Snag Your Copy Fast Ice (NUMA Files, #18) Developed By Clive Cussler File Format Electronic Format

Cussler family, like other authors' estates has found a succession of legacy authors that keep the stories coming out, and I'm glad they do.
. . I've been a fan of the Cussler series since thes and will pick all of them up as they become available at my library.
. . This NUMA Files entry features Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, the Trout's and the rest of the NUMA team in a race to stop a family of environmental whackos from turning the World into a giant snowball, be releasing an algae that can freeze water quickly.
. . The usual decent Cussler fare!!! Fast Ice
By Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
Penguin Group Putnam

I have been a big Clive Cussler fan since thes and this book, although not completely written by the Master Adventurers own hand, is so close and lives up to his high standards.


In Fast Ice, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala first are just on a mission to find a missing researcher.
The story quickly becomes an adventure through the Antarctica, frigid temperatures, and sinking ships,

On their quest to find answers they find more trouble, An ancient history of Nazi science that never came to fruition, which now could create a Snowball Earth scenario,

Nothing is easy for the adventurers, and chaos ensues as they are chased by deranged men and women, hyenas, and lions!

What I love about Cusslers books is that the science is always so good.
Also, we feel the impact of illegal hunting, fishing, endangered species, and climate changes, These are current issues every reader needs to pay more attention to,

The friendship and camaraderie between Kurt and Joe almost jumps off the page, The easy, witty banter and trust between the two is almost envious,

The adrenaline junkie reader will love this and all Cusslers books, How much action can you cram in a book Here we read about trekking through a blizzard in the Antarctica, careening about in snowmobiles, being chased in a wild animal park with the animals loose, sinking ships, flying in a small helicopter in the frigid air and low on gas, and being shot at by cultists, and so much more.


The bottom line: Welldeveloped characters, great plot, entertaining thrills, and high tech fun,

I want to thank Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the uncorrected copy, The review is voluntary and all my own opinion, Originally posted at mysteryandsuspense. com. Was wondering how things would go after Mr Cusslers passing, Happy to report that this offering was a nice palate cleanser in the theme of his previous books, Fast moving plot and lots of action from the usual cast and crew, If you were thinking, like me, that the authors death would bring an end to your reading enjoyment of his series, no fear here.
Go ahead and jump into this one, Reader approved. Same snappy dialog and formula, It was a nice distraction from life, but not that great of a story, I've thoroughly enjoyed the majority of Clive Cussler's books through the years, We lost him last February but with the coauthors he has used the last several years I have to think many of his characters will live on.

This book is an Austin adventure with an ecoterrorist looking to start a new ice age, Very good book with a few chuckles as expected, I gave the story a onestar review: I gave up,
This was the first Cussler book that I have read in many months,

Perhaps it's my state of mind, but I wasn't prepared to read another wild tale, The escape from the lions and hyenas midway thru the story was enough for me to shelf the book, A good example of what is good and bad in the Cussler universe, There were plenty of intriguing parts of the book which was balanced by some slow spots and some pretty uninspired dialogue.
I always enjoy an action packed Cussler novel and couldn't resist this latest release when browsing at my local library,

In truth I've only read from his Dirk Pitt series and it was also strange reading a recent title from a different series knowing it was published after his death.


The cold setting of Antarctica was perfect for a wintery December read and the over the top plotline of the evil megalomaniac billionaire and some sinister algae makes for a fun read.


The novel jumping back toand the Nazi's own plays to build a military base in Antarctica was also enjoyable.


As I mentioned this was my first encounter with Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala and NUMA,
It was easy to like these characters and would happily read more from this series, This was the first NUMA files book I have read, Kurt and Joe are the NUMA guys out to save the world literally, They really should have been named Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, since they are essentially super hero characters, From their always witty dialog to their ability to solve any problem, they were basically super heroes without the powers, I am pretty good at suspending belief for a thriller, but this was a stretch for me, Goofy plot, too many amazing feats of ability from Kurt and Joe, Even though it wasnt Dirk Pitt, I still loved this book! Even though Clive Cussler has passed away, I'm glad that the books featuring his characters are still coming out.
As usual, this is an adventure filled story, this time with Kurt Austin and his team, They are racing against the clock of course to try to save the world from an ice age, Highly enjoyable audiobook that's perfect for when one is doing chores or just relaxing, Kurt Austin races to Antarctica to stop a chilling plot that imperils the entire planet in the latest novel from theNew York Timesbestselling Grand Master of Adventure.


After a former NUMA colleague disappears while researching the icebergs of Antarctica, Kurt Austin and his assistant Joe Zavala embark for the freezing edge of the world to investigate.
Even as they confront perilous waters and frigid temperatures, they are also are up against a terrifying manmade weapona fastgrowing ice that could usher in a new Ice Age.


