Product Description

Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad Museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1610305 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 647 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Fans of action-hero Kurt Austin of the National Underwater and Maritime Agency expect imaginative plotting, but it never comes down the chute in this seventh NUMA Files novel from bestseller Cussler and Shamus-winner Kemprecos (after Polar Shift). Austin and his team are hunting icebergs when they chance upon a pirate raid aimed at stealing a priceless Phoenician antiquity launched by a stereotypical megalomaniacal villain, Viktor Baltazar, who believes he's a descendant of King Solomon. Baltazar and Austin joust continually (once, literally!) over the antique, which may be connected to the lost ark of the covenant, Thomas Jefferson and the suspicious death of Meriwether Lewis. Sequences including the attempted human sacrifice of the requisite gorgeous female U.N. investigator are all too predictable, and the writing ("The Filipino's lips curved like slices of liverwurst in a frying pan") is often less than Cussler's best. (June)
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From AudioFile
The Jeffersonian code? A hidden message from the early president to Merriweather Lewis may reveal the age-old secret that links a Phoenician statue to the legend of the Queen of Sheba. Solving that riddle may save the life of a UNESCO representative. Richard Ferrones tough, gravelly voice adds an extra layer of menace to action scenes and description, making the abridgment move swiftly. However, Ferrone makes some accents a little too thick. Theres also a long setup, which makes it seem like it takes heroes Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala too long to turn up. The plot involving a secret message may be familiar, but the latest National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) adventure moves briskly enough to satisfy adventure fans. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Calculations seem to point to this being popular adventure novelist Cussler's thirty-fourth book, the seventh one written in collaboration with Kemprecos and the seventh one to chronicle the adventures of the NUMA Special Assignments Team. In his latest romp, Cussler is concerned with an ancient Phoenician statue called the Navigator, which was stolen from a Baghdad museum in 900 BCE. The compelling, well-organized plot--taken from a template that works--includes such disparate but ultimately workable elements as a foiled hijacking, a secret scientific project, pirates, a beautiful woman ("Her gown's scooped neckline displayed a decolletage that hovered between proper and sexy"), and the heroic machinations of the NUMA sleuths. Without exactly revealing the ending, suffice it to say--or, actually, suffice it to pose the question, Has the NUMA team ever failed in its quest for justice? Read it to make certain you've answered the question correctly. Cussler's multitude of fans will undoubtedly eat up this new novel just as they have previous ones. George Cohen
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