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Cyclops

Cyclops

AdventureSpy
Pages
473
Published
1986
Language
English

Synopsis

When a pilotless blimp drifts toward a Florida resort carrying the bodies of Soviet cosmonauts, Dirk Pitt uncovers a case far bigger than a runaway aircraft. The blimp belongs to missing millionaire adventurer Raymond LeBaron, who vanished while searching for the sunken WWI collier Cyclops and the gold rumored to be lost with it. Pitt's search for LeBaron and his wife Jessie leads into Cuban waters and a Cold War conspiracy: a covert American colony hidden on the Moon that the Soviets are prepared to destroy at any cost. Captured and thrown into a brutal Cuban prison, Pitt must escape, unravel a deadly double game, and stop a Soviet strike before it ignites disaster.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

AdventurousTenseMysterious
SurvivalQuestRevengeBetrayal

Genres

Adventure Spy Suspense Techno-Thriller Thriller Espionage Crime

About the author

C
Clive Cussler

Cussler began writing novels in 1965 and published his first work featuring his continuous series hero, Dirk Pitt, in 1973. His first non-fiction, The Sea Hunters, was released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the Maritime College, State University of New York, considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded Cussler a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997. It was the first time since the College was founded in 1874 that such a degree was bestowed. Cussler is an internation...

Characters

Dirk PittProtagonist

A former Navy SEAL and treasure hunter who teams up with a blimp crew to recover lost gold after their ship is sunk.

Foss GlyAntagonist

A ruthless mercenary and old enemy of Pitt's from a previous adventure, working for the Soviets, who captures and tortures Pitt and his companions in Cuba.

Al GiordinoSupporting

Pitt's longtime NUMA partner and friend, who joins the airship search for Raymond LeBaron and is captured with Pitt in Cuba.

Rudi GunnSupporting

NUMA deputy who accompanies Pitt on the airship search for the missing LeBaron and is captured with him off Cuba.

Jessie LeBaronSupporting

Raymond LeBaron's wife, who enlists Pitt's help to find her missing husband and joins the search herself.

All characters in Cyclops

Frequently asked questions

  • Is the ship Cyclops in the novel based on a real ship?

    Yes. The USS Cyclops was a real U.S. Navy collier that vanished without a trace in March 1918 while sailing from the Caribbean toward Baltimore, with all hands lost. No wreckage was ever found, and the disappearance remains one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in U.S. naval history, often linked to Bermuda Triangle legend. Cussler's novel imagines a fictional solution to that real, still-unexplained loss.

  • Where does Cyclops fall in the Dirk Pitt series?

    Cyclops is the eighth novel in Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series, published in 1986. It follows Deep Six (1984) and precedes Treasure (1988).