# Any Clive Cussler (Dirk Pitt) fans out here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612 "2012-12-10T16:27:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/21 "2012-12-11T02:04:28Z")
I haven’t read anything he’s written in about 10-12 years, but he’s produced a lot of very readable trash, and I mean that in the best way. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/22 "2012-12-11T02:07:27Z")
I liked the one featuring Castro. I was surprised how Cussler presented him and his brother as cool guys (at least, that’s how I remember it). My favorite was probably Inca Gold. I tried reading a Numa Files story once, but couldn’t get past the homoerotic intro of the leads. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/23 "2012-12-11T02:50:04Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I liked the one featuring Castro. I was surprised how Cussler presented him and his brother as cool guys (at least, that’s how I remember it). No, they were nice old duffers who were genuinely surprised to have the evils of Communism explained to them. They were happy to begin throwing over the regime in the face of Pitt’s kindly explanation. (This is snarky but entirely accurate, by the way.) As for the wonder twins appearing out of nowhere, it’s like a number of things in the later novels: direct and shameless lifts from John D., specifically… …in the last Travis McGee novel, where his previously unknown 18-year-old daughter appears from nowhere. …not to mention the obvious thieving from the later Stainless Steel Rat novels. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/25 "2012-12-11T03:58:28Z")
My best friend and I loved the Dirk Pitt novels when we were in junior high. Even then, though, we knew they were pretty cheesy. We constantly joked about Dirk Pitt… **TM!** ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/26 "2012-12-11T04:33:27Z")
Read only Vixen 03. The plot was already believable and the killer substance was scary as hell --except that it drowns in water. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/27 "2012-12-11T06:04:05Z")
They’re action thrillers in book format. Kind of like the James Bond books: there is a hero (Pitt/Bond); a sidekick (Al Giordino/Felix Leiter); a boss (Admiral Sandecker/M); some kind of scheme to resolve, usually involving a supervillain, gunfights, and car or boat or aircraft chases; and plenty of women that the hero ends up bedding. I’ve read them all, some more than once (_Night Probe_ and _Raise the Titanic_, for example), and they’re just stories of an adventurer and his adventures. They’re outlandish and historically implausible, and they’d never be called great literature; but they helped me pass many hours on planes, trains, and buses. They’re a fun read, but I never expect to take more from them than a few hours’ entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/28 "2012-12-11T12:11:18Z")
I stopped reading Clive Cussler after _Shock Wave_ (1996). Two things struck me - a portrayal of the NZ govt as corrupt and self-serving, and Dirk Pitt behaving as an excessively vindictive and violent avenger - with nothing to moderate his venom or mitigate his actions. I have never read another. Si ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/29 "2012-12-11T12:30:52Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m not sure which book it was but I stopped reading in the middle of it and never looked back. I suppose if I was in prison and got tired of being raped every day I might take up the series again. I think the book with President Lincoln’s remains had a lot to do with it. That was _Sahara_, which was way more OTT than the film they made of it! The film skipped the Lincoln sub-plot entirely. I’ve not read it for decades, but I think he peaked there, and nothing after that quite matched it, including his next book, _Inca Gold_, which I see several people have mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/30 "2012-12-11T13:05:15Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > … > For those of you that have read Clive Cussler… do they get any better? No, I don’t think they do. Apart from the misogyny and homophobia mentioned above I got tired of the interminable descriptions of cars, helicopters, watches and various manware. e.g. “Dirk looked at his watch; a Kuhne and Nagel Seamaster 8000 with luminescent dial, 24-carat gold bezel, Swiss movement, diamond numerals, accurate to 1 millisecond per century and waterproof to 8000 metres. It was 8.30.” Also, I went off him as an author when I read he believes the Apollo moon landings were hoaxed. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/31 "2012-12-11T14:04:49Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > No, I don’t think they do. Apart from the misogyny and homophobia mentioned above I got tired of the interminable descriptions of cars, helicopters, watches and various manware. > > e.g. “Dirk looked at his watch; a Kuhne and Nagel Seamaster 8000 with luminescent dial, 24-carat gold bezel, Swiss movement, diamond numerals, accurate to 1 millisecond per century and waterproof to 8000 metres. It was 8.30.” > > **Also, I went off him as an author when I read he believes the Apollo moon landings were hoaxed.** Bolding mine… what?!? That can’t be true. Sure, he’s a bit of a hack writer, but certainly not a CTer. Say it aint so! ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/32 "2012-12-11T14:16:45Z")
Just Googled Clive Cussler Moon Landing and it appears he is a loony Conspiracy Theorist. Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/33 "2012-12-11T14:36:50Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Just Googled Clive Cussler Moon Landing and it appears he is a loony Conspiracy Theorist. Sigh… I know ☹ It shouldn’t make any difference to what I think of his writing\*, but somehow I can help it. \*FTR, I thought it was frothy, escapist but enjoyable nonsense at first, but soon tired of it ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/34 "2012-12-11T14:56:10Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Just Googled Clive Cussler Moon Landing and it appears he is a loony Conspiracy Theorist. Sigh… He’s in good company with Mikey Crichton, who was something near deranged - a real tinfoil hat trooper. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/35 "2012-12-11T14:57:10Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > I got tired of the interminable descriptions of cars, helicopters, watches and various manware. That’s his poor man’s Clancy imitation. I liked it when Dirk and buds were soaring around in a Moller AirCar. I still wonder how much Paul Moller talked him into investing. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612/36 "2012-12-12T15:28:36Z")
Does he still have a cameo and show up as Cussler in his own books? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-clive-cussler-dirk-pitt-fans-out-here/643612.md?page=1)