“You heard what the man said,” Giordino replied. “We’re going to Anchorage. Anchorage, Alaska,” he repeated lovingly. “South of the Arctic Circle. Did ever a place sound so warm and inviting?” he asked with a contented grin.

We’ve done ice before¹). We’ve done mines before[^mine]. We’ve done oil before[^oil]. We’ve even done global warming before[^warming]. At some point, these books have really started to blend together. Almost done though, so at this point I’ll see them through.

I still really do enjoy the characters of Dirk Pitt…

They loped through rush hour traffic along the Mall and across the George Mason Bridge before heading south into Virginia. As the city monuments grew smaller behind them, the traffic lightened and Pitt mashed down on the accelerator. With a smooth and powerful twelve-cylinder engine under the hood, the sleek Auburn quickly sprinted past the speed limit. As the car accelerated, Lisa grinned and waved like a little girl at the passing traffic, enjoying the wind as it rustled through her hair. Up front, Loren placed a hand on Pitt’s knee and smiled at her husband, who always seemed to find a touch of adventure wherever he went.

…and–well–Dirk Pitt (that’s so confusing)…

Dirk had his own deliberate look about him. He liked to play by the rules but had little tolerance for authoritarian bullying tactics. Summer liked to joke that he was a jovial Clark Kent, who always gave a handout to a beggar or held a door open for a woman. But if someone told him he couldn’t do something, he was apt to turn into the Tasmanian Devil.

…and you do get some crazy scenes, like a ship frozen into a wall, loaded with black powder. Not the strongest book in the series, but it’s fine.