Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.
Clive Cussler is an author from Aurora, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He has been writing books for more than forty years and is a popular name in the world of thrillers. He particularly uses his experience in the field of underwater exploration as an influence for many of his books.
Order of Dirk Pitt Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Mediterranean Caper / Mayday! | 1973 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Iceberg | 1974 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Raise the Titanic! | 1976 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Vixen 03 | 1978 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Night Probe! | 1981 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Pacific Vortex | 1983 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Deep Six | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Cyclops | 1986 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Treasure | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Dragon | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Sahara | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Inca Gold | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Shock Wave | 1996 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Flood Tide | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
15 | Atlantis Found | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
16 | Valhalla Rising | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
17 | Trojan Odyssey | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
18 | Black Wind | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
19 | Treasure of Khan | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
20 | Arctic Drift | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
21 | Crescent Dawn | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
22 | Poseidon's Arrow | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
23 | Havana Storm | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
24 | Odessa Sea | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
25 | Celtic Empire | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
26 | The Devil's Sea | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
27 | The Corsican Shadow | 2023 | Description / Buy |
Order of NUMA Files Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Serpent | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Blue Gold | 2000 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Fire Ice | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
4 | White Death | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Lost City | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Polar Shift | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Navigator | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Medusa | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Devil's Gate | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Storm | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Zero Hour | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Ghost Ship | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
13 | The Pharaoh's Secret | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Nighthawk | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
15 | The Rising Sea | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
16 | Sea of Greed | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
17 | Journey of the Pharaohs | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
18 | Fast Ice | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
19 | Dark Vector | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
20 | Condor's Fury | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
21 | Desolation Code | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Oregon Files Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Golden Buddha | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Sacred Stone | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Dark Watch | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Skeleton Coast | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Plague Ship | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Corsair | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Silent Sea | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
8 | The Jungle | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Mirage | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Piranha | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Emperor's Revenge | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Typhoon Fury | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Shadow Tyrants | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Final Option | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
15 | Marauder | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
16 | Hellburner | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
17 | Fire Strike | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
18 | Ghost Soldier | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Isaac Bell Adventures Series with Jack Du Brul, Justin Scott
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Chase | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Wrecker | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Spy | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Race | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Thief | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Striker | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Bootlegger | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
8 | The Assassin | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Gangster | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Cutthroat | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Titanic Secret | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Saboteurs | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
13 | The Sea Wolves | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
14 | The Heist | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Chronological Order of Isaac Bell Adventures Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Striker | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Assassin | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Chase | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Gangster | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Wrecker | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Spy | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Race | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
8 | The Thief | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Cutthroat | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Titanic Secret | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Bootlegger | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Saboteurs | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
13 | The Sea Wolves | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
14 | The Heist | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Clive Cussler Children's Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Adventures of Vin Fiz | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy | 2010 | Description / Buy |
