I have long been a great fan of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt - but this new book is not a Dirk Pitt novel - its a Dirk Pitt Jnr novel and should clearly noted on the book.
Dirk and Al make cameo appearances only - come on Clive - dont sell this book on false pretenses to your loyal fans - It clearly is not written by you -
Sorry to be so blunt but I feel I have been had.

Peter McLoughlin

First of all, welcome to the board, Peter! w:

While Black Wind may not be a "Dirk Pitt novel" in the truest sense of the term, Al and Dirk Sr. play no small part in the story, especially in the resolution. And while the main focus of the novel was the junior Pitt, it's up to Papa to once again save the day.
On a related note, I'm curious as to wheter new books written solely by Dirk Cussler will be "Dirk Pitt Adventures" or "Dirk Pitt, Jr." adventures. Either way, I look forward to them.

Welcome pjm,

While its true that DP jr. is the predominant character in Black Wind, the book is still part of the Dirk Pitt ® series of books.

Clive Cussler has all but retired from writing but his name will continue to be a feature of the Numa Files series, the Oregon Files series and now Dirk Cussler's books.

Basically, Clive Cussler is now a franchise. We'd all love to see Clive continue on, but he as well as Dirk Pitt are not getting any younger. ;)

Cheers ... Tony

It occurs to me that, ten years down the road, the distinction may be irrelevant. Just as each James Bond film actor, although playing the same character, presents a slightly different version thereof, and usually in different setting, Clive and Dirk are trying to keep their perennial hero young enough for deeds of derring-do by any means necessary.
Or consider what has been done with Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in the recent film "The Sum of All Fears." In order to keep the character young and relevant, he is reinvented as an unmarried, mid-level CIA analyst, instead of the National Security Advisor.
Readers are more discriminating than movie-goers. Generally speaking, we won't accept these radical non-linear forms of storytelling. Yet at the same time, we don't want to give up on our hero. So, the "son of Pitt" plot device becomes a very worthwhile one.
Now I have recently discovered that Clive Cussler (and his brood) are being discovered afresh every day. There are people out there who have been heard to say: "Somebody gave me a copy of (insert title) here, and I loved it. I can't wait to go back and read the others." Pretty soon, that "first Pitt book" will be a Pitt jr. book. And when they go back and read the others, possibly out of sequence, they won't even pay attention to all the niggling details, chief among them, whether it's Dirk sr. or jr. From what I can tell, Indiana Pitt is going to be a chip off the old block, and his adventures will be almost indistingishable from dads.
I for one, don't want to see "A Dirk Pitt jr. Novel" on the cover because that's just plain silly.

;) I just finished Black Wind and thought it was great. I'm ready for more.

Hi, I'm a new Dirk Pitt fan around here. I actually live in Korea and I'm hoping to see how this newest book and its evil Korean villain measures up, once I can actually buy the book here at some semblance of a reasonable price. I've heard that there was another Clive Cussler book that features an evil Korean, possibly a freighter captain and possibly a woman :D, and for the life of me I don't know what it is.

Welcome shaw w:

I beleive the book you are reffering to is Deep Six.Lee Tong and Min Koryo Bougainville were two of the greatest villians Clive has ever produced.

OK enough is enough , Mr cussler it is Obvious that you are turning the golden egg over to your son dirk , and what a sham you are pulling over your loyal readers eyes ,
You should have had the self respect to kill off Dirk Pitt and al in a great save the world , save the USA ending to the line , perhaps dirk should have died in his Me-262 after chasing down a transport plane full of anthrax or something of the sort ,
But you and your son have now seen fit to place the legend in a rocking chair out on the front porch of the numa building battling parkinsons ,
I think the legend of Dirk pitt deserves better , you still have a chance to preserve the honer of the greatist action series i have ever read , and will continue to read .

I Suggest you Start on the greatist ending for the greatist action hero the the world has ever seen , Make it good , Make us proud .

DIRK PITT whould have wanted it that way.

Okay fatherland,
In a way your right. It would almost be better to see Dirk Pitt go out in a bang rather than a whimper. But after reading Black Wind, I cant say that Dirk Pitt doesn't have it still. No, I think Dirk and Al still have some long years ahead of them. And maybe one day when the world is in Peril and Dirk and Al are 70-ish, maybe then after a long life and some more derring do they will go out with a bang. In all reality it would probably be quite difficult to kill off Dirk. Look at what happened when Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock Holmes, his fans were up in arms and he was forced to bring him back to life.

In a way, I do agree with you Fatherland. However, that would mean no more Dirk Pitt, and I don't think I can handle that quite yet. Plus, he's survived so much and so many perilous experiences that the event that actually does kill him would have to be so outrageous that it borders on the unbelievable or else it would kinda be anticlimatic leaving us saying "oh, that's what finally killed him? He survived worse than that back in _____."

Kill Off Dirk and Al???? There is still so much for them to do. Dirk Jr. and Summer still have so much to learn from them. It would be so easy for Clive to put an end to them. It's harder to keep them alive and still funucting for the good of Numa and the water ways of our world. Give him a break Fatherland. There's plenty of time for them to go out with a big BANG! Enjoy them while you can. th: snor:

Don't kill Dirk and Al off. They are the best combination since batman and robin! ( probably better lol). They still have so much to offer us, the readers. How could they die anyway they've survived everything!? Black wind was a good book anyway no need to bring it down because of the son writing it. Would you rather the series of books ended or continued on being the best book series around?

Exactly th:

OK I know I'm new and only posted in a few other places but I do have an opinion on this new book.

I bought it the week it came out. Read the book jacket before I bought it and deduced from the book jacket this book was not going to be focused on Dirk Sr. Also putting that together with the tone of the last book and ending.If you read into the last two books this book was no surprise.

