Okay, Cussler really jumped the shark (over the moon?) in Cyclops . After the mind control plot of Deep Six , I figured things would stay a bit more grounded this time around.

Nah. Moon colonies. A plot to take over Cuba. El Dorado (or rather La Dorada!). Conversations with Fidel Casto. It’s all here. And it’s completely ridiculous. I wish there’d been a bit more focus on one or two of the plotlines (particular La Dorada, that’s the Pitt I prefer), but so it goes.

We do definitely get back to Cussler’s issues with women characters in books. One hand hand, Jessie LeBaron is a talented strong, woman character who is far more developed than we’ve seen in previous books. On the other hand, hours after her husband is killed and she's on the run in Cuba... Pitt seduces her and they have sex in a storm drain . It’s old Bond to the core and… kind of a terrible scene. It’s the sort of thing that will either turn you off the series entirely or mostly just has to be ignored and hope it gets better. And it is getting … better? At least?

I half hope the next book is just a touch more grounded. But who knows. After a random moon base shows up, anything is possible! Time Travel? Aliens? Literal Gods? SURE!

Addendum: The background of the Jersey Colony’s name is hilarious in a dumb sort of way. I enjoyed that.