Order of Fargo Adventures Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Spartan Gold | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Lost Empire | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Kingdom | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Tombs | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Mayan Secrets | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Eye of Heaven | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Solomon Curse | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Pirate | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Romanov Ransom | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Gray Ghost | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Oracle | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
12 | Wrath of Poseidon | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
13 | The Serpent's Eye | 2025 | Description / Buy |
Order of The Sea Hunters Series with Craig Dirgo
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Sea Hunters | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Sea Hunters II | 2002 | Description / Buy |
Order of Clive Cussler Non-Fiction Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Built to Thrill | 2016 | Description / Buy |
Order of General Military Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The British Home Guard Pocketbook | 0 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Otto Skorzeny: The Devil’s Disciple | 1950 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Forgotten Dead: Why 946 American Servicemen Died Off The Coast of Devon in 1944 | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Jackspeak: A Guide to British Naval Slang & Usage | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Joshua L. Chamberlain: The Life in Letters of a Great Leader of the American Civil War | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Hunt the Bismarck: The Pursuit of Germany's Most Famous Battleship | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Out of Nowhere: A history of the military sniper, from the Sharpshooter to Afghanistan | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Rome at War | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Struggle for a Vast Future: The American Civil War | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Rolling Thunder In A Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
11 | FUBAR: Soldier Slang of World War II | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
12 | An Officer's Manual of the Western Front: 1914-1918 | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Warship 2008 | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
15 | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
16 | The English Civil Wars, 1640-1660 | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
17 | No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II (General Mi | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
18 | Battleground Prussia | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
19 | The Road to Victory: From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
20 | The Spitfire Pocket Manual: 1939-1945 | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
21 | Silent Killers: Submarines and Underwater Warfare | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
22 | Warship 2011 | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
23 | Quick Training for War (Short Story) | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
24 | Panther: Germany's quest for combat dominance | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
25 | The Para Fitness Guide | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
26 | The Rice Paddy Navy: U.S. Sailors Undercover in China | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
27 | The Commando Pocket Manual: 1940-1945 (Short Story) | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
28 | Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare From Stalingrad to Iraq | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
29 | America's Elite: U.S. Special Forces From The American Revolution To The Present Day | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
30 | American Tanks & AFVs of World War II | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
31 | Invasion 1914: The Schlieffen Plan to the Battle of the Marne | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
32 | No Victory in Valhalla: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
33 | The SAS Pocket Manual: 1941-1945 (Short Story) | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
34 | Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company’s War in Vietnam | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
35 | Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915 | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
36 | The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume I: 1939–42 | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
37 | Finland at War: the Winter War 1939-40 | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
38 | American Knights: The Untold Story of the Men of the Legendary 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
39 | Finland at War: The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941–45 | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
40 | Liberty or Death: The French Revolution | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
41 | Samurai Armour: Volume I: The Japanese Cuirass | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
42 | Maps of War: Mapping conflict through the centuries | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
43 | We March Against England: Operation Sea Lion, 1940-41 | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
44 | Instrument of War: The German Army 1914–18 | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
45 | With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the battle for Montfaucon | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
46 | Loco Spotter’s Guide (Short Story) | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
47 | The Long Range Desert Group in World War II | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
48 | Sevastopol’s Wars: Crimea from Potemkin to Putin | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
49 | Bloodstained Sands: U.S. Amphibious Operations in World War II | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
50 | Soviet T-10 Heavy Tank and Variants | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
51 | Shadow over the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe and the U-boats: 1943–45 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
52 | Shot Down and in the Drink: True Stories of RAF and Commonwealth Aircrews Saved from the Sea in WWII | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
53 | The Splintered Empires | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
54 | Panther | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
55 | The Second World Wars | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
56 | Concorde Pocket Manual | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
57 | Pacific Thunder: The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944 | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
58 | Case Red: The Collapse of France | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
59 | Legion versus Phalanx | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
60 | The Mosquito Pocket Manual: All Marks in Service 1941–1945 (Short Story) | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
61 | Morning Star, Midnight Sun: The Guadalcanal-Solomons Naval Campaign of World War II | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
62 | Cutty Sark Pocket Manual (Short Story) | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