Pitted against a determined madman and a monstrous storm, Kurt and the NUMA team must unravel a Naziera plot in order to save the globe from a freeze that would bury it once and for all Fast Ice GP Putnam and Sonsis written in the style of Clive Cussler by his ghost writer, Graham Brown.
A NUMA Files story, Kurt Austin and his NUMA team are pitted against a billionaire intent on causing a Snowball Earth worse than the onemillion years ago during the Cryogenian periodall to save the planet from destructive humans.
But hes tricky enough to hide his plans behind lies and deceit that to the uninitiated, make him look the opposite of what he is.
It starts when a scientist in the Antarctica disappears and Austin is tasked with finding out what happened, After considerable effort and a few battles, he begins to unravel the truth, The problem is, he still must figure out how to stop the billionaire before he finishes, And he's almost done.

If you worried about global cooling in thes, youll love Fast Ice but this time, our planet is not cooling incrementally but instantaneously.


The voice of this book while not the same as the master Clive Cussler is just as good, Dialogue is snappy with enough humor to make it even more interesting, Narrative is quick and important, Pacing is perfect with no wasted words, If you like science based thrillers, youll love this entire series and definitely want to read this one, I think its the best yet, This was book was a mess and I loved it,

First of all, Kurt and Joe make a very cute couple,

Second of all, as someone who loves a good paleoclimate because I am a NERD, I did appreciate snowball earth making an appearance however the algae thing shocker makes absolutely no sense.
Like I literally dont even know how to explain why it didnt make sense because it made so little sense,

Third: fast ice FAST ICE Give me strength,

Finally, the timing in this book was bizarre, It was fall in Antarctica and at the same time deep winter in the northern hemisphere Thats not how time works Would love if they could just pick a month.


So this book was wild, There was a lot of boat trivia that I didnt need but overall I had a fun time,/, good if you are very bored, I think one of the better Cussler Novels in his series, It lacked some of the banter, which I am okay with, and had a lot of intrigue, It also had a real, current issue that made it more realistic to a point, I think it was less all of the place as well and seemed more centered, It had all the excitement that any Cussler novel has as well,

Thanks to netgalley, G, P. Putnams Sons, and the late Clive Cussler for providing me with an advanced reading copy, The Cussler Brand continues apace without an apparent hiccup, the next couple years will see if that continues as the writers steadying hand no longer lays upon the shoulders of his coauthors.

RIP Clive.

Although he's done Nazi's in Antarctica before, I didn't find even a passing reference to it did anyone else This was a fun book to read.
It moved at a fast clip, had an interesting premise mystery, and held my interest from starttofinish, Kurt, Joe, and the Trouts remain pretty much the same so far in each book I have read, so there is really not much room for development for them sadly.
The character development of the "cast of characters" was adequate enough for the story obviously some characters had a bit more development than others.
I think the cover is beautiful I miss the "artwork/images" at the start of each section in the Dirk Pitt books.


I like how Cussler and the authors now cowriting his stories tie "current events" into their stories or take technology currently available or theoretically available at one time and then extrapolate from it to generate the plots of their stories.
In a way, it is like learning about tidbits of history that one would never have learned about otherwise, I remember the anthrax breakout in Russia and how it was tied to reindeer carcasses in the tundra thawing out with the permafrost and releasing the anthrax into the environment.
I have read about scientists trying to acquire samples embedded in the ice of the Antarctic glaciers to study what past environments were like some of these articles included concerns over what might accidentally be released into our modern world that we no longer have any kind of immunity to in terms of potential diseases and such.


I never knew about Operation Habakkuk what this plan entailed, I did Google it and was surprised to learn it truly was a potential plan for the Allies until it was scrapped partly because new longrange bombers and such would be able to perform the job that this proposed aircraft carrier was to do.
But the fact that this carrier would have been made of wood pulp mixed with ice was crazy to me, and that fact that it potentially could have worked is even more astounding to me.
I never knew Pykrete even existed or that it could be used in such a way and that they found a way to work around the "plastic flow" of ice and a way to keep it from melting is even more cool!.
So, yeah, I thought it was pretty cool that the villain's "super tanker" was made entire up of a modern form of Pykrete and strongly resembled a giant iceberg.
That as pretty cool, as was their submarine being made of Pykrete as well,

The whole "subplot" of "Nazis in Antarctica" strongly reminded me of Atlantis Found, for some reason.
Perhaps because part of that plot involved a secret Nazi base in Antarctica that was still "manned" by Nazis and still functioning in the modern world In any case, part of me speculated "what if the two groups never knew of each other but then why would they not have worked together", but then the other part of my brain kicked in and was, "Compartmentalization, duh! A case of one hand not knowing what one of the other hands was doing!", hahahah!

I liked that Kurt and Joe did what they could to rescue some of the crewmembers of the villain's ship at the end as they tried to sink it.
I honestly cannot say that I think Dirk and Al would have done the same thing, although those two characters do seem "less bloodthirsty" in their "newer" stories in comparison

to their older/original stories.
Granted, Joe did have a method to his madness in ensuring the survival of the engine crew they led him to the compartment filled with numerous smaller vessels that allowed Joe to escape and rescue Kurt before the vessel capsized.


The ending was interesting, I suppose, I am pretty sure all of the "fast ice algae/organisms" were captured and destroyed at the end of the book to prevent an ice age from forming.
But I also had the impression that any such organisms that might have escaped would only be entrapped within the ice that would form in the bay where they were to be uploaded into the hold of the villain's ship due to the nature of the bay.
That was maybe the weakest part of the plot for me,

I also liked the scene in which Kurt and Joe are being chased across the Antarctic terrain by some of the villains and set off an avalanche to take out their pursuers nearly killing Joe in the process.
I thought that was a fairly wellwritten part of the book, and I enjoyed it quite a bit,

Early on in the book, Kurt, Joe, and, . . Leandra visit a game preserve in Africa that is owned by the villains, Kurt sees a "quote"/reference from the Book of Habakkuk as well as a quote by some famous person about how an unreasonable man can change the world.
Both come in to play later the book but for different reasons both the villain and Kurt are "unreasonable men" who seek to bend the world to their wills Kurt's "bending" and influencing the world tends to be for more benign reasons and the greater common good, fortunately.
In any case, Kurt and Joe follow a group to find out what is going on, see an amazing display of ice being melted with the stated goal being that of getting rid of those pesky ice caps that cover up valuable, untouched resources, and then have to find a way to escape the game preserve with their very lives.
There is a crazy moment where they are somewhat trapped between guards seeking to kill them, a group of lions hunting them, and a pack of hyenas hunting them.
A "fight" breaks out between the hyenas and lions, allowing Kurt and Joe to seize the moment and escape, I am not doing the moment justice, because it is a crazy, fun moment in the book and I found myself wondering how they were going to get out of it.


Using the winds of a hurricane over Antarctica to provide a tailwind to provide added distance to a longdistance helicopter flight was nuts and fun to read.
Another good fun/creative moment in the book,

It is "weird," at times, how there seems to be very few "love interests" in these books for Kurt or Joe like there was in the early Dirk Pitt books up until he married Loren I keep expecting Kurt to have some kind of love interest or something with some of the female characters that are in his books, but it really has not happened "yet".
Which is fine it's just a different focus and it still works,

One thing that has stood out to me, though, is that in this book and one of the other two books I have read, it feels like the woman who dies is some kind of plot device merely to move the story along.
"She's" a "strong female character" but she dies early one in the book, But her death is not meaningless because she is able to provide some kind of clue or something that points Kurt and Joe in the right direction or, at the very least, points out that there is a mystery to be solved.


Another interesting thing about this book is that there is no treasure of any kind involved Dirk and Al usually find some kind of treasure or collection or something that is integral to the plot in some way even the two prior books I read had some kind of "treasure hunt" of some sort as part of the story.
Not in this book. Which was fine it is still interesting that "treasures" or "treasure hunts" are not as integral to the three/four stories I have read so far.


I was a bit less ambivalent about the Trout's experiences in Norway.
They go to a center that stores ice cores from around the world to study ice cores from the region of Antarctica that was of interest to.
. . Cora Emma the woman who was a former NUMA employee and goes off on her own to make her name in the world she is the woman who dies shortly after the events that occur in the beginning of the book.
While they are there, a "hit team" from the villains arrives and seeks to destroy any information that can be found as well as kill the Trouts and anybody with them.
I assume there is some kind of "mole" either in NUMA or the U, S. government that has been leaking information to the villains In any case, it made no sense to me that this hit team would attack this facility "now" instead of some time earlier especially if the goal is to keep their discoveries and work secret.
I felt that part of the book was one of the weaker parts of the story it was kinda exciting except I knew they would survive relatively unscathed but not really as I knew the Trouts were in no real danger of being killed.
I just didn't understand why this ice core collection and preservation center had not been 'hit' before this moment in the book, based on how much the villainous group wanted to keep their plot secret.


It was a fun book, These books are reminiscent of Dirk Pitt and his books, but these books also have their own flavor and style that makes them just as fun to read.
I am glad I have started reading these books, and I am glad that I read this book,
.