This novel, from the NUMA Files, is set mostly in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and occasionally skirting the border of Guatemala. Not surprisingly, Clive Cussler uses this vicinity to reference one of his favourite underworld characters, Quetzalcoatl, a demonic person who can be blamed for any number of atrocities in the world.
Since Quetzalcoatl has made other appearances in his books, Cussler could have tied the old stories with this thriller to offer more connections that can be drawn to reward his faithful readers.
The story kicks off with Francisco Halcon, who wants to foment revolution in the Western US and reclaim it as Latin-American territory. The showdown between Halcon and NUMA's forces plays out in typical Cussler fury - first on the decks of the sunken passenger liner Andrea Doria in the waters off Nantucket and again in an underwater Mayan crypt in Guatemala. It's all great fun, if not a little top-heavy at times from flabby subplots and excessive detail on arcane historical facts and the machinery of deep-sea exploration added in.
The excitement starts at the bottom of the icy sea off Nantucket where the battered remains of the Italian luxury liner, Andrea Doria lie. But few know that within its bowels rests a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity - a treasure that now holds the key to a puzzle that is costing people their lives. For Kurt Austin, the leader of a courageous National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) exploration team, the killing begins when he makes a daring rescue of a beautiful marine archaeologist. The target of a powerful Texas industrialist named Halcon, Nina Kirov was attacked off the coast of Morocco after her discovery of a carved stone head that may prove Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover America.
Soon Kurt and Nina embark on a deadly mission to uncover Halcon masterful but sinister plan - an insidious scheme that would have him carve out a new nation from the southwest United States and Mexico, and ride to power on a wave of death and destruction.
With Austin's elite NUMA crew attacking the murderous conspiracy from different sides, an extraordinary truth emerges - that Columbus may have made a fifth, unknown voyage to America in search of a magnificent treasure. And that the silent, steel hull of the Andrea Doria not only holds the answer to what the explorer may have found - but also the fate of the United States itself.
As for Dirk Pitt, his fans will be relieved to know that he and longtime sidekick Al Giordino make a brief appearance to wish Austin and Zavala luck, then depart for a mission in Antarctica, no doubt to return with tales of more peril and glory. Fans of Cussler will still enjoy this book.