63 | Snapdragon: The World War II Exploits of Darby's Ranger and Combat Photographer Phil Stern | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
64 | Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
65 | HMS Belfast Pocket Manual | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
66 | The German Soldier's Pocket Manual: 1914–18 (Short Story) | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
67 | Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval slang and its everyday usage | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
68 | Valley Of The Shadow: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
69 | Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
70 | Forts: An illustrated history of building for defence | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
71 | The Third Reich is Listening: Inside German codebreaking 1939–45 | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
72 | Charlie Company Journeys Home: The Forgotten Impact on the Wives of Vietnam Veterans | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
73 | Run to the Sound of the Guns: The True Story of an American Ranger at War in Afghanistan and Iraq | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
74 | Soviet T-54 Main Battle Tank | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
75 | Hitler's Death | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
76 | The Great Bear at War: The Russian and Soviet Army, 1917–Present | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
77 | The Pirate World: A History of the Most Notorious Sea Robbers | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
78 | How to Survive in the Georgian Navy: A Sailor's Guide (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
79 | An Englishman Abroad: SOE Agent Dick Mallaby’s Italian Missions, 1943–45 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
80 | War Bows: Longbow, crossbow, composite bow and Japanese yumi | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
81 | Pilgrim Days: A Lifetime of Soldiering from Vietnam to the SAS | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
82 | Panzerartillerie: Firepower for the Panzer Divisions | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
83 | Holding the Line: The Naval Air Campaign In Korea | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
84 | World War II Battle by Battle | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
85 | Doctor for Friend and Foe: Britain's Frontline Medic in the Fight for the Falklands | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
86 | Warship 2019 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
87 | Scapa 1919: The Archaeology of a Scuttled Fleet | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
88 | Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
89 | German submarine U-1105 'Black Panther': The naval archaeology of a U-boat (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
90 | Soviet T-55 Main Battle Tank | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
91 | The Hurricane Pocket Manual: All marks in service 1939–45 (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
92 | On a Knife's Edge | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
93 | Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939 | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
94 | Sent by the Iron Sky: The Legacy of an American Parachute Battalion in World War II | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
95 | The Persian War: In Herodotus and Other Ancient Voices | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
96 | Blazing Star, Setting Sun: The Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign November 1942–March 1943 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
97 | Audacious Missions of World War II: Daring Acts of Bravery Revealed Through Letters and Documents from the Time | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
98 | Be PARA Fit: The 4-Week Formula for Elite Physical Fitness | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
99 | Hitler's Tanks: German Panzers of World War II | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
100 | The Master Shipwright's Secrets: How Charles II built the Restoration Navy | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
101 | Lawrence of Arabia on War: The Campaign in the Desert 1916–18 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
102 | The Devil's Bridge: The German Victory at Arnhem, 1944 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
103 | Rome - City in Terror: The Nazi Occupation 1943–44 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
104 | I Will Run Wild: The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
105 | The Reckoning | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
106 | Mutiny on the Spanish Main: HMS Hermione and the Royal Navy's Revenge | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
107 | Blood, Metal and Dust: The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq 2001–14 | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
108 | The Churchill Quiz Book: How much do you know about Britain's wartime leader? | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
109 | Warship 2021 | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
110 | Soviet T-62 Main Battle Tank | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
111 | Jutland 1916: The Archaeology of a Naval Battlefield | 2021 | Description / Buy |
Clive Cussler Anthologies
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thriller 2 | 2009 | Description / Buy |
He is an American author who is best known for writing adventure novels, many of them based around nautical exploration, or at least involving similar themes. This is mainly due to Cussler’s love of underwater exploration and the fact he was the actual founder of the real-life National Underwater and Maine Agency (NUMA), which he based a series of novels around.
Clive Cussler is particularly famous for his series of books featuring Dirk Pitt, an operative with the National Underwater and Marine Agency or NUMA, an organization that Cussler himself formed. The organization has discovered a variety of shipwreck sites. His work has particularly inspired a few films.
Clive Cussler was born in the city of Aurora in the US state of Illinois in July 1931. However, although he was born in Auroroa, his family moved west, and Cussler actually spent his formative years in the Californian city of Alhambra, which is in the Los Angeles County region of the state. After leaving high school, Cussler stayed in his home state of California to attend Pasadena City College. However, he sent two years in further education before enlisting for service in the United States Air Force, where he served in the Korean War in the engineering side of things.
After being discharged from the United States Air Force, Cussler, via a stint in the advertising industry, turned to writing, almost by chance. While his wife worked nights, he would often find himself alone of an evening with nothing to occupy his time after his children were asleep, so he turned to writing to fill his time. Needless to say, looking at his success over 50 years down the line, it was not a bad decision. However, while Cussler started what was, at the time, a hobby in 1965, it wasn’t until 1973 that his first book was published. That book, The Mediterranean Caper, was the first book to be published in the Dirt Pitt series (although not the first chronologically – that honour falls to Pacific Vortex, which was published in 1983).
