Description:

Leader of the NUMA Special Assignments team, Kurt Austin must work with a former KGB spy to save the United States from a lunatic with a generations-spanning grudge in this novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series. 

Kurt Austin is preparing for an interview while aboard a research vessel in the Black Sea. But his television spot suddenly becomes a rescue mission when the waiting film crew is attacked on a nearby island.  With little information on the attackers, and no clue to their true agenda, Austin is forced to turn to an unlikely source: his old KGB Cold War adversary Vladimir Petrov. According to Petrov, the island is actually an old submarine base that’s been commandeered by clever mobster-turned-billionaire-businessman Mikhail Razov. Razov is certain he descends from the great Romanov family and he’s out to reclaim his rightful position as czar of Russia.  With a powerful resource called “fire ice”, discovered by his mining company, Razov may just have the ammunition he needs to take over the modern world. To stop him, Austin will have to work with Petrov. And he’ll have to find out fast how much trust he