Hey guys, I apologize if this hs been discussed before, but I have a little pet peeve with Clive CUssler's Dirk Pitt novels. Granted, I'm not the best authority as I have only read a total of 5 Clive Cussler novels (Mediterranean Caper, Sahara, Atlantis Found, Trojan Odyssey, and Black Wind), but I have noticed this in more than one novel. My problem is that Clive does a wonderful job at introducing a historical artifact or treasure at the beginning of his story and will then not mention the artifact again until the end of the book. The novel that really demonstrated this was Sahara. The whole plot about the Texas was strung along in bits and pieces until its resolved almost obligatory at the very end. I hoped that this wasn't usual of the novels, but then I was reading something (I can't remember what it was... <_< ) that said Clive rarely used the historical artifact/treasure as the main drive of the plot. Now, I don't have any expectations of anything different since I was never under the impression his novels were all about treasure-hunting, but sometimes it just feels like a knock-off James Bond novel. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to diss Clive or his work; I'm hooked. I'm just curious if any one else agrees with me or if any of the other novels I haven't read are different. I'm really anxious to jump into Treasure or Inca Gold as both sound like absolute fun. ;)

- Andy

P.S. A lot of what I'm thinking could come from the fact that I just finished the Mediterranean Caper and it is very reminiscent of early Bond.