Cyclops
1986
- cold war
- conspiracies
- dirk pitt (fictitious character)
- fiction
- adventure stories
- fiction, action & adventure
- pitt, dirk (fictitious character), fiction
- crime, fiction
- fiction, suspense
The story
Cyclops is an action-adventure novel by Clive Cussler. This is the 8th book featuring the author’s primary protagonist, Dirk Pitt. A wealthy American financier disappears on a treasure hunt in an antique blimp. From Cuban waters, the blimp drifts toward Florida with a crew of dead men—Soviet cosmonauts. Dirk Pitt discovers a shocking scheme: a covert group of U.S. industrialists has put a colony on the moon, a secret base they will defend at any cost. Threatened in space, the Russians are about to strike a savage blow in Cuba—and only Dirk Pitt can stop them. From a Cuban torture chamber to the cold ocean depths, Pitt is racing to defuse an international conspiracy that threatens to shatter the Earth!
What it’s like
Sun-bleached Caribbean heat gives way to cold, lightless ocean in this 1980s Cold War paperback, all sweaty decks, humming engines and the dull glint of steel. Its prose is brisk and matter-of-fact, with short chapters that cut quickly between Cuban heat, Florida coastline and the deep. Its vibe is pulpy, high-concept and unabashedly larger-than-life, the sort of read that suits a long flight, a sunny afternoon on a lounger or a Friday night when you want to be carried along. Violence is frequent and action-driven: gunfights, a brutal captivity sequence and a few sharp, painful moments, though the gore stays largely off the page. The tone is more adrenaline than dread, with a lone-hero bravado and a steady stream of gadgetry and ocean-engineering detail. It suits readers who enjoy old-school spy-adventure escapism, fans of wide-scope conspiracy plots and anyone who likes their thrillers fast, glossy and a little retro.
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