When American forces invaded Iraq the first time, the Baghdad Museum was looted of valuable treasures. UNESCO agent Carina Mechadi is on their trail, and jumps at the chance when wealthy businessman Viktor Baltazar offers to privately finance her search, asking only that she keep him informed of her progress. Carina crosses paths with our hero, Kurt Austin, quite literally when she recovers the most valuable of the museum’s missing items and accompanies them on their containership voyage across the Atlantic to the Smithsonian. Kurt Austin and sidekick Joe Zavala had been in the same area of the North Atlantic known as Iceberg Alley, helping to rope in icebergs heading for oil rigs and tow them from harm’s way, when Carina’s ship, the Ocean Adventure, appears to be steaming directly for an oil rig. When Austin’s derring-do puts him aboard, he finds the Ocean Adventure had been boarded by pirates in helicopters. Their one objective seemed to have been recovery of a statue of dubious value in Carina’s collection called the Navigator. Austin stops the theft and rescues the ship, seeing Carina safely to Washington. Once there, the mystery deepens when Anthony Saxon, an ill-respected archaeologist and writer, joins forces with Austin and the gang. Someone wants the Navigator badly, for the statue contains an ancient Phoenician map supposedly leading to King Solomon’s Mines and a controversial set of the Ten Commandments carved in gold. They aren’t the only ones looking for the lost artifacts, and the other guys will stop at nothing to get there first.I have only one complaint about this book, and that is its inability to resist the urge to oh-so-trendily cast doubt on stories of Biblical origin. The outrage has died down, and so has our interest in this type of subject matter, which is handled with little skill and no attempt at originality. That disappointing detail aside, this is a fast-paced, white-knuckle thrill ride as Kurt Austin and his friends unravel a centuries-old mystery, trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys, who naturally have sinister motives. Though the engaging Paul and Gamay Trout once again played disappointingly small roles and, sadly, maritime historian St. Julien Perlmutter sat this one out, it was nonetheless quite the page turner I found very difficult to put down.With its seventh book, this series has obviously found its stride. With its Cussleresque abundance of corny similes and nonstop action woven into an intricate plot, combined with Kemprecos’ warm, down-to-earth prose, it’s hard to find action better than this smoothly-paced novel. Once again, you can’t go wrong with a book with Cussler on the cover.
maybe i've read too many of cussler books lately, but god this book was astoundingly boringthe protagonists- what is it about kurt austin and his pale hair that makes him so boring? he collects dueling pistols. wow. how very, very interesting. and what about zavala? a Mexican-American who turns classic cars into submarines - boring? how could it be? and yet it is. and the Trouts- don't these people have any flaws? at all?the antagonists - a megalomaniac looking for Solomon's mines in America who enjoys jousting as a hobby... and yet he is oh-so-amazingly boring - a killer with a baby face... what a twist! he has a baby face but he is a cold-blooded killer!!!!! wow!!!! the plotall booooooring!!!!!Okay, maybe I'm being unfair. But sometimes one reads a book, and even as they realize they are not liking it, they press on unwilling to admit they've gotten half-way through just to give up. But then, at the end, you're just angry at the book for wasting your time. It's not worth it. It's just not worth it.I enjoy some of Cussler's books. They are always ridiculous, but they are usually fun to read. Usually they are not INCREDIBLY BORING.
What do You think about The Navigator (2007)?
I was so suprised when I added this book to my lists of books read and found that I had already read this in 2009. As I was reading it, there were some things that sounded familiar, but I guess I just didn't remember enough of it to realize I had already read it. I am embarassed that I didn't remember it better. It is really a very good book, and I enjoyed it immensely. Kurt Austin is a smart and handsome hero, and in this book meets and has a relationship with a beautiful Italian woman who works for UNESCO. Together they search and find stolen artifacts, especially a Phoencian statue of a navigator, that was stolen from a container cargo ship on its way to the United States. It is a great adventure, typical of the work of Clive Cussler. I see that I gave it 4 stars the first time, and I give it 4 stars this time around.
—Cherie
If you want straight forward page turning action adventure story then this is the one. Although it's part of the NUMA Files series, I have not read any of the others and I didn't find it a hindrance.The Navigator is a statue that has been stolen from the Bagdad museum and Kirt Austin and the NUMA team are on its trail. But the story begins long before this in the days of ancient Phoenicia and then moves to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance of some of Thomas Jefferson's papers. How does all this relate to the statue? You had better read the book to find out!
—Mike Parsons
This was Cussler at his best. The book kept me riveted and I had trouble putting it down. Kurt Austin is one of my favourite characters of Cusslers.Synopsis curtesy of Penguin Books.Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second, very nearly, is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Kurt Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top-secret scientific project that could change the world forever.And that's before the surprises really begin . . .
—Kelly
