Too many things about this book annoyed me for it to get three stars...although it's much better than two. There are...odd...word choices. Many adverbs lack their lys. I got this bizarre feeling that someone went back and added a lot of unnecessary and slightly inappropriate/"off" adjectives, randomly. And it could have been a quarter to a third shorter and been better. Still, I did enjoy it and, as always with Cussler books, learned a lot.