Name: Night Probe!
Rating: 3.666666666666667 (6 reviews)
ISBN: 9780553394924

Clive Cussler

American agent Dirk Pitt's deep-sea mission to recover a lost treaty by which Canada was sold to the United States is countered by the British and the Soviets.

Night Probe!

Tim Pendry

Clive Cussler's 1981 thriller, another exercise in implausibility, follows the formula of Vixen 03 but where the political background of the 5th novel was the freedom struggle in South Africa, this 6th outing for Dirk Pitt is about the fate of Canada and, more tangentially, the energy crisis of the time. Cussler is nothing if not imaginative. As a Brit myself, it was quite a pleasant change to find the main antagonist of Dirk to be the British in the person of a suave and aging James Bond-alike with, at one point, a crew of tough Royal Marines invading Upper State New York. A lot happens (which is one of the markers of a Cussler). The British angle nicely dovetails with a nineteenth century railroad crime gone wrong and the ruthless internecine state politics of Canada in the age of Quebec Libre. The Soviets get only a very small, merely implied, walk-on part. The open sea also plays only a small part in this tale. Most of the action is on land or close to shore in riverine, estaurine and subterranean waters. As in Vixen 03, the story is as much an investigative historical detective story as 'contemporary' thriller. The sex stuff is there but is much more restrained if still more than a little a ridiculous. Heidi from Book 5 turns up as a likeable naif allowed to make girly mistakes and be patronised by the boys. The denouement (no spoilers) is sweet and romantic and fits the character we saw in the previous book. Dirk's team plays much less of a role in #6 - Giordano is scarcely seen. Even Pitt himself seems to take second place to no less than three sociopaths and the Canadian political shenanigans. The title is explained very late and only in passing. Still, for all that, it is an accomplished and enjoyable bit of nonsense. Although its politics are somewhat dated (like its gender relations), it is reasonably fast-paced and filled with 'incident' (which is generally what you want in a popular thriller).

Kirsten Simkiss

This is not a book I would choose to read again. For that reason, I feel 2 stars is accurate.

The plot is interesting enough, but more than anything it’s inconsequential to the overall series as the final discovery never seems to be mentioned again. This is something I find to be a failing of the books. While they make several mentions of the Vixen affair in this book, no one mentions anything in later books about the grand merger.

As per usual, the sexism is pretty thick. It wasn’t nearly as bad, granted, but I still found myself wondering if Clive Cussler had ever met real women before. His women seem to be doll-like and mostly there to flatter the egos of strong, male characters. Heidi falls into bed with two of them while the only other female character, the Canadian PM’s wife, was passed around by three assholes the whole book. Oh, the PM wasn’t that bad you say? Shut it. He literally helped enact his own wife’s murder with a contract killer. I don’t see how any of the men in this book are in any way desirable. Sure, Dirk Pitt may be handsome and a daredevil, but his personality is sorely lacking. Shaw gets a pass, I guess, if it doesn’t bother you that he repeatedly used Heidi for his own purposes.

All in all, this book is passable. Good? Eh. Not really for me. Just passable. I know Cussler can write, and his writing does seem to be improving, but it’s not quite there yet for me.

Sian Wadey

Night Probe by Clive Cussler

I'm a massive fan of Clive Cussler and all his works, especially Dirk Pitt, Kurt Austin and the new Isaac Bell stories. As expected, Night Probe is a great addition to the collection. It's classic Cussler, spans over years and is full of action and adventure.

Night Probe!

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