So I have a friend who is getting a major surgery done over the winter break. I want to give her one of my Pitt novels to read but I can't decide which one would be the best for her first. My first was Vixen 03, which was perfect because at the time I was obsessed with battleships and had just taken a tour of the Missouri, the sister ship of the Iowa that Fawkes takes up the potomac. Which book do you all think would be the best for her?

I would recommend Shockwave! It has it all. Adventure, love, romance!!!!

I would start from the first...but that's just me. They are all wonderful books!

Absolutely. If you drop Shockwave on her, she's going to wonder why Pitt's romance with Maeve is such a big deal. Summer Moran's appearance in Pacific Vortex is a pivotal event in Pitt's life, therefore it must be the first story read.

After that, I don't think chronology is quite as important.

Personally, I recommend the Mediterranean Caper because it is more reflective of Clive's writing style for the series as a whole. Pacific Vortex is a pretty quick read, though, and would also be a good book to start with.

Cyclops, Sahara, and Inca Gold have always been my favorites.

Let's really,really confuse her and start her with Valhalla Rising yike:

Be nice Rob, Inca Gold is a good start . Pacific Vortex is a good start, but if your in a hospital, you may as well bring in a big story.:lol:

For a girl, Shockwave is the way to go for an introduction to Dirk Pitt. It was the first Cussler book I read and had me hooked right away. While Pacific Vortex is good in its own right, I'm not sure that I would have been as zealous to read the rest of the books if I hadn't started with Shockwave. Not knowing about the other lost love in in Pitt's life sparks the curiousity that makes you want to read the rest to find out what happened and more about Pitt and Giordino's adventures, lol that's how it was for me anyways.

Raise the Titanic its Classic cussler at its best

Treasure has a bit of everything and if that still doesn't get your interest then Raise the Titanic, and if failing that then Night Probe. p:

one question I might wanna consider is...

are you trying to get her hooked on Dirk Pitt Adventures ? or just let have her something fun to read to keep her busy while in hospital ?

Shockwave is a good choice to entertain her, but so is Sahara, Cyclops and Nightprobe. They others a typical Dirk Pitt adventure (IMHO).

These above books should be a real treat, even if it doesnt gether hooked in DP. They still should be very good entertainment value.

Your original choice of Vixen 03 is a good idea, full of action and drama, though you might also consider Sahara for it's mainstream tie-in.

Then again, they're all great novels, so there's certainly no 'wrong' answer.

Thanks for the help. Thats a lot of differing oppinions :P

Pick any Cussler book and you can't miss. :lol:

Here's my 2 cents about why I recommended Shockwave over Pacific Vortex.

For one thing, as we all knew early on, Summer was just a girl Pitt found very attractive and wanted. We never knew that "anything happened" between them until Pitts kids showed up later.
Also, for me in the earlier books, Pitt is missing alot of endearing qualities that a lady might look for in a man. He's too rough.

In Shockwave he becomes more vulnerable and not so blunt? Gruff? Not sure of the word I want.

Well, there you have my point of view.

I agree Courtney. While I love Dirk Pitt, I was a bit upset at how he backhanded the love interest in Med Caper. Only for how it was done and what he said. I agree that she needed a good slapping, but it was a bit harsh. I was on the edge of putting it down. I'm glad I've continued to read though. Iceberg and Raise the Titanic are great starts though.

I would go with a later Dirk Pitt Book because the characters are more developed. I have to admit that after reading Inca Gold and Shockwave first, Med Caper was a little hard to get into. Thats my opinion.
~I wish your friend a successfull surgery and a quick recovery :)

That's probably the best argument I've heard for starting toward the beginning. That way you can watch the characters grow and develop and all of the books will be good instead of not enjoying the earlier ones when you go back. :unsure:

Thanks :)

Yeah, i see what you mean oswalder th: . I guess it just depends on if blackjacks friend even wants to persue the books. If she does then she should DEFINITLEY start from the beginning. I don't know, im just happy that I started reading a little later in the books when the hilarious behaviour of Dirk and Al was expressed more often in the writing...which was the main reason I became instantly drawn to them. So whatever...hehe :lol: . The question of topic has so many appropriate answers that this could go on forever. I just hope we aren't confussing blackjack too much. :P

No need to worry about that, i've read every Pitt book twice in the past year (read them all in a month when I had pneumonia). So I know exactly what you are talking about. I just can't pick a single one as the best one to start with. But obviously there is no consensus either.

One way to pick one might be to look at the female leads and see if any of them remind you of her. She might connect more with the book that way (if she sees it too), and if it reminds you of her it adds even more to the thought behind the book.

In that case, I wouldn't pick Med Caper because you don't want her to get any wrong ideas about you wanting to smack her silly. :P

HAHA!!! :lol:

Thats a good point, now where can I find a website that chronicles Dirk's flings because they all kind of blend together for me, throw in Kurt Austin's and Philip Mercer's and i'm completely lost.

You might try out Helene Noelle's World of Dirk Pitt. She has everything you need to know about Dirk Pitt's timeline......... and love-line :P

In case you're not familiar with Helene's extensive collection of DP trivia in her World of Dirk Pitt site...

Here is the link to her section of the forum:

http://s4.invisionfree.com/CLIVE_CUSSLER/i...hp?showforum=19

Here is the link to her website:

http://www.geocities.com/hn4dpitt/

And here is the link to the section of her website that you are looking for:

http://www.geocities.com/hn4dpitt/relations.htm

You can learn about many of Dirk's "acquaintences" there. :) det:

Good luck!

I started with Mediterranean Caper and I almost finished with it too.I know it was early and Cussler was just getting started and a lot of things about Pitt's character irked me. Happily, I tend to give authors more than one chance to impress me and I read one of the later books, and that hooked me. :) I'm not sure I would start with Pacific Vortex, Meditrenean Caper, or Iceberg, at least not if you're tring to get her hooked. Most of his books don't need to be read in order because if other adventures are mentioned at all, they are just briefly brought up and dropped. I would start with something later (although they're all great :P).