Zero Hour (The NUMA Files) Paperback – June 3, 2014

Cussler and Brown give us another good adventure in the life of Kurt Austin and his friends. Kurt has gone on vacation to Australia. He is at a conference, but frankly he is bored. I understand that feeling, often times conferences don't always live up to the liveliness that they offer in their advertising. Kurt has decided to take the afternoon off and is leaving the auditorium when he runs into a beautiful young woman, yeah how coincidental. They have a brief exchange but Ms. Anderson says that she is going back into the conference.But before that can happen a small motorized boat is heading at a very high rate of speed towards the shore where Kurt is standing. The boat is being chased by a helicopter and the men in the copter are shooting at the boat. The boat crashes on to shore and throws one of it's occupants out, the other is caught in the wreckage. Kurt rushes in to try and save the driver, but he is stuck and before Kurt can do anything another round of bullets from the helicopter end the drivers life.Kurt turns his attention to the passenger to see Ms. Anderson running through the melee to drag the man to safety. Kurt does his thing in finding a way to dispatch the helicopter, unfortunately he sends it crashing into the Sidney Opera House (this will make some people unhappy). Now the authorities show up and the real adventure starts.It turns out the Aussies were tracking these men and hoping to meet with them to get the low down on a "mad scientist" who has developed a machine called the Zero Energy Machine that can harness great stores of energy from the earths core and deliver it anywhere in the world he wants to bring about major destruction, such as earthquakes.Well, for Austin the vacation is over. He finds himself intrigued by the problem, but not invited to join the Aussies to help find the scientist. So, he calls Joe and decides that they will set out on their own to discover what is going on.Well, in true Clive Cussler fashion the story develops fast, Kurt and Joe find themselves in the middle of a major conflict alongside the beautiful Ms. Anderson. During the story they will run afoul of the Australians, the Russians and maybe even some of their own countrymen.But in true Cussler fashion they will work out all the details, make friends of some of their enemies, do things that are heroic and some that are just down right stupid, but successful. In the end the world will be saved, the girl will be saved and Kurt and Joe will end up working harder on their vacation than they often do on their assignments.The book is fast paced, interesting, thoughtful and loaded with tension and fun. If you are a Clive Cussler fan you will enjoy the book.Have fun!

Typical of Clive Cussler novels, it's damn near impossible to put down and reads at such an incredibly fast pace that you hardly notice how many pages you've read in such a short space of time.The latest action-packed adventure of the intrepid duo of Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala, this time in Australia, with their usual rollicking derring-do, ingenious escapes from mortal danger, and tongue-in-cheek humour (a la Dirk Pitt & Al Giordino). The action starts off with a mini-disaster (culturally and architecturally speaking, that is) at Sydney's famed Opera House landmark, and doesn't let up from there.Aussie bombshell Hayley Anderson makes for a very appealing female lead, other than her annoying and Luddite-esque travel phobia--I reckon Nicole Kidman or Charlize Theron would be good candidates to portray her in a film adaptation. Meanwhile, I would cast Dolph Lundgren as Russian assassin Anton Gregorovich and Robert Downey Jr. as head villain Maximillian Thero (since Downey already has experience playing an eccentric super-wealthy scientist).Speaking of Thero, he struck me as cartoonish and overly melodramatic in his speaking style, even for a Cussler villain (acknowledging that Cussler's villains are, much like Bond villains, larger than life). But then again, he does have a rather interesting aspect to his personality that one doesn't typically see in action novel villains, a personality trait that makes for an interesting plot twist (for the sake of avoiding a spoiler, I won't elaborate further).Cussler seems to have a thing for Nikola's Tesla's scientific theories and experiments, as his most recent Oregon Files novel, "Mirage," also has a Tesla tie-in.From a firearms enthusiast's standpoint, nice to see one of my favorite pistols, the Russian Makarov, play a prominent role in the action. One technical nitpick of mine is that Cussler (and Brown) refer to automatic rifles having a "slide" when "bolt" is the correct nomenclature.Nitpicks aside, a fun read. The beauty is of it as that it reads so quickly....the downside is that it reads so quickly, it's over before you know it, and you're left hungry for more Cussler adventure!

I am sure that I am a little biased regarding Clive Cussler books, but I thoroughly enjoyed Zero Hour. Really interesting characters, technology, great action, and drama. What more could you ask for? The story held my interest and attention from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Clive Cussler's NUMA Files novels have become one of my favorite series, and "Zero Hour" carries on Cussler's tradition of fast-paced action and adventure.Zero-point energy is the focus of "Zero Hour". It is a state of energy contained in all matter. If it's potential could be tapped, the results could be beneficial..or lethal. Maximillian Thero has been in just such a quandry. He had hoped to develop the use of zero point energy for the benefit of all, but instead, he was vilified by others. So now, as an act of revenge against the world who shunned him, Thero plans to use the power of zero-point energy to destroy the continent of Australia.It is up to Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and a Russian named Gregorovich to find Thero's lair and disable the zero-point machine before it's too late. From the Australian Outback to the Great Southern Ocean, Austin and Zavala are in for their biggest challenge yet.I'm a big fan of Clive Cussler, and I really enjoyed reading "Zero Hour". As with all of Cussler's books, the action is fast-paced and full of twists and turns. The unlikely alliance between Austin and the Russians is one of the better parts of the book. The character development, especially in the case of Hayley and Gregorovich, is very good and the story will definitely keep the reader interested. Highly recommended.

Much gusta

This is Cussler at his best.

Well written,exiting

Issac Bellの頃にも登場し、やや謎を残しながら終わっていたのが、ここで答えが出た。面白かった。

After reading a book called zen and art of motorcycle maintenance, which was nothing but a gratification in vain for mental masturbation, zero hour was a blessing and relieving!