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Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood

Spartan Gold is the first in a new series by New York Times bestseller Clive Cussler in cooperation with action novel writer Grant Blackwood.

Referred to as \”Fargo Adventures,\” the new series is, as the name suggests, based on the adventures of the Fargos, a married couple by the names of Sam and Remi.

Independently wealthy, the Fargos have devoted their lives to their obsessive passion for archeological treasure hunting, and they do not shy away from any obstacles to find what they are looking for.

While the Fargo Adventures feature a new cast of characters and a slightly different action venue – treasure hunting – the telltale hallmarks of a true Cussler-novel that we have all come to love and expect still remain: Exotic cars, foods and drinks, as well as lots of excitement on, in and around water.

In Spartan Gold, Sam and Remi Fargo pursue a trail of clues left on the labels of twelve wine bottles from the lost wine cellar of Napoleon Bonaparte, written in a code they must first decipher.

Naturally, their quest to unravel this mystery does not go unimpeded. Relentlessly on their heels are the hired ruffians of Bondaruk, a former Soviet freedom fighter from an ethnic minority group, who has since turned into a ruthless mafia billionaire.

Bondaruk believes the end of the trail will lead to an ancient Greek gold-treasure once conquered by his ancestor, the Persian ruler Xerxes the Great. A treasure which Bondaruk has convinced himself is his rightful heritage, and no one will be allowed to stand in his way of getting it.

The riddles on the wine-bottles lead the Fargos and their adversaries from a WWII German submarine in the Great Pocomoke Swamp of Maryland to the Bahamas and through much of Europe including Monaco, Croatia, Italy, Germany, and Ukraine: not necessarily in that sequence.

Spartan Gold is a solid, action-filled treasure hunting novel in the spirit of The Da Vinci Code. It is also distinctly a Clive Cussler novel with all of what that entails. Another guaranteed New York Times bestseller, in other words.

Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and three sons, operating her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been long time favorite author. Visit her dedicated Cussler site to order the Spartan Gold novel or read her review of the most recent Dirk Pitt novel, Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler.

Book Review: Arctic Drift, by Clive and Dirk Cussler

As always, Clive Cussler\’s latest novel stays right on top of current geopolitical events. Arctic Drift, set in 2011, centers on global warming and the financial crisis.

The crook in Arctic Drift is a Canadian energy empire billionaire by the name of Mitchell Goyette who is publicly admired for his green technology businesses, while concealing his heavy involvement in natural gas and oil.

The United States faces a financial meltdown, aggravated by the threat of an international boycott if the country does not decrease its carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants. Canada holds the key to America\’s salvation in the form or an enormous wealth of natural gas reserves.

The American president pins his hopes on Canadian natural gas to replace the coal used in many of the country\’s electricity generating power plants, as well as the gasoline used in cars. The U.S. would thereby make substantial savings on expensive imported oil, while at the same time being able to meet the international demand to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

But of course, this desperate play by the U.S. gets exploited by Goyette to the fullest. Publicly, he\’s a hero to the environmentalists because of his role in developing wind power and finding solutions to carbon dioxide sequestration. Out of the public eye and unknown to all but a few, Goyette has major holdings in the Melville gas field of the Canadian Arctic, as well as the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta.

With one hand, Goyette makes a deal with the U.S. government to supply nearly limitless amounts of natural gas at market price from the Melville fields to help solve the American energy crisis, and indirectly the financial crisis. But with his other hand, he secretly strikes a deal with the Chinese to instead sell them all of the gas from Melville at 10% above market prices, with no intention of honoring his agreement with the American government.

(In the real world, any business in breach of such a huge and important contract would probably not survive. But it\’s a good set-up for an intriguing story line.)

But Goyette\’s double-dealing with China and the U.S. pales in comparison to some of his other crimes, which include political assassination, intentional dumping of toxic waste that kills humans and wildlife, theft, vandalizing, bribery of high ranking officials, and worst of all, nearly instigating a war between Canada and the U.S.

What Goyette does not count on, of course, is Dirk Pitt, the hero of 20 Clive Cussler books, including this latest installment. In the end, good prevails over evil.

Arctic Drift is an excellent and seamless co-authorship between Clive Cussler and his son, Dirk Cussler. It is hard to tell the penmanship of one apart from the other throughout the book. Whatever sections Dirk Cussler wrote, he did an excellent job of adopting Clive\’s inimitable style. (That\’s an intentional oxymoron.)

The book is an excellent and thrilling read; perhaps not cover-to-cover on-the-edge-of-your-seat excitement, as some of the older Dirk Pitt adventures. But the book makes up for it with a solid, steady and thoroughly enjoyable story that is brilliantly written, with thugs that are as sharp and capable as they are unscrupulous, and heroes as pure as Arctic ice.

Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her spouse and three children. She operates her own copywriting company from home. Clive Cussler has been one of her favorite authors since she read his Trojan Odyssey in 2003. She writes reviews like this one on Arctic Drift for the fun of sharing that excitement.