The Numa Files Gift Set [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Unlike many who just cannot get into the world of Kurt Austin in the NUMA Files novels, I welcomed the first novel and all subsequent NUMA Files novels. The very FIRST thing you probably need to do before beginning one of these books co-authored by Paul Kemprecos, is to know up front that these are set in the world of Dirk Pitt & Friends--but doesn't feature Dirk. But don't worry--Dirk and Kurt are pretty much clones of one another. LITERALLY. In fact, if you substitute the name of Dirk with Kurt, and Al Giordino with Joe Zavala and you'd have your average everyday action/adventure thriller featuring Dirk Pitt. Yes, they are THAT close. Even down to similar quirks. Dirk collects rare cars, and Kurt collects rare firearms (both quirks are shared with Clive Cussler) and their sidekicks, Al and Joe are even more similar...at least if you ask me.

With that aside, how are the stories? I thought Serpent was fantastic hum-dinger of a tale. While we do not get the chance to raise the Andrea Doria like Dirk did with the Titanic, we DO get a glimpse of what it was like to sail aboard her, and eventually dive on her after she went down after a fatal collision, which according to Serpent may not have been the accident we've been lead to believe all these years. Overall, this was a great first outing for Kurt & Co. and while Cussler no doubt watched carefully over the storyline, I am rather certain Paul Kemprecos handled the majority (if not all) of the actual writing...but never fear: he has managed to copy Clive's patented style perfectly.

Blue Gold was another fine tale, but not quite up to Serpent in my opinion. It did have one of the nastiest Bad Guys to be found in almost any of Cussler's tales...and whats more, the Bad Guy is a Girl. Subsequent NUMA Files novels have been quite good to downright great and at least 3 have been better than probably the last 4-5 Dirk Pitt books. Again, I realize this is speaking blasphemy to some Pitt Purists out there, but that is my honest opinion on the matter. Let's just say that no matter WHAT you think of these books with Kemprecos, they are INFINITELY better than the first two Oregon Files books (Golden Buddha and The Sacred Stone) co-written by Craig Dirgo (the 3rd & 4th books co-authored by Jack DuBrul have been excellent, though).

Once again, if you are a fan of action/adventure novels, you really can't go wrong with the name Cussler on front...and these two books together are a great example of what escapist fiction is all about.

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