Piranha

March 23, 2015
Bestseller Cussler scores a direct hit in the 10th Oregon Files novel (after 2013’s Mirage), coauthored with Morrison (The Ark). Juan Cabrillo, the captain of the Oregon, a tramp steamer that hides beneath its patina of rust a state-of-the-art battleship bristling with high-tech surface and undersea weaponry, must contend with mad scientific genius Lawrence Kensit, who’s determined to take over the world. The most immediate threat comes from Adm. Dayana Ruiz, the “top-ranking woman in the Venezuelan military,” who’s trying to take out Juan and the Oregon so she can implement one of Kensit’s plots, shooting down the American vice president’s plane. But this is a Cussler thriller, so action scenarios take second place to a blockbuster concept, in this case giant glowing green crystals in a secret cave that power a “neutrino telescope” capable of seeing anything, anywhere on the planet. Series fans will have a lot of fun. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.