Shock Wave
Shock Wave
By Clive Cussler
After a period of reading about Russian history and the rise and fall of Stalin, I decided to return to a series I loved as a kid and read something a little different for my next reading adventure.
You see, back in the early 1970's, a man who worked in advertising by the name of Clive Cussler was tasked by his wife with looking after their two children while she worked longer hours at night to support their family. Cussler, forever one curious about the deep and fascinated by both maritime history and oceanography, took the time after putting the kids to bed to sit down and write a story as a means to entertain himself. In part of his autobiography, he mentions that these stories were just to pass the time-- never to see the light of day. And in his quest to write something he'd enjoy reading, he chose to mold a character that was unlike any of the traditional tropes he found boring.
Instead of a policeman or a spy or a private eye, he wanted, simply, to focus on someone who encompassed all his morals and values as well as his deepest curiosities and interests. Someone who, if given the opportunity, could fit in just as well with a bar full of sailors drinking beer as he could dancing with a beautiful woman at an expensive banquet. Throwing in his love of classic automobiles for good measure, Cussler eventually crafted one of the most unique characters imaginable that would lead him to living out the rest of his life in style with an extensive collection of cars worth millions and his own undersea adventure tales to tell.
That character's name was Dirk Pitt, and I mention Cussler's origin because this novel, Shock Wave, in a few ways, echoes Cussler's legacy. Having held off for over a decade from reading any Cussler novels for fear that the series had gone stale (This is my biggest issue with reading any series, no matter how compelling the character – Cussler’s novel Inca Gold was downright awful, in my opinion), I approached this novel with great hesitation thinking that it would prove to be a dry and meandering daydream with little base in reality.
But after reading it, I'm very happy to report that all of my fears were for nothing. While the 12th book in a long line of novels featuring Dirk Pitt, Cussler has once more proved himself to be full of surprises and intrigue. Despite a sinister scientific element that is difficult to accept at first glance, Cussler controls his work with enough science and history to ground the reader into believing him.
Amidst enough action to accelerate the reader through the book as well as enough references to all of the previous tales to make any Cussler fan grin in remembrance, he also chooses to confront the idea of the series head on by challenging the protagonist to reflect on how long he can continue to live out these daring adventures. It begs the question why we love epic heroes which is never quite fully answered until the last two pages.
That being said, while Shock Wave is highly entertaining and inspiring of what kind of legacy may be built novel by novel, it also has some interesting flaws. Despite a wonderful climax, an incredibly dark method of torture and death featured by the antagonist, and a heart-wrenching ending, Cussler spends pages hyping up the tension with the promise of a confrontation with a bodyguard considered a malevolent sadist and then fails to deliver. It's as if the character took a parachute out of the novel before Cussler could pull it in for an amazing landing, creating a hole that is not closed at the conclusion.
I find this to be a mistake because I view it almost as a false-promise to the reader. As a writer, when you’re creating a story, you’re meant to tell it as truthfully as you can—meaning that what indicators and clues you lay out in the beginning should be included the further into the text you go. In theatre, the saying goes that if you have a gun on stage during Act I that by Act III that thing should be going off.
It’s no different when you’re a writer. You’re creating a story where the reader is placing their trust in you. If you veer off course, you’re placing yourself at an unfair advantage; the reader is unable to take the indicators you’ve placed throughout to see if they can figure out what happens next. In some cases, they may instead feel cheated. While I’m certain this was not Cussler’s intent—rather that it felt natural to him to forget a confrontation with the bodyguard—I couldn’t help but feel a slight measure of disappointment.
Likewise, he spends a lot of time building the sinister nature of our antagonist but struggles with finalizing his believability with the lack of any differing angles when portraying his personality. It makes him appear somewhat cardboard in some scenes.
Regardless, Cussler compensates for these faults with enough depth to his main characters that the reader is drawn deeper into the story for them (not the antagonist). Almost as if he can see possible fault with his text, he compensates for it wonderfully with people who make us feel. Central characters who we love and can’t help but cheer for because we want them to overpower any obstacles in their path. Cussler is not hesitant to make them suffer and struggle, almost as if he were carefully demonstrating for us once again why we love our epic heroes.
The effect is a very unique story of excitement, character/series reflection, and sturdy plot structure that can keep anyone going. I'd recommend this novel for anyone just looking for an escape or, perhaps, in need of a different take on how to write an epic hero. I used to find the very idea of them uninteresting; Cussler’s Shock Wave has only renewed my faith that epic heroes can be engaging.
Give it a read; perhaps he’ll make a believer out of you too.