We all have to pass the torch even our book heros.

Dirk Jr. has alot to learn I will admit, but think back to the first Pitt novels, Dirk wasn't as slick then as he is now. He had to leard too. I commend Dr. Cussler for allowing his characters to grow like we all do in real life. I like to believe that is one of the reasons we all keep reading them. Dirk isn't just a indistructable hero, he's writen to be human with human flaws and a human time table. Don't you think it would get awfully boring Dirk alway being the same age, never evolving, never learning from his mistakes and growing in wisdom. I think I would have stoped reading a long time ago.

Dr. Cussler writes intelligent books for an intelligent reader something I have to praise in the action/adventure genre.

The one and only complaint I have about the book is that I was hoping that Summer would step up and take a bigger role. I guess being a woman myself I wanted to se Summer with more spark. She was religated to the "back seat" for some of the more action packed sequences I guess I would have liked to see her show some of her "Daddy's" go get'm attitude.

But all in all I thought it was a good book. Dirk Cussler still has some things to learn under his fathers wing just like Dirk Jr. does.

I like to think of it as they are learning to carry on the family name together.

This is THE Reason I enjoy reading Clive Cussler!!!!

When did Pitt have a kid?

The last PITT© book I read was Atlantis Found. I read Lost City and I found that highly enjoyable, it is the same Cussler formula and I love the way he weaves science fiction in with actual science fact. It is hard to tell what is the fact and what is the fiction.

Since my local bookstore closed, I have to find my Dirk Pitt© novels at the salvation army or other places nearby where I can find used books - I got Flood Tine and Atlantis Found that way. I bought Lost City "new" (as a paperback in a bookstore that sold new books)

Do not even answer: This gives me incentive to go out and get the Oregon, NUMA and Pitt books that have been published in the last few years.

Looks like Cussler Jr is entering the fray. That's swell.

Dirk Pitt should go on, I was only recently introduced to the character (Or rather Re-Introduced: I became re-interested after watching Sahara and knowing they changed the story massively).

I Want more Pitt! More Austin! More Oregon, but that ship got scuttled in Flood Tide.

This is pretty cool to see so much passion about a fictional character!

I do agree that it is harder to keep him alive than to heroiclly kill him off.

I for one prefer him never to grow old...but thats me.

That disgusting worm who destroyed all of my illegal immigrant smuggling operations had a son? He would not have, if my agents had been successful in terminating him in the Flood Tide incident. But he killed me instead, so all I can do is watch!

(I have to stop pretending to be Qin Shang now)

Sounds like Clive has had a bundle of garbage dump on him last couple of years. Hollywood is trying to smear him because he stood up and tried to resist when his book Sahara was approriated into a Hollywood "Property" and was changed it into something very Un-Cussler.

I hope things look up for him, I hope he wins that court case. I have heard several things, like he was too ill to continue or something. I hope not... I hope he is able to go out and find a few more sunken boats!

I am unfamiliar with Dirk C's writing style - I am glad to hear that he is picking up his pop's pen. Other great writers have had their children pick up the tradition... It is a fine tradition, like Sea Captains. May "Dirk Jr" be as successful as Dirk Sr.

I dont even see why its and issue. As many of you are now familiar with Jack DuBrul's books since he is now collaborating with Dr. C, I should point out his character Harry. Harry is 80-something years old and plays a large role in all the books. As the series continues I could see Dirk/Al taking on a role like that. A major roll, but one that is not realistic for their age. Then you can always have the Lethal Weapon-esqe "We are too old for this $h!t"

It would be cool if Dirk Pitt sr. would be like James Bond. He never gets old! But now that is impossible because Dirk jr. has shown up into the books.
I hope that when Clive Cussler retires, so will Dirk Pitt. Well, off course I want to see and read about Dirk sr. still many years and he could play roles in new books, but Dirk Pitt is Clive`s figure and Dirk Pitt jr. is Dirk`s figure. I would hate to read a Dirk Pitt novel that really isn`t a Dirk Pitt novel... <_<

Black Wind:

I hope I can say this without anyone taking offence, but I can't believe what I am reading. I have Black Wind on my bookshelf but I have not yet had the pleasure of reading it. I am in the middle of Sahara and greatly enjoying it.
I have to say that some of the comments are just brutal. I starting reading Cussler novels for the story-the action-the unstoppable perseverance of the heros.
Some stories are better that others--that goes with any author. But whether the main action is with Dirk, or Dirk Jr--enjoy the book for its entertainment.
Our own world has enough problems in reality--is it neccessary to trash the heros of the world that we escape to in the books we read.
Life goes on-and so must the lives of our heros. I find it interesting how Clive and Dirk keep the torch burning bright through the introduction of new characters and situations.
Take for example-the recent remakes of Zorro with Antonio Banderas. The old Zorro was too old to just from buildings onto his horse and save the day. So he found someone else to train and take up the sword. And in the sequel , it ends with the thought that Zorro's son would do the same.
Maybe that is a weak example , but my point is --I don't think Dirk and Al should be killed off- and their hand should remain in the action--but if they need to pass off some of the action to continue saving the world. So be it. I am confident that Clive C and Dirk C will do a bang up job with the story either way and we should be confident in reading anything that has there name on it.

David b:

The exciting part of Dirk Cussler is that we get to experience his maturity.

We have seen Clive mature and yet some are against the thought of this legacy being passed on.

It could be worse....NOBODY to take the baton!

I love the fact that Dirk is enthused about the franchise and is going to entertain us like his father.

Let's sit back in front of the fire with a nice drink and read our favorite families stories. t:

I have enjoyed reading Black Wind I am rereading it now I am happy that Dirk Cussler has pick up the writing with his Dad Clive

Dirk Cussler is awesome. I am so excited to see his work as he continues the Dirk Pitt series.