“When power is up for grabs,” Pitt said, “the first casualty is often liberty.”

Oof.

I’m starting to feel like a broken record. Didn’t already do Cuba, seafloor mining, and Aztec treasures? Admittedly not in the same book. And they do mention that Dirk Pitt (Sr) met Fidel Castro once upon a story. So there’s something.

Overall, there area lot of threads going on that don’t really feel all that related. The mining plotline isn’t that interesting. The Aztec treasures are pretty cool, although feels like a much smaller plot o the book.

And while for the most part Cussler has gotten much, much better about misogyny throughout his books:

“I saw a bright light,” she said in a weak voice. “I thought it was an angel calling me, then I realized it was something else.”

“What’s that?” Pitt asked, leaning close.

“It was you,” she said, reaching up to her father’s face and stroking away a tear.

Daw… but eep? Just about all of them keep getting captured over and over again. Dirk Pitt Sr? Dirk Pitt Jr? (still confusing) Al? They can rescue themselves. But Summer? Needs dear old aging dad.

Ug.

Overall, it’s more of the same, but enjoyable enough.