Adventure

I liked this one a lot more than most because it wasn't some typical bad guy out to thwart the Fargos and steal the treasure first. It's just some rich CEO working with rebels to nationalize the Solomon Islands that happens to be getting in the way of the Fargos - which doesn't sound like much but it was a nice change. I also liked one of the new characters introduced, a Russian archaeologist who enlists the Fargos help when he discovers what appears to be a sunken city. The treasure hunt leads the team through several points in history - not just ancient times, which is interesting. A breath of fresh air in a series where the plots start to become stale. Genuinely excited for the next in the series. ( )

Always a good adventure with the Fargos. E bad guys get what's coming and truth and justice prevail. No sex or swearing which make these books refreshing. ( )

I seldom read any of the FARGO Series books by Clive Cussler. But I had to purchase and read this book, because it is set in the Solomon Islands, the same country where I lived for 3 years as a teenager while my parents were "missionaries". I hated every minute of my time there.

Anyway, this novel is about Leonid, a Russian Archaeologist, who is investigating rumours and legends of an ancient sunken city in the Solomon islands. He tries to arrange for the locals to help him to set up a camp and a dive site, but they refuse to help, because of the curse. They beleive that many centuries ago the city was destroyed and sunk because the gods were angry.

Leonid calls in the Fargos to help and eventually a dive boat from Australia is hired and begins its voyage to the Solomons.

Once the boat arrives, the diving can begin and sure enough an old sunken city is discovered.

This goes hand in hand with stories from world war 2 when the japanese occupied the islands.

Leonid continues to dive and the Fargos begin to investigate the Japanese side of the story, with the help of their wonderful research assistant Selma who is based back in San Diego.

Eventually the Fargos discover a legend of Japanese cruelty, slaves and removal of treasure from the cursed sunken city to some caves behind a waterfall all happening during WW2.

They set out to explore the island using vague references and eventually find the waterfall and proof of the Japanese cruelty. They also eventually discover the treasure that was removed from the sunken city.

This book was interesting but there were a lot of tropes used, some tropes were repeated and some events that should have been covered, were skipped over entirely....

The story was interesting, but because I have not lived there for 40 years, I am unable to confirm or say how accurate the culture details are today - especially since I can only read newspaper reports about the civil war, I never lived through it.

I would liked to have seen more details mentioned, especially the history. There was NO mention do the country becoming independent in 1978 and not one mention of Ironbottom sound - the large area of water between Guadalcanal and Tulagi islands, where so many japanese and american ships were sunk during WW2. I give this 3 stars.

Did Cussler even visit the islands? Did he watch any videos on youtube? ( )

Sam and Remi are investigating ancient ruins in Guadalcanal believed to host great riches when they become involved in a power grab to enrich some by causing the natives to boot foreign investment. Overall a good if somewhat slow to build read. ( )