Corsair – An Oregon Files Story
by Clive Cussler and Jack DuBrul
Author’s website
Another in the Oregon Files series, right out of the same mold that seems pretty successful for Cussler and DuBrul. While I like the characters, I’ve got to say I’m getting tired of the interjection of the authors’ politics into the characters. There’s no good reason I should object to this – it’s part of the character they’re creating. However, I do find it very objectionable.
I suppose it has to do mostly with the fact that the political bent that is represented is very different than the one my mind creates for the characters, and that creates dissonance for me as a reader. Just goes to demonstrate how much we invest of ourselves into the characters we create in our minds with the help of authors.
Here’s the author’s (or publicist’s) description of the book:
“When the U.S. secretary of state’s plane crashes while bringing her to a summit meeting in Libya, the CIA, distrusting the Libyans, hire Juan Cabrillo to search for her, and their misgivings are well founded. The crew locates the plane, but the secretary of state has vanished. It turns out Libya’s new foreign minister has other plans for the conference, plans that Cabrillo cannot let happen. But what does it all have to do with a two- hundred- year-old naval battle and the centuries-old Islamic scrolls that the Libyans seem so determined to find? The answers will lead him full circle into history, and into another pitched battle on the sea, this time against Islamic terrorists, and with the fate of nations resting on its outcome.”
I see I have one more of this series to read (actually listen to as it’s on my iPod). I’m guessing this next one will be the last of them I’ll read, just because of this dissonance between what I want the characters to be and what the author turns them into.
All that said, it’s an adventure story, and it’s written as a good and enjoyable adventure story. As Cussler books go, I prefer the Isaac Bell series, followed by the NUMA series. This one probably ranks pretty low in my ranking of his series.
