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Plague Ship (Oregon Files) | 
| Author: Clive Cussler
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $4.90
You Save: $22.05 (82%)
New (56) Used (62) Collectible (4) from $4.90
Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 1634
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 528
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.8
ISBN: 0399154973
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399154973
ASIN: 0399154973
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Former Library copy with assoc stamps and stickers, Binding tight, clean pages, no writing on text, average cover/edge wear on glossy cover, good book.
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Product Description
For four novels, Clive Cussler has charted the exploits of the Oregon, a covert ship completely dilapidated on the outside but, on the inside, packed with sophisticated weaponry and intelligence-gathering equipment. Captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo and manned by a crew of former military and spy personnel, it is a private enterprise, available for any government agency that can afford it-and now Cussler sends the Oregon on its most extraordinary mission yet. The crew has just completed a top secret mission against Iran in the Persian Gulf, when they come across a cruise ship adrift in the sea. Hundreds of bodies litter its deck, and as Cabrillo tries to determine what happened, explosions rack the length of the ship. Barely able to escape with his own life and that of the liner's sole survivor, Cabrillo finds himself plunged into a mystery as intricate-and as perilous-as any he has ever known, and pitted against a cult with monstrously lethal plans for the human race ... plans he may already be too late to stop. Plague Ship is a high-stakes, high-seas journey that proves once again that Cussler is ???just about the best storyteller in the business??? (New York Post).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 It's okay..... September 16, 2008
Kaiulani Watson (Aiea, Hawaii)
Having read every single Clive Cussler novels, I would tag this one as okay. The characters don't seem as meaty as they were in the first collaboration with Jack DuBrul. The escapes were even more outlandish then normal and I really didn't care who won in the end. I agree with the other reviewer who said that this book was about 200 pages too long.
 Another nice one September 9, 2008
MAGIC FROGGIE (HAYWARD, CA USA)
Plague Ship (Oregon Files)
The book was the standard from Cussler, exciting and enjoyable, but Cussler is getting very predictable in his story line.
 One of Cussler's best novels September 6, 2008
Lee Boyland (Melbourne, FL United States)
I have read many of Clive Cussler's novels, and I consider this to be one of his best. Since other reviewers have discussed the plot, I will comment on other aspects of the story.
The characters or larger than life, but not ridiculously so. The same is true of the Chairman's ship. What I liked most about the book was that the authors challenged the reader to think about real problems--over population, and provide information of historical events mostly unknown--Unit 731.
Unit 731 is real, and worse than described. Japanese chemical weapons and agents are still being discovered and removed in China. Medical information created by Unit 731, regardless of how horrible the methods used to obtain it, had value. At the end of WWII, the U.S. exempted one or more of senior Japanese officers from war crimes trials in order to obtain Unit 731's files. It took me a long time to finally reach the conclusion that doing so was the best option.
Stalin's Fist is based upon proposed technology. Biological warfare was a real threat during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the U.S. had large stockpiles of biological agents and delivery systems. Spreading a virus as described in the story is possible. I thought basing the story on an ancient ship was clever.
One commenter noticed that the chief terrorist's wife changed from Heidi to Susan in Chapter 33. Unless you have written a book, it is difficult to understand how this can happen. Sometimes the author or editor decides to change a character's name. Using global search and replace, changing the name is easy--unless you decided to replace a chapter with one from an earlier draft that had the old name. Ooops. I was ready to send the manuscript of my second novel to the publisher, after numerous rereads and reviews by others. I happen to notice that I had reversed the names of two characters in a chapter. I caught the mistake while looking for something else.
Plague Ship is a great adventure read. I am waiting for the authors' next one.
Lee Boyland author of two technothrillers dealing with current events: The Rings of Allah and Behold, an Ashen Horse.
Plague ship September 6, 2008
PA Reader (United States)
This was an excellent book - very fast reading - actually, so good, hard to put down
Plague Ship delivers action and adventure, even if it doesn't 'float my boat' September 4, 2008
J. Norburn (Quesnel, BC, Canada)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I need to qualify my review right at the start and admit I'm not really a fan of this type of novel: which is to say, high concept action adventure novels. I've read about four of the more recent Clive Cussler novels and this is probably the best one I've read. Even so, I found it only marginally entertaining.
Despite my middling thoughts about this novel, I think that if you are a fan of the genre, you'll enjoy it. It has all the ingredients: exotic locales, a bizarre evil plan, cartoonish villains, invincible heroes, daring escapes, heavily armed compounds, big explosions, and lots of henchmen. It's a big budget popcorn novel and if you're a fan, these novels can be fun in the same way that a blockbuster action movie is fun. The plot is little more than filler between action scenes.
So why did I read Plague Ship if I'm not a fan of action novels?
That's a fair question. The answer is: I didn't actually read it. I listened to it as an audio book. The selection of unabridged audio books is limited in my library and I needed something new to listen to in the car. I probably wouldn't have read the novel otherwise.
But I still want to give this novel a fair review. As I noted earlier, this is probably the best Cussler I've read (or listened to) - although I've only read four, none of them Dirk Pitt novels. I found this novel reasonably entertaining, most of the time. Strangely, my interest waned most often during the seemingly endless action sequences. (But of course, if you like chase scenes, you'll find these scenes exciting rather than `bordering on tedious' as I did). I tend to get a little impatient with these sequences because I know the characters will inevitably escape, and I'd prefer that the author just got on with it. In fact, the whole novel is unnecessarily drawn out.
As you might expect, the characters in this novel are wafer thin. There is no moral ambiguity. There are no complexities to character or plot. Everything is cut and dry. The bad guys are bad. The good guys good. (Too good if you ask me). They remind me of the Superfriends because they get along so well and are virtually impossible to kill. Of course, a lot of people like that. It`s good vs evil. That`s what these novels are all about.
Who needs well drawn characters? Why complicate things with moral ambiguity?
This is a novel about big concepts and big action scenes. It's about good guys who ride white horses and save the world from crazy madmen. And there`s nothing wrong with that. If you want big adventure, Plague Ship doesn`t disappoint. I may not be gushing with enthusiasm for the novel (although as I said, it isn`t bad) but if action novels are up your alley, Plague Ship delivers.
Personally I give it 3 stars, but admittedly, complaining that an adventure novel like this has cardboard characters and action scenes that go on and on, is a little like saying that I would have liked the Western novel I read a lot better if there weren't so many cowboys in it.
Fans of the genre should add one star to my review to compensate for my `anti-adventure novel` bias. Most Cussler fans will enjoy this novel. Really.
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