In the dark, final days of World War Two, two submarines set out from Japan bearing a deadly virus destined for US cities. But neither boat was heard of again…

Present day: NUMA Special Projects Director Dirk Pitt rescues a team of scientists from a deadly cloud of poison gas in the North West Pacific. Discovering that this was no natural phenomenon, Pitt is quickly on the hunt for a pair of WWII submarines and their deadly cargo. But he soon learns that he’s not the only one searching for the virus: a sinister group of very able terrorists are aiming to relaunch the attack on the US some sixty years later. With time running out, only Dirk Pitt and the NUMA team stand between evil forces and a terrifying assault on America’s west coast…

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Clive Cussler / Dirk Pitt novels and there seems to be a mountain of them. This is the first I’ve read and although it was good, I wasn’t especially gripped by it. About two and a half months in the reading, it has taken me a considerable lot longer to finish this than either the Da Vinci Code or I am Legend, despite being a meer 70 pages longer than the prior. That fact alone is a testiment to how this story failed to reel me in.

Don’t get me wrong, it was good enough to see through the end. Clive is pretty good at portraying action scenes on paper and there were plenty of them to go around, which made for a twisting story that is unpredictable and at most points, thrilling. What pulled it back for me were the characters. Dirk Pitt is the most flat action hero I’ve come across. Both he, his sister, father, and immediate friends all share the same, flat, one-liner humour that point of fact simply wasn’t funny. By all means tell a joke, but there was a too frequent reliance on irony driven, sarcastic comments. Stemming from this, there was almost no emotion or human element to any of the characters. Even the little sister was robotic with her dialog and body language.

The token love element between Pitt and an early character did a little to keep the peace but I can’t help but feel this scentiment was added because Pitt is a guy, she was a girl, and you know.. it works. It’s clear to me however, that Cussler knows little about relationships, because the two were practically all over eachother within hours of meeting.

The overall story tied well together, although I find it a little odd that the head of a naval research division of the goverment ultimately singlehandedly thwarts a major terrorist attack with no military help whatsoever.

If there are any good points to take away from Black Wind, are the points I expect to see in every Dirk Pitt adventure; fast moving storys, plenty of settings and scenarios, a plenthora of characters and a twining story that although is pretty far-fetched, does tie together well.