A series of twists keeps the book racing ahead. Cussler fans won’t be disappointed.” — Publishers Weekly

Calvera's eyes narrowed, focused on a bead of sweat glistening on his first officer's forehead. "My math skills are equal to yours, Santos." Calvera had never seen his number two this shaken up before. Santos was as loyal as an old hunting dog and just as reliable. But Santos had more to lose. He kept several spoiled young wives and fifteen fat children in three separate countries. Calvera swore violently. He'd butchered men for lesser insults. But he swallowed his pride-a tactical necessity.

Calvera laughed as the Sungu Barat’s bridge windows shattered instantly, and chunks of the rusted bridgework pulverized beneath the hammering shellfire. Calvera crossed over to Rico and clapped a hand on his shoulder. The young helmsman was grinning ear to ear with pride in his vessel and his captain. They would put plenty of distance between themselves and the old junker within minutes. Entiendo." Calvera spat out the word like a curse and shoved the mic into Santos' hand. He shouted at Rico, "Kill the engines!"

You're in no position to dictate terms, Calvera. Kill your engines, come to a halt and be prepared to be boarded. Entiendes?" Valentin hit the remote trigger. Three towering geysers erupted harmlessly to the Sungu Barat's starboard as it veered away. I don't know what Maden was trying to do but the Corporation in this book are really not it. The whole spirit of the team is just gone, all the characters felt so boring to me when usually I absolutely love reading about them. The amazing team spirit that makes the Corporation just wasn't there. I don't know what happened. Also, where were the gundogs? Eddie and MacD were hardly mentioned in this book and Raven and Linc were pretty scarce too. The characters just felt really "dead" to me, there was no spirit and Juan and the others just sort of annoyed me. Calvera's eyes remained fixed on his watch. He was doing the calculations in his mind, a more reliable instrument than any computer.With millions of innocent lives hanging in the balance, the Oregon's crew must unravel a tangle of drug-smuggling routes and international conspiracies spanning from the Aegean Sea to the Indian Ocean. But to do so means putting their lives on the line to find the weapon - before its countdown hits zero... A vein throbbed on Calvera's forehead. He had a young wife and several children. So did Santos and the other officers. It was one of the reasons they had been recruited into the organization. If they were boarded and their cargo seized, not only would they be killed but their entire families would be wiped out. Blue-eyed, sandy-haired Juan Cabrillo—posing as Captain Soto—held on tight. The rigid-hull inflatable boat bounced beneath him as it raced across the dark blue water. The four-man team was kitted out in body armor, flash-bang grenades and silenced H&K MP5 submachine guns strapped to their chests. Very disappointed, it seems like the last couple of books have just been going through the motions. From the start it seemed like I was in a Star Trek story, bring on a new character just to kill them off. I once again felt like this was just an assembly of past stories, very disjointed. The journalist character seemed out of place and coincidences were over the top. The decision to let her go by herself when her father was released so out of place and an obviously stupid decision it just left me wondering WTF. I understand it is fiction but if you are going to use everyday items make sure you get their uses correct or at least believable. Not sure why the author used "The Dragon" as a reference to hardship and that it is blood-soaked pavement, I guess they have never been to Deal's Gap. The final climactic scene was ridiculous, the books in the past have always made the characters more capable than the average human being, however this time it was so far in left field they felt more like superhero's than people.

First, the camaraderie between the crew was not consistent with previous installments. One example is that Stonie and Murph are supposed to be best buds, solving problems together and feeding off each other. None of their interactions portrayed that. Linda Ross, Doc Huxley, Mac D, Eddie, Raven and Overholt also were not consistent from previous books. Juan was closer to being consistent but some scenes and lines were out of character for him. Captain Calvera heard the tension in his first officer's voice. They were both hovering over a military-grade electronics suite-something his commercial fishing trawler El Valiente shouldn't have but did. Oh, how I love the disguised fighter and intel-gathering ship, The Oregon. It marvels me that this state of art technology ship has an outer shell of an old, rusty, filthy, and SMELLY tramp steamer. The inside though is equipped with just about everything you can imagine; a weapons room, a garage for their cutting-edge vehicles, a tiltrotor, a pool, five stars kitchen & chef, a meeting room that mirrors the WH situation room, a trauma center, and a science lab. They adorn their interior walls with priceless original paintings for crying out loud! The crew is mostly former military/intelligence except for a Hollywood guy who lends his special effects, makeup, and wardrobe talent. He didn't have to say a word. What Santos saw on his radar screen Calvera witnessed with his own bulging eyes. His jaw dropped.

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This felt more like a plodding series of events instead of the rip roaring, fast paced adventures of the Oregon Crew. It gave the impression that the author wasn't familiar with the previous books in this series. Only Cabrillo and the Oregon crew stand between the Pipeline and huge destruction. But this is the place they work best . . . When the Oregon team uncover a ship full of contraband, smuggling turns out to be the tip of a very deep (and dark) iceberg. Cabrillo's Corporation of mercenaries may have finally met its match in The Pipeline - a criminal syndicate passed down from father to son across generations. A group with its finger on the trigger of a torpedo so deadly it could level entire cities.

Calvera keyed his radio mic. "Soto, this is Captain Calvera, over. Do you need assistance? We saw three explosions-" Santos saw the flashing comms light. He pulled on his earphones and tapped a button. A moment later, he glanced up at Calvera. Eddie Seng, a lean and wiry Chinese-American, sat near the bow. The ex-CIA operative held the pneumatic telescoping boarding pole. It featured a grappling hook and a wireless video camera so that he could see what they were up against before climbing up the rope ladder. He wore augmented reality glasses synced to the camera. He snatched up a satellite phone from his command station, then turned toward Santos as he pulled his pistol from its holster.

Calvera frowned, thinking. There were only three choices ever available to a captain in his position: run, hide or fight. El Valiente was indeed a commercial fishing vessel, but it had been modified to function as a covert smuggler. He and his crew had spent years perfecting the art of hiding in plain sight, plying the fishing waters and port cities of the Atlantic and Mediterranean for over half a decade. Not being noticed was their first and best defense. There's no fee you can pay, Calvera. No bribes. No negotiations. Kill your engines now or I'll kill them for you-and maybe your entire crew."