July 15, 2019

Review: Night Probe by Clive Cussler

Night Probe! (Dirk Pitt #6)
Author: Clive Cussler
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: January 1, 1981
Pages: 345
Format: Paperback/Own

In the midst of an international crisis, Heidi Milligan, a beautiful, brilliant American naval commander, accidentally discovers an obscure reference to the long-buried North American Treaty, a precedent-shattering secret pact between the United States and Great Britain. The President believes that the treaty offers the single shot at salvation for an energy-starved, economically devastated nation, but the only two copies plummeted into the watery depths of the Atlantic in twin disasters long ago. The original document must be found—and the one American who can do the job is Dirk Pitt.

But in London, a daring counterplot is being orchestrated to see that the treaty is never implemented. Brian Shaw, a master spy who has often worked hand in hand with American agents, now confronts his most challenging command. Pitt’s mission: Raise the North American Treaty. Shaw’s mission: Stop Pitt.

Review: Night Probe is my second Dirk Pitt novel and I loved this one just as much as I loved Raise The Titanic. I loved how this one still had that intrigue and thrill that Raise The Titanic had, but also had a futuristic feel with the idea that Canada could hold us hostage with a power source. I mean, that was incredibly interesting. And the whole idea of a long lost and covered up treaty between the United States and Great Britain regarding selling Canada to the US. MAN, this book was a freaking ride from beginning to end. 

So the whole backstory is that the US is facing an energy crisis because of oil being depleted, but the source of non-oil power for a huge chunk of the US actually come from a plant in Quebec. The North American Treaty was long forgotten until Heidi Milligan stumbles onto a reference of this treaty while researching something else. This then leads to an investigation into what the North American Treaty actually was, and when it's figured out, the President sees it as his shot at salvation to not have to bow down to Canada's demands during the energy crisis.

This was just so thrilling all around. We have two copies of the treaty. One in a shipwreck, one in a train wreck. Both are to be found and explored to potentially find both copies so one might be used. The shipwreck turns out to be a bust. The train-wreck however, well, that opens up a whole other can of worms. The train is not where it was supposed to have gone into a river. Which leads to this whole other mystery Dirk has to solve as to where the train actually went if not in the river. Man, figuring out the train mystery was so thrilling. Going through the events happening at the time the train was thought to go in the river. Tracking down people that might have any knowledge of it. Tracking down areas the train could have been diverted off the tracks before getting to the river and how it would still have seemed like a train went in the river. It was incredibly interesting seeing where the train actually ended up being and figuring out how to actually get to it.

I also thought everything happening in Canada at the same time was incredibly intriguing. Not only do we have all this mystery with the train and finding the treaty documents, but in Canada, they are trying to prevent Quebec from seceding. There's assassination plots, impostors, affairs. I swear, the story of trying to prevent Quebec from seceding was just as thrilling as the plot to find the treaty.

The end was just huge. The US and Canada actually agree to terms regarding the treaty. The talks behind the scenes we find out the US and Canada were having about merging the countries before the treaty even came into play. This definitely is one of my absolute favorite Clive Cussler books to date!