Clive Cussler's Fire Strike

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For fans of previous volumes in this series or action heroes like Jack Reacher and Mitch Rapp, this is a must read. Although Clive Cussler's novels were pretty generic, they were plotted out well, with almost every situation being necessary to the plot. What drew me to The Oregon Files and made it my Clive Cussler favorite series are the ship and her crew.

Hoping to help a fellow former agent find her son at his boss’s request, the plot slowly takes us through a grand conspiracy, hoping to start a war with the US by firing a hypersonic missile at an aircraft carrier in the Gulf. A mad scientist-style villain with genetic engineering is at the center of Fire Strike but there are other parallel subplots. Maybe he could have; I have read military biographies and military history books that have described military personnel undergoing crazy extreme wounds and surviving, so anything is possible, I guess.

There are at least five different stories taking place, and none seem to have any relationship to the opening scenario, or to each other. Apparently, it was just intended to show the reader how bad the bad guys are without the situation being necessary for the plot. The Oregon is not only a vessel but is a main character, an extension of every great character on board. Cabrillo’s crew have met their most fearsome adversaries a force of bio-hacked soldiers endowed with extreme strength and stamina and an unquenchable appetite for violence. Juan Cabrillo is doing a favor for the CIA by tracking down the brother of a formerly high ranking Israeli agent.

And then you had the "mobile attack group" attacking a camp "filled" with these enhanced soldiers and the camp is easily taken out with zero casualties to the Oregon's team(s). My only issue with the story is that Maden did not place the ship Oregon in the center of the action.The plot revolves around two stolen missiles and one scientist's quest to improve the gene pool of humanity. I would recommend reading any one of the dozen novels in the Oregon Files series before Fire Strike. As you would expect, eventually these come together to form a semi coherent plot, but it was well past the half way point of the book where that happened.