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Clive Cussler is one of the most beloved weavers of adventurous plots in the world; indeed, his books are translated into various languages and have allowed their author to cultivate a large and faithful following of fans. For his part, the American writer puts a lot of effort into creating new and captivating situations, managing to keep interest in his works alive at all times, one of which is precisely the one I would like to talk about today, namely "The Golden Buddha," the first adventure of Captain Juan Cabrillo and the Oregon, a ship that appears to be decommissioned and about to be scrapped, but which conceals a highly technological soul inside, consisting of cutting-edge equipment and a certain taste for interior design, as shown by the description of the captain's cabin, worthy of a luxury hotel!
Before moving on to the proper analysis, I'll jump into the usual ritual synopsis: the story opens with the Dalai Lama's escape from Tibet on March 31, 1959, during which a very important and rather cumbersome artifact is lost, namely a golden Buddha whose value transcends the material it is made of to harbor an ancient secret capable of determining the fate of an entire people. After this premise, the real action begins, and we meet the Oregon and its crew engaged in a rescue mission near Cuba, at the end of which they receive another assignment: to recover the golden Buddha lost almost fifty years earlier and help the Dalai Lama regain possession of Tibet, all within a few days and trying to attract as little attention as possible, not an easy task, but in the end Cabrillo and his team are paid to do this, making the impossible possible for any other individual!
Having said that, let's begin by talking more in-depth about this adventure novel, starting with the premise that in this writing, the first thing that strikes the reader is, in addition to great skill in the descriptions of objects and scenarios, the smoothness of the reading, which is truly remarkable considering the large number of characters involved (most of them listed at the beginning in a useful compendium where we find, besides their names and surnames, also their 'profession' within the universe created by the two writers) and the various subplots that unfold throughout the narrative, composing the pieces of a mosaic that gradually fits into a more general and articulated puzzle, which is, of course, revealed in its entirety only towards the end of the novel itself. The presence of these various subsections is useful for the two authors to create a dense network of correspondences and situations that literally glue the reader to the page, ensuring that, from chapter to chapter, the reader finds themselves presented with a series of questions that, once answered, are replaced by others that repeat the cycle just described until the conclusion of the story. Alongside this concatenation of events and situations, Cussler and Dirgo certainly do not forget to characterize the various protagonists, especially the "villains," who are indeed well-presented and structured, especially Marcus Friday, a dissolute and incredibly disagreeable American billionaire interested in having the golden Buddha solely for the fact of owning a 'forbidden' object that, in no way, belongs to him.
In conclusion, we have a truly well-crafted work, in which the two writers move very fluidly, alternating slower and descriptive parts, those related to the organization of the various military actions and the journeys of the Oregon, with faster and more active ones, in which all those typical elements of the American adventure tradition are not lacking, such as fights, explosions, daring escapes, and much more. Based on what has been hinted at so far, there is nothing left but to recommend this novel to all those who are looking for a high-adventure and adrenaline-pumping story, capable of entertaining and providing truly enjoyable reading hours.
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