Dirk Pitt debuts in 1973's 'The Mediterranean Caper'

For almost a year now, I’ve been trying to read all of Clive Cussler’s novels, and yesterday, I scratched another of his famous action-adventure novels off my list of those left to read.

The time around it was “The Mediterranean Caper,” which was first published in 1973. This novel is remarkable for a number of reasons, but is best known for being the first appearance of Cussler’s legendary character, Dirk Pitt.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pitt, he’s a renowned adventurer, sort of what you would get if you combined James Bond and Jacques Cousteau. His official title is Special Projects Director for the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA).

Since his first appearance in “The Mediterranean Caper,” Pitt has appeared in 20 other Cussler novels. You may be have read or at least heard of some of these books. They include “Iceberg,” 1975; “Raise the Titanic!” 1976; “Vixen 03,” 1978; “Night Probe!” 1981; “Pacific Vortex!,” 1983; “Deep Six,” 1984; “Cyclops,” 1986; “Treasure,” 1988; “Dragon,” 1990; “Sahara,” 1992; “Inca Gold,” 1994; “Shock Wave,” 1996; “Flood Tide,” 1997; “Atlantis Found,” 1999; “Valhalla Rising,” 2001; “Trojan Odyssey,” 2003; “Black Wind,” 2004; “Treasure of Khan,” 2006; “Artic Drift,” 2008; and “Crescent Dawn,” 2010.

Some of you may be familiar with Pitt from the 2005 motion picture version of “Sahara,” which starred Matthew McConaughey as Pitt.

In “The Mediterranean Caper,” Pitt and his faithful sidekick, Deputy Special Projects Director Al Giordino, find themselves on an assignment in the Aegean Sea, where a NUMA research ship is busy trying to find a living Teaser fish, which was thought to be extinct. As Pitt and Giordino arrive in the area by plane, they receive a distress call from a nearby U.S. Air Force Base. The control tower there tells Pitt that they are under attack, and that’s when Pitt springs into action.

Before it’s all over with, Pitt and Giordino find themselves in a dogfight against a WWI-era German bi-plane. Pitt manages to drive off the attacking craft, but not before it does serious damage to most of the aircraft at the airfield.

As the story unfolds, Pitt finds himself battling an international drug ring, which is controlled by one of the most successful – and ruthless – smugglers of all time.

As Cussler’s debut novel, “The Mediterranean Caper” garnered a lot of attention. In fact, it was nominated for a prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category of “Best Paperback Original Novel of 1973.”

I enjoyed this book, but I have to say that I have read other Cussler novels that were much better. “Pacific Vortex!” and “Inca Gold” come immediately to mind as two of my personal favorites.

In the end, how many Cussler fans do we have out there? What’s your favorite Cussler book? How many of you have read “The Mediterranean Caper”? What did you think about it? What did you like? Dislike? Let me know in the comments section below.