After the success of The Mediterranean Caper, and Iceberg, the second book in the Dirk Pitt series, Cussler kept up writing solely the Dirk Pitt series of books until the late 90s, when he created The NUMA Files series of books (although he did write a couple of non-fiction books earlier in the ’90s). The NUMA Files were based around the fictional character of Kurt Austin, although NUMA itself is a very real thing, having been created by Cussler as an underwater investigation unit. There is often a crossover between Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series and The NUMA Files series of books, mostly with character making appearances in both series, with Dirk Pitt himself making appearances in several of The NUMA Files series. Serpent, the first book in The NUMA Files series, was published in 1999, and Cussler actually co-authored it with Paul Kemprecos. As well as Kemprecos, Cussler has also co-authored several books in the series with Graham Brown.
In 2003, Clive Cussler then created another spin-off from the Dirk Pitt series of books called The Oregon Files. Again, this would have a nautical slant, as it focuses on the crew of the Oregon, a high-tech ship which takes on undercover missions for various agencies in order to stop high-profile criminals, as well as attempt to defeat terrorists. The first book in The Oregon Files series of books is Golden Buddha, which Cussler co-authored with Craig Dirgo. Cussler has also worked with Jack Du Brul and Body Morrison on The Oregon Files series.
In 2006, Cussler authored his first children’s novels, The Adventures of Vin Fiz, and he followed that up in 2010 with The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy.
While continuing the Dirk Bell series, The NUMA Files and The Oregon Files, Clive Cussler created yet another series of books, this time set in the early part of the 20th century, featuring a character called Isaac Bell. Unlike the majority of other books written by Clive Cussler, the Isaac Bell series of books do not have a nautical theme, although they do retain Cussler’s love for gadgetry and over-the-top plots. The first book in the Isaac Bell series was published in 2007 and was called The Chase. Cussler authored this on his own, but has collaborated with Justin Scott on most of the series.
And just when you think Cussler couldn’t create any more adventurers, in 2009, the first book in the Fargo Adventures was published, which was called Spartan Gold. It features Sam and Remi Fargo, who are treasures husband-and-wife treasure hunters. Cussler has co-authored books in the Fargo Adventures series with Grant Blackwood, Thomas Perry and Russell Blake.
Clive Cussler Awards
In 2017, Clive Cussler was awarded a lifetime achievement award from Strand Mystery Magazine. With a forty-two year career, over sixty novels and a millions of fans worldwide, this award is very deserved. He was awarded at a cocktail party in front of a group of his peers, The Strand Mystery Magazine is a magazine that posts previously unpublished works from great authors of the past as well as new works of fiction from up and coming authors. In addition to writing tips, articles and interviews with masters of the craft.
Chronological Order of Clive Cussler Books
In the Dirk Pitt series, the first novel would be The Pacific Vortex followed by the Mediterranean Caper. Following on from that, the rest of the Dirk Pitt book series can be read in the same order as the publication order.
All of the other Clive Cussler book series, such as the Isaac Bell Adventures and the Oregon Files have the same chronological order as their publication dates.
Clive Cussler Books Made Into Movies
Two of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels have been made into movies. The 1976 novel Raise the Titanic! was made into a film in 1980. Richard Jordan stars as Dirk Pitt while Jason Robards starred as another character whom has appeared in many of Cussler’s novels, Admiral James Sandecker. The movie was critical panned and was a box office failure.
It would not be until 2005 when another Cussler novel was adapted into a movie. His 1992 novel Sahara was adapted into a movie with Matthew McConaughey starred at Dirk. William H. Macy appeared as Sandecker. Steve Zahn played Al Giordino, Pitt’s long-time sidekick. Penelope Cruz and Rainn Wilson were also in the movie. The movie was tepidly received by critics and failed to make back its budget and promotional costs. There were also concerns over how the filmmakers bribed the Moroccan government to use some sites for shooting the movie.
Best Clive Cussler Books
There are a number of prominent books that Clive Cussler has written over the years:
Raise the Titanic: This 1976 book entails the discovery that the Titanic, the famed ocean liner that sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, has a rare mineral in its wreckage. This is believed to be the only source of such a mineral to power up a top secret defense program. This leads to Dirk Pitt and the United States defense department deciding to find a way to raise the massive shipwreck to the top of the ocean to salvage the mineral.
Dragon: This 1990 Dirk Pitt novel entails terrorists looking to take back nuclear bombs as a means of destroying the United States. This comes as a desire from the terrorists to bring Japan back to its former glory from before the time the United States bombed the country in World War II. The story has a prologue about a B-29 bomber that was to carry a third nuclear bomb to Japan being shot down off of the Japanese coastline. This novel marks the first time Cussler himself makes an appearance in one of his own stories.
Plague Ship: Written in 2008 with help from Jack Du Brul, Plague Ship is a book in the Oregon Files series of stories. This book features Juan Cabrillo as he looks to find out who could have destroyed a cruise ship and who spread an Ebola-like plague on board. This leads to the discovery of an extremist organization looking to try and make much of the world’s population sterile. The extremist group is believed to be a thinly-veiled version of the controversial Scientologist organization.
Clive Cussler FAQs
Q: When was the author Clive Cussler born?
A: The author Clive Cussler was born on July 15th 1931 in the American city of Aurora, Illinois.
Q: What was the first book Clive Cussler had published?
A: The first book Clive Cussler had published was The Mediterranean Caper, the first novel to feature Dirk Pitt, which was published in 1973.
Q: Is NUMA a real organization?
A: Yes, it is. The National Underwater and Marine Agency is an actual organization founded by Clive Cussler for the purposes of “preserving our maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.” Cussler went on to base some books about the organization which in turn help fund NUMA.
Q: How many shipwrecks has NUMA discovered?
A: NUMA is always active, but as of this writing that have discovered more than sixty shipwreck sites.
The most notable of the discoveries is The Carpathia which is most famous for being the first responding ship of the Titanic survivors.
Q: Is Clive Cussler in any of his books?
A: Yes, he is. What started as a joke for his editor that was never removed, Cussler is now a frequent character in his stories. Sometimes he is a minor character while other times he is something of a “deus ex machina” in that he gives the main character a key piece of information to move the story forward.
When Does The Next Clive Cussler book come out?
Clive Cussler doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Dark Vector and was released on May, 24th 2022. It is the newest book in the NUMA Files Series.
I REALLY, REALLY LOVE READING CLIVE CUSSLERS’ BOOKS. ONCE I START ONE I FIND IT VERY HARD TO PUT IT DOWN. SOME ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, BUT ALL OF THEM HAVE PROVIDED ME WITH MANYN HOURS OF ENJOYMENT.
I have not read all of Clive Cussler’s books but the ones I have read I could not lay down. I especially enjoy the Dirk Pitt series and the Fargo series. My goal is to read every one of his books. Our Public Library here in our small town has done a book discussion on Arctic Drift which was enjoyed by all. I am so sorry that we have lost a great writer.
Rest in Piece Mr. Cussler, Its because of you I took up reading while stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1976. The first Book I ever read from cover to cover was your book Raise the Titanic and I’ve been hooked on reading every since. My Personal Book Collection consist of over 250 books and of that over 45 of your books.
Thank You
anyone have a clue – has Isaac Bell “interacted” with any present day characters besides in The Titanic Secret?
I started reading Cussler with the Dirk Pitt series but that got just a bit too audacious for my liking.
I’ve got to say that the Oregon Files series is probably his best work. He works well with Jack De Brul and Juan Cabrillo is fantastic.
The Silent Sea is my personal favourite. It was pretty slow to begin with but I felt that was just setting up the plot etc. Once it got going around 25% into the book – thank you Mr. Kindle – I really got hooked on it.
One thing I liked was that I had no idea what the Ronish brothers had found or what it actually meant and how it really affected the story. it just kept me reading.
I don’t want to spoil anything but man, that ending got me. I’m embarrassed to admit that I totally fell for it!
I can’t believe the Dirk Pitt series is still going strong all these years later!
I just finished reading Odessa Sea. I’ve actually read every single one over the course of the last couple of months. It’s been quite the journey that’s for sure.
I might need a little break before I read any more Cussler but I’m looking forward to doing so.
I think my favourite book in the series was Atlantis Found. What a book that was. That was the one where Dirk discovers Atlantis obviously. It was an absolutely crazy plot and it was the page turner of page turners. I just could not put it down.
I love the style of the short chapters. Need more authors like that.
Looking forward to reading more Cussler. Thanks for these lists.