Written by Clive Cussler, Pacific Vortex, is about Dirk Pitt who is, to put it mildly, really good with water. He has a bunch of Navy handles that I cannot think of at the moment and is in charge of a specific group that investigates strange happenings in oceans. Dirk Pitt seems to be someone who keeps things close to his chest. At times he seems shy but is not intimidated by authority. He is a man of few words and seems to admire hygiene as he takes three showers within the first forty-five pages.

Dirk gets called in to help, or more like stumbles onto the problem, when the latest in several ships disappear after several alarming distress calls. This part of the book was absolutely thrilling to me because despite being terrified of deep ocean waters, I am thoroughly intrigued by the mysteries of the ocean. This book took on an eerie mood and leads you to think it might just be magical or otherworldly.

While I was pulled in by the mystery of what happened to the ships, the rest of the book was pretty tame and the bad guy was known about halfway through the book so there weren’t any really big surprises. I was just along for the ride and seemed, to me, to be a pretty easy and smooth read.

I will complain about Dirk’s love life though. One of two people in his life is a woman he occasionally sleeps with who has so many others that she isn’t a real contender. Then enters Summer. She is of questionable character and I feel she remains that way even to the end. I do not like her. After only seeing Dirk face-to-face a handful of times, she declares her undying love for him. What utter bull.

I will be reading the rest of the series in the hopes that more mysteries of the deep are the topic of discussion.