special forces soldiers find themselves helpless to deal with an armored snowcat that they don't have enough firepower to damage. The author's solution is to have the hero take out the snowcat by throwing a perforated gas can into the snowcat through its open windows! Apparently the special forces people too dense to shoot through the windows of a snowcat, the nazis are too dense to roll up their windows, and the author is too dense to recognize how ludicrous the whole thing is. (2) Shortly after the snowcat episode, these same special forces are exposed to a suspicious light mist that begins to envelope them. The leader of the soldiers takes a big sniff of the mist and announces it is not poisonous; part of his training is to recognize toxic gas. Yes, I am sure that soldiers are routinely exposed to toxic gases so they can recognize them and that their training tells that to take a big snort of any suspicious gas to identify it! (By the way, there are plenty of toxic gases that have no odor whatsoever, so not only is this approach an incredibly dangerous one, but this is also a approach that can't be counted on to work!)
All-in-all, I'd have been far happier to have left Atlantis Lost.
If you like comic books without the pictures, you might enjoy this book. August 12, 2008
A friend had recommended Clive Cussler to me. I like to read popular authors and see why the reading public finds their novels so interesting. I picked up "Atlantis Found" to read on a long flight abroad. I assumed that his writing was like Ludlum, Grisham or Follett. I call this genre "airplane books", nothing too heavy, just an interesting plot that keeps my attention during the flight.
From the beginning, I was amazed how utterly ridiculous this story was. I realize this is fiction; but I felt like I was reading a "comic book" staring a very flimsy superhero called Dirk Pitt. The story is populated with Nazi clones and ancient sophisticated civilizations that had traveled all over the globe leaving etchings predicting Armaqgeddon.
Although, I was ready to put this book down soon after starting, I gave all those individuals who highly rated this book a chance-I was also on a long flight- and trudged on. It only became more implausible and painful. The incredibly successful and sophisticated Nazis that are introduced half way through the story had "secretly" built a number of giant ships to serve as "arks" for a select few thousand to populate the earth after the soon to be created "man-made" flood inundated the planet-those diabolical devils. Despite the Nazi clones-from Hitler's DNA no less- sophisticated weapons, security, and man-power our boy Dirk and his wise cracking side-kick Giordino save the day.
By the way ,what is the deal with naming and describing all the vehicles and apparatus that Dirk uses? Like descibing the Bell-Boeing 609, or the 36' Ford Cabriolet or the U.S Diver's Aquarius air regulator and Mark II face mask. Is this some type of product placement or is it supposed to make the story more plausible. I hope that it is product placement because it only makes the story seem more ridiculous.
There are many great fiction writers available in this genre. Save your self the time and money and pass on this book by Clive Cussler. If you want a comic to read pick up something from Marvel.
 Intriguing premise ruined by amateurish writing August 6, 2008
A Dirk Pitt novel. Intriguing premise ruined by amateurish writing. Barely comic book level plotting, dialogue, grammer, and story telling.
For example, compare the level of writing to a much better entry in the action-adventure genre such as A Skeleton In God's Closet.
Zzzzzzz Oh sorry, was I writing a review? August 1, 2008
I am about half way through this book and I just can't finish it. Its not usual I do that but it is just sucking my will to live.
The dialogue is a joke. I can't stand the main character. I'm mostly just hoping that between dodging 'killers' and bombs, he gets wacked in the process.
It seems every paragraph is just filled with the make and model of every piece of gear he has on. Do I care that he looked down at his x3-500 Supermega watch with intel microprogramming digitalizers? No. And no one else does either.
Sorry but I just dont think I can finish it.
 Another great book from Cussler June 29, 2008
I think for me, one of the allures of the Dirk Pitt series is the nomadic nature of the characters. We start in this book in Colorado and end up someplace quite cold. In between we visit a board room or two and an airplane hangar except there are no planes here. There is a core group that does um research for NUMA. Inevitably Dirk is right in the middle of whatever is going down. Sharp, experience-honed instincts has kept him alive on countless occasions. The group may split up and have two story lines followed until they collide again. The mystery is intriguing and trying to figure it out is half the fun. There is no graphic sex for the sake of it...although Dirk is one lucky son-of-a-gun. The various locales make this another great read from Cussler. One of the most anxious moments is a boat race including small and not-so-small arms fire. Dirk distracts you with one scene only to bring in an element long forgotten from another scene that saves the day...I hope that didn't ruin the ending, but let's face it, if you've looked around, DDD(Dirk Doesn't Die).
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