Book List

Clive Cussler has pulled off one of the best book series ever.  The Oregon Files is one of the most entertaining and outrageous story lines and I am thrilled to say that I have read every one of the tales.  The Jungle is the most recent of the Cussler books that I have devoured and for a 400 page book, I read it completely in only 2 days.

With this being the 8^th installment in the Oregon Files series, I must say The Jungle is far and above the rest.  I don’t mean to discount the other books, far from it.  This one just grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go.  It was a total thrill ride from start to finish.

So what do we actually get with this book?

5 quick things come to mind.

• We get the Clive Cussler formula for writing a great and exciting story, even if it is a bit improbable.
• We have the person who is lost or in distress and must be found.  (Actually, this story has 2 of those.)
• We have the Oregon itself.  In all honesty, this sounds like a really cool ship and what a great setting for getting all around the world.
• We have the ‘bad guy and his evil henchman’ who are seeking to bring down the United States.
• And finally, we have the crew of the Oregon headed up by Juan Cabrillo.  Every single one of the crew is top notch and a huge asset.  And with Juan Cabrillo as the captain and president of the company/ship, we have to expect that he is just as capable, heroic, and ‘get dirty and finish the job’ as the other Clive Cussler characters of Dirk Pitt, Kurt Austin, and Isaac Bell.

Alright, we have established that this book has all the normal stuff that makes the Oregon Files a success for Clive Cussler, but what makes this one so different?  It’s a good question, and I can’t completely put my finger on that one thing that makes it a success.

But what I can do for you is give you a quick review of the contents, but without giving everything away.  Otherwise, what would be the point in reading the book!

The story starts out a little before 1300A.D. as Marco Polo is watching a siege upon a Chinese fortress with a new weapon.  As it turns out, the heart of this new weapon is the reason for much of the chase that the Oregon crew embarks on.

Scrounging for work, the Oregon crew takes on private jobs since their main benefactor is no longer allowed to utilize their special skills.  So the crew settles on missing persons cases to pay the bills.  After completing one job, they are immediately thrust into another job to search for a wealthy businessman’s daughter who went hiking in the jungles of Myanmar.

From this little adventure in the jungle, everything else becomes a blur.  It is nonstop, all go, all the time.  From Myanmar to Louisiana, and oil platforms at sea to Monte Carlo…this book is a total rush.

After piecing everything together, Juan Cabrillo and his team realize it could be too late to make a difference.  Now they just aren’t battling the bad guy and his henchmen, but now they are up against a new thinking computer.  Yes, the stuff of science fiction at its worst.  An unstoppable computer controlled only by an evil and deranged ‘terrorist’.

How can Juan Cabrillo and his team stop this nightmare from becoming a reality?  Only Clive Cussler knows the answer to that question.

So snag your copy of the Jungle today.  It’s a great read and I highly recommend you partake of this book as you settle down for your next Oregon Files novel from master novelist Clive Cussler.

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