FLOOD TIDE

Title:  FLOOD TIDE


Author: Clive Cussler


Publisher: Simon & Schuster, first published in 1997. 


Genre: Action-Adeventure


Main Characters: Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino, Juan Cabrillo


Quote from the book: "Qin Shang never intended to make the United States into a New Orleans hotel and gambling casino," Pitt explained dryly. "He plans to use it as diversionary dam. Once the ship's nine-hundred-ninety-foot hull with its height of ninety feet is scuttled diagonally across the river, it will block ninety percent of the Mississippi's flow, sending one enormous flood tide through the shattered levee into the Atchafalaya."

Description: Flood Tide is Clive Cussler's fourteenth novel featuring action-hero Dirk Pitt. In this story, Pitt and his close pal Al Giordino finds them going head-to-head against a Chinese business tycoon, Qin Shang, who is obsessed with power, money and objects of architectural value. Most Chinese characters are portrayed in a negative shade. We might even feel that the whole of China is given a negative shade and unlike most other stories Flood Tide also features a not-so-good U.S. President. This novel also gives an introduction to Chairman Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and other characters of Cussler's Oregon Files.


Verdict: Not the fastest of Cussler's novels but still an ingenious plot and a very powerful villain gets you going.

RATING: 3.5/5

THE DA VINCI CODE

Title:         THE DA VINCI CODE

Author:     Dan Brown

Publisher:  Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. First published in 2003.

Genre:      Mystery, Action-Adventure


Main Character : Robert Langdon

Quote from the Book : "Sophie gazed back up the emergency stairwell and felt torn. She knew she should usher Langdon from the museum immediately, and yet instinct urged her to the contrary. As Sophie recalled her first childhood visit to the Denon Wing, she realized that if her grandfather had a secret to tell her, few places on earth made a more apt rendezvous than Da Vinci's Mona Lisa."

Description: While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of      the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre museum has been murdered inside the museum, his body and the floor around him covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the bizarre riddles they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci - clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more starting, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - an actual secret society whose members included Sir Issac Newton, Victor Hugo and Da Vinci, among others - and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle - while avoiding the faceless adversary that shadows their every move - the explosive ancient truth will be lost forever.

Opinions: "Wow... Blockbuster perfection... [A] gleefully erudite suspense novel." - THE NEW YORK TIMES

                    

                    "A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure... [Brown] is a new master of smart thrills." - PEOPLE

                     

               "So many twists - all satisfying, most unexpected... Let's just say that if this novel doesn't get your pulse racing, you need to check your meds... This is good fun - Umberto Eco on steroids." - SAN FRANSISCO CHRONICLE

Verdict: Thrilling from the beginning until the very last page. So many twists and turns and a breath-taking climax. The plot is controversial and there were a lot of protests against the release of the book, especially from religious organisations. Nevertheless the book was a huge success and was later made into a movie starring Tom Hanks as Prof. Robert Langdon.
Games for PC, Xbox, Play stations, etc have also been released based on the Da Vinci Code.

RATING : 4.5/5

THUNDERBALL

Book Title: THUNDERBALL


Author: Ian Fleming


Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS, First Published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape in 1961.


Genre: Action-Adventure Fiction


Main Character: James Bond (Agent 007)

Quote from the book: "The girl looked him up and down. He had dark, rather cruel good looks and very clear blue-grey eyes. He was wearing a very dark blue lightweight single-breasted suit over a cream silk shirt and a black knitted silk tie. Despite the heat, he looked cool and clean. 'And who might you be?' she asked sharply. 'My name's Bond, James Bond...'

Description: When a stranger arrives in the Bahamas, the locals barely turn their heads, seeing another ex-pat with money to burn at the casino tables. But James Bond has more than money on his mind: he's got less than a week to find two stolen atom bombs hidden among the coral reefs. While acting the playboy, Bond meets Domino, sultry plaything of secretive treasure-hunter Emilio Largo. In getting close to this Italian girl, Bond hopes to learn more about Largo's hidden operation ...

Opinion: 'Good living, sex and violent action ...a highly polished performance, an ingenious plot and plenty of excitement' - THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Verdict: Action-packed like any other novel in the 007 series. This time James Bond travels to the Bahamas in search of two nuclear bombs that were expertly stolen by an international criminal organisation that calls themselves SPECTRE.

               A thrilling read with a beautiful climax. The novel is well paced with an excellent plot that keeps you interested till the end.

RATING: 4.5/5

UPDATE: The book was given a 5-star rating at the beginning, but later the criteria for rating was changed.

 Hence, according to the new rating system employed by 'Book Guru' the novel THUNDERBALL will get a rating of 4.5. Thanks!

Other info: Thunderball was also made into a movie in the 007 series starring legendary actor 'Sean Connery' as  'James Bond'.
It was directed by Terence Young and was released in 1965.

Also Starring: Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi.