Cussler fans can breathe easier, because Dirk Pitt is back. The formulaic, and very enjoyable, adventures of the deep-sea diving, classic-car loving, world-saving NUMA agent continue as Dirk must battle dark forces that are bent on world domination. The threat in this installment comes from a family of genetically engineered superhumans that just may have Hitler as an ancestor. Basing a plan on relics discovered from an ancient civilization, the evilly insane Wolf family plans to split the Antarctic ice shelf, flooding the world. Then their superbreed can take over the world and bring about the creation of a Nazi Fourth Empire. Dirk and sidekick Al Giordano are aided by a beautiful archaeologist and the NUMA staff in unraveling clues stretching back to 7000 B.C., in order to beat a doomsday countdown. Chock-full of action and fun plot twists, Atlantis is sure to please Cussler's hard-core followers and, perhaps, win over a few new ones. (Reviewed November 15, 1999)

Dirk Pitt returns in his first undersea adventure since Flood Tide (1997). Also returning, regrettably, are most of the literary failings Cussler seemed to have vanquished with the help of coauthor Paul Kemprecos in his recent non-Pitt thriller, the smooth and surprisingly poetic Serpent: From the NUMA Files (p. 752). Atlantis Found, by contrast, has a boiler-room's worth of grammatical clinkers and a cast of characters whose credibility is'shall we be polite?—tenuous. Cussler, however, knows how to distract us from bad prose and ludicrous protagonists with lots of maritime facts, albeit many of them imaginary. He begins splendidly here, with a comet wiping out nearly all human life 7,000 years ago, shifting the tectonic plates, bringing on the second Ice Age, and leading to the sinking of Atlantis in Antarctica. Dirk Pitt, naturally, rediscovers the lost island while, in a second plotline, undercover Nazis reappear with hopes of establishing the Fourth Reich. Need we mention that Pitt's longstanding love affair with dazzling, cinnamon-haired Loren Smith reignites? Cussler fans will have no complaint as the Master revs up his novel to 40 knots per hour and sweeps the reader into the fabled past. (First printing of 750,000; Book-of-the-Month main selection; $750,000 ad/promo; author tour)

YA-Once again, Cussler sends his superhero Dirk Pitt into the thickest of plots, against the odds and against human and natural forces that most mere mortals would never survive. Ancient archaeological sites are found containing relics of the advanced civilization identified as Atlantis, including a completely baffling written language. When finally deciphered, the inscriptions contain a prediction of the world's end in the next few months. At the same time, in South America, the Wolf family and its enterprises are assembling a massive clandestine operation. And, on Antarctica, a seemingly innocent scientific- research site proves to be a diabolical setup for destroying the known world. However, Dirk Pitt and his friend and partner, Al Giordino, destroy the dastardly plan. Offering one action-packed scene after another, Cussler guarantees to keep the pages turning at a rapid rate. There are plenty of technologically advanced gadgets and machines, along with secretive movements to add a thriller quality to the plot. Cussler writes himself into the story as a minor player in the mayhem, poking fun at his own writing. This book provides plenty of adventure, as well as top-rate entertainment.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.