The Navigator (NUMA Files)

Clive Cussler was born in 1931 and grew up in Alhambra, California. He attended Pasadena City College before joining the Air Force. He went on to a successful advertising career, winning many national honours for his copywriting. He has also explored the deserts of the American Southwest in search of lost gold mines, dived in isolated lakes in the Rocky Mountains looking for lost aircraft and hunted under the sea for shipwrecks of historic significance, discovering and identifying more than sixty. He is married with three children, and divides his time between Colorado and Arizona. His credentials as a best selling author cannot be doubted and he has a large `stable' of best selling adventure novels.

I found this to be a much better book than the Lost City, the last book I read of Clive Cussler's. This one is full of the usual adventure and mayhem that are a feature of the author's books.

Many years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the museum in Baghdad. There are men throughout the world who would do anything to get their hands on the priceless object and that includes murder. Their first victim is a shady antiques dealer who is murdered in cold blood. Their second attempt almost sees the demise of a UN investigator who, if not for the timely intervention of Austin and Zavala would now be experiencing a watery grave.

Why is there so much interest in a statue lost to mankind so many years ago? The search for the answer will take the NUMA team on an astonishing adventure through time and space. An adventure that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, plus a mysterious package of documents personally encoded by US President, Thomas Jefferson and a secret scientific programme that could change the world . . .

Plenty of Action Built Around Locating Ancient Objects (5/6 people found this helpful)

The Navigator is a beach read . . . and a pretty entertaining one. Mix in a little history, add a few Biblical references, season with a maniac villain, fold in a little sexual byplay, and tilt the odds in unexpected ways and you've got The Navigator.

The ancient Phoenicians had a valuable secret that they decided to hide away, far from where anyone would find it. Later, Thomas Jefferson caught a whiff of the secret and decided to track it down. Both the Phoenicians and Jefferson left behind coded clues.

Into this labyrinth enter Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala of NUMA when they encounter a high seas hijacking aimed at stealing a statue called the Navigator that had earlier been taken from the Baghdad museum during American invasion in 2003. In the process of foiling the theft (and other, more major, harms), Austin makes the acquaintance of the bewitching Carina Mechadi, an Italian expert in recovering stolen art works.

At the same time, an assistant librarian in the archives for the American Philosophical Society, finds misfiled some papers that seem to have been written by Thomas Jefferson. Before long, others are riveted by this find.

Austin and Mechadi take on the challenge of tracking down the Navigator after it is stolen again. At the same time, they sense the deeper riddle involving the Phoenicians and work on that puzzle as well.

Before the book's end, both will be severely tested and unexpected secrets will be revealed.

The ancient sea-going references make this book unmistakably a Clive Cussler creation. The NUMA technology and experience double that certainty. The presence of Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala convince you this is a Clive Cussler plot. From there, the book has a strong seasoning of tongue-in-cheek as the villain shows his preferences for jousting and ancient religions. I felt at times like this was "The Wild Wild West" meets the 21st century.

Although not as good as the earliest Dirk Pitt books, The Navigator is a book worthy of your time if you are looking for some light action-based reading with an occasional "what if?" thought injected.

As I read the book, I was concerned for some time that it was going to end up with some anti-Christian plot development or message. But the resolution of the story seemed to me to fall within the real of what is possible and still fit in with mainline Christianity. I only mention that point because some fiction these days chooses to plot out stories that are anti-Christian.

Have fun!

The Author is Back on Track with This One (2/4 people found this helpful)

Clive Cussler, Paul Kemprecos

Reader Reviews:

The Author is Back on Track with This One (8/9 people found this helpful)

Plenty of Action Built Around Locating Ancient Objects (5/6 people found this helpful)

The Author is Back on Track with This One (2/4 people found this helpful)

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