Goodbye Clive. Thanks for all the novels

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51644229

I picked up one of his books traveling for business many years ago and couldn't put it down.  Ended up reading them all over the years. 

You will be missed.

-Rob

 My favorite author. Found his books in Jr high (mid 1980's) and have been a fan since.  The way he detailed mechanical things, cars, ships, guns, etc was really cool to me.

 Sahara, Dragon, and Night Probe are my favorites. I stuck with the Dirk Pitt stuff my self, didn't get into the later Oregon Files etc. At christmas each year I would be gifted his latest writing.

The Sahara movie was a disappointment, they botched the character of Gordino so badly.....

Thank you for sharing your talent, passion and imagination sir.

But he did much more than write novels.  There actually is a real life NUMA for one.

Remember the Hunley submarine they discovered and raised?

One of my top 5 favorite authors, just finished the latest Isaac bell adventure Sunday.

Gearheadotaku said:

 

 My favorite author. Found his books in Jr high (mid 1980's) and have been a fan since.  The way he detailed mechanical things, cars, ships, guns, etc was really cool to me.

That's when I had my big Cussler phase, too. Started with "Raise the Titanic" and I then went on to read and re-read everything he had at the time. I lost interest in him once he started putting himself in the books as a character, but I surely got a ton of entertainment from his early work. RIP, and thanks for the cool adventures, Clive.

RIP. I loved his early Dirk Pitt books (the later ones got a little too formulaic, especially when his son took over as the main character) and had just gotten into the Isaac Bell books.

Loved the books, read a lot of them, Oregon Files were a personal favorite. But Maritime engineering is part of my background and so I'm biased. 

Never read one.  Not a big fan of series.  What are a couple good ones to read?

One of the first real grown-up connections my Dad and I made was reading Clive's books. I saw "Vixen 03" sitting on my Dad's night stand and asked if I could read it. After that I was hooked. Dad and I traded books for years. When Dad passed away a few years ago I brought his book collection home. My office book shelves have a "Dad" section.

My oldest son just about the age I was when I read Vixen, so it is almost time to pass the baton.

Duke said:

Never read one.  Not a big fan of series.  What are a couple good ones to read?

 

Night Probe is arguably his best. Vixen 03 is pretty good as well. Any of the Isaac Bell novels (The Wrecker, The Chase, etc.) are a good read.

NickD said:

Duke said:

Never read one.  Not a big fan of series.  What are a couple good ones to read?

 

Night Probe is arguably his best. Vixen 03 is pretty good as well. Any of the Isaac Bell novels (The Wrecker, The Chase, etc.) are a good read.

Duke,

I always tell people, don't go into the books thinking it's some type of classic fiction or with multiple plot lines and twists and turns.  Instead, read them for the sheer enjoyment of the story and storytelling, take it as mind candy.  For me, they're quick reads and great for traveling and such as opposed to watching a movie or binging a TV show.  No disrespect to Cussler, but kinda like a male romance novel of sorts.  Burly and cool main character and his sidekick, getting into some where they shouldn't to right a wrong, romancing the female character, usually finding and keeping a cool old car, all turns out fine in the end.  I never read westerns of the 40's and 50's, but would assume they're similar except modern and oceanic based.

If you do get into them, I'd start with the Dirk Pitt series, just pick one, sit back and relax and just enjoy.  I can't remember the first one I read, but I know it was about middle of the series.  After the second one, I started reading them in order.  The spinoff series are good, too, but I'd stay with the Pitt series, initially.

-Rob

NickD said:

Night Probe is arguably his best. Vixen 03 is pretty good as well. Any of the Isaac Bell novels (The Wrecker, The Chase, etc.) are a good read.

Night Probe was always my favorite. It's very Bondian.

Very sad, I've been reading his books since I was a kid, and have read almost all of them. 

Damn. I've read most of his work. My dad and I traded them back and forth. Great escape books and fun to read. I always thought of him as a modern Louis L'Amour

In reply to rob_lewis :

So a lot like Alistair McLean books, then, for a slightly newer generation.

 Cussler's books may not be the sort anyone ever said had any literary merit, but you could tell he was having fun with them and wanted the reader to have fun too. Which is more than I can say about most books that supposedly have literary merit.

Tom_Spangler said:

Night Probe was always my favorite. It's very Bondian.

James Bond is fictional. 

Isaac Bell stuff is fantastic. But he has a very good co writer with that one. Same with the oregon files.   

I always grab them in airports cause I know I can run through them in a Few hours, lighthearted hero books. RIP Clive.

Great audio books for eating up highway miles. My first summer traveling for work I burned through most of the Dirk Pitt books and thoroughly enjoyed them. 

carguy123 said:

But he did much more than write novels.  There actually is a real life NUMA for one.

Also, he uncovered a 100-year old insurance scam. Remember the train crash he writes about in the beginning of Night Probe, how the bridge washed out and the train went into the river and was never found? Well, he got that idea from a 100th anniversary newspaper article about a Kansas Pacific train that plunged into Kiowa Creek in 1878. The cars were recovered but supposedly not the engine, and divers had never found any signs of it in the hundred years since.

So after writing the book, he thought "Its gotta be there." And him and real-life NUMA went down there and searched up and down the creek and found not a rivet from it. After going through old newspapers and archives they pieced together the true story: after the crash, the Kansas Pacific secretly recovered the engine, renumbered it, put it back into service, and then claimed it was still at the bottom of Kiowa Creek to collect the insurance money on it.

So sad to read this, I've read every one of his fiction books except the most recent one, and three of his nonfiction books.  Not lasting literature,but very good recreational reads.  Still haven't made it over to Denver to view his car collection, either, I better do that this summer.  It will be interesting to see if he gets buried next to his first wife in the tiny cemetery here in Ridgway, Colorado - their tombstone has been in place for years, and is all lettered for Clive, and has the epitaph "It was a great party while it lasted, let's hope it continues somewhere else".  Don't now why she is buried in Ridgway, they used to live part of the year in Telluride, which is about 30 miles up the road.

https://journal.classiccars.com/2020/02/26/farewell-to-a-friend-clive-cussler/

Oh man!  He is a favorite author.  Love the Oregon Files Series along with many others.

ultraclyde said:

Damn. I've read most of his work. My dad and I traded them back and forth. Great escape books and fun to read. I always thought of him as a modern Louis L'Amour

That's a very apt comparison as I've read most of both authors. Nothing serious or heavy reading but great entertainment 

Humongous loss, feels so personal. As a crazy traveler, Cussler's works made me make an account of my experiences. Inca Gold is one of my all-time favorites.