Black Wind

By: Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

In the waning days of World War II, the Japanese tried a last desperate measure, a different kind of kamikaze mission, this one carried out by two submarines bound for the west coast of the United States, their cargo a revolutionary new strain of deadly virus.

Neither sub made it to the designated target.

But that does not mean they were lost.

Someone knows about the subs and what they carried, knows too where they might be, and has an extraordinary plan in store for the prize inside, a plan that could reshape the world as we know it. All that stands in the way are three people: a marine biologist named Summer, a marine engineer named Dirk, and their father, Dirk Pitt, the new head of NUMA.

Pitt has faced devastating enemies before, has even teamed up with his children to track them down and end their menace, but never has he looked upon the face of pure evil...until now.

©2004 Sandecker, RLLLP (P)2004 Penguin Audio and Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thriller fans will revel in this action-packed yarn of land- and sea-based derring-do stuffed with technical details." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Brick's slick performance does justice not only to the plot, but also to the assortment of foreign characters whose accents ring true. His voluble reading makes the hours of listening fly by." ( AudioFile)

Black Wind Clive and Dirk Cussler

Love these characters and love how the author now gives himself a helping role in the stories. Excellent writing

Another Adventure

Dirk and company do not disappoint in this espoinage adventure. Humor, intrigue, terror, and twists.

Got to love the adventure

I have read most of Clive Cussler's books. My favorite ones are the Dirk Pitt series. Although they can be stand alone books, reading from the beginning you can follow his changes, which is cool. The adventrues they get into are action packed from begining to end and really fun to listen too. I love the reader who brings it all to life. Clive also always finds away to insert himsolf in the action. Black Wind is no different, great villians and wonderful heros, it was a really fun read. .

Humor got old, good story

It was a good story, but it seemed like the hero always narrowly escaped every situation that was thrown at him. Pretty unbelievable. The tongue and cheek remarks between the characters got old after about three hours in the book. Toward the end I really got tired of the humor, the author was trying to relay. I would’ve preferred less humor and a more serious look at the storyline.

Action packed

From the very beginning this book was non-stop action. Great story lines and as a Dirk Pitt novel this series continues to build on the characters and makes them more whole. Scott Brick is a great narrator. I look for books that he narrates. And it helps that he has done books in the spy/thriller genres.

My first SIX star book well deserved!!!

I loved the multiple plots and endings. I have been reading (listening) to Cussler’s novels for more than 13 years. Loved them all but “Black Wind” topped them all. Keep up the great work Clive! You are tops.

Ya Gotta Love Him

Clive Cussler fans will enjoy this book as well or better than Clive's previous Pitt novels. I know I did.
However, in 'Black Wind' Cussler has resorted to an approach to writing that is becoming more and more common with our leading novelists; teaming (and identifying) with another author in writing their later books. As I recall, Tom Clancy was one the first to do so in recent times.
While apparently an attractive approach for the author, I am not sure that these collaborations give fair value to their readers. In other words, I find that most of these products are inferior to the author's earlier output.
At best, I suppose, the addition of a complementary collaborator can add demonstrable qualitative value to a work. Unfortunately, I haven't come across an instance where that is true. A second reason for teaming up is to add some 'weight' to the book. I find that this is the most prevalent exemplar.
Please don't get me wrong; I don't believe this approach is, ipso facto, inferior -- I don?t. ?Black Wind' seems to fall into this category and I found it to be a good read.
What this format does is make the book's 'style' different. After ingesting a ton of Cussler books (as I have), one comes to expect a distinctive m?tier; an inherent structure, vocabulary, flow, sentence and paragraph construction, etc., etc.
What I noticed was considerably more content to long descriptive passages (occasionally pages in length) that talk ABOUT stuff. Whereas Cussler has always provided us with ACTION, it is a bit off-putting to be confronted with whole sections of the book where NOTHING HAPPENS, interspersed with the kind of familar action passages we have come to expect and love.
Bottom line? It's still a good read with the partnership taking little away from the overall quality of 'Black Wind.'

Another Great One from Mr. Cussler

As is always the case Mr. Cussler does a fantastic job in this book and the narration is again done by one of my all time favorites Scott Brick. The story line is unique and Mr. Cusslers camieo was very much fun to listen too, you won't be disappointed with this story and if you're a Cussler fan all I can say is "enjoy"!

Although possible, the idea was a bit spooky

I love Cussler so this was just another good book. Chemical warfare is probably in our future so this one really made me think that the way we go may not be pleasant.

Intrigue

I have read a lot of the Clive Cussler, Dirk series and listen to a few, and I feel that he’s a good author because he incorporates true life into his fictional stories. Great, read and listen.