Valhalla Rising
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- ¥1,400
発行者による作品情報
Marine explorer Dirk Pitt must rely on the nautical lore of Jules Verne to stop a ruthless oil baron with his sights set on political power in this #1 New York Times-bestselling series.
In the middle of its maiden voyage, a luxury cruise ship using revolutionary new engines suddenly catches fire and sinks. Its alarms stay silent; its sprinkler system remains inactive. Nearby NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt notices smoke and races to the rescue. He's too late to save the engineer behind the ship's new technology, but helps the man's daughter, Kelly Egan, escape with her father's work in a leather briefcase.
While Ms. Egan strives to uncover the hidden value in her father's inventions, Pitt is hired on by maritime insurers to investigate the wreckage. Neither are prepared for the mechanical marvels they'll soon be forced to confront. The machines could only be the stuff of legend, described in the tales of Viking explorers or the accounts of Jules Verne. And they may be Pitt and Egan's only hope when an oil tycoon with a plan of his own appears on the scene.
Before journey's end, Pitt will take on a power-mad millionaire, tread upon territory previously known only to Verne's illustrious Captain Nemo, and make shocking discoveries about his own past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The master of action/adventure fiction strikes oil with this nonstop thriller, which tangles ancient Viking runes, Captain Nemo's Nautilus,the Red Baron, water propulsion engines, murderous oil magnates, undersea catastrophes and cruise ship explosions into a knot that only Dirk Pitt and his laconic sidekick Al Giordino can unravel. Dirk spots smoke on the horizon from his NUMA research vessel and races to the flaming cruise ship Golden Dolphinin time to save most of the 2,000 passengers and crew, including Kelly Egan, beautiful daughter of the inventor of engines that run on seawater. Dr. Egan drowns, leaving Kelly with a leather case that she believes contains the secrets of his life's work but a couple of ruthless villains want it, too, and with Dirk's help she narrowly escapes. When the Dolphin wreck sinks, Pitt and Giordino use a mini-sub to search for arson clues, but the NUMA ship and crew are hijacked while the sub is under and Pitt and Giordino drift until rescued by a private boat. They then cross paths with Curtis Zale, a ruthless oil baron bent on monopoly and unafraid of using mass murder to gain his ends. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Loren Smith, Pitt's erstwhile lover, heads a committee probing Zale and is added to the target list. Cussler speeds and twists through the complex plot and hairbreadth escapes, giving the thriller the intensity and suspense of a NASCAR race. Historical asides of submarine lore, Jules Verne minutiae and references to Viking runes in America add touches of real-life oddity to the mix, and nothing will prepare even longtime Cussler fans for the major surprise he drops at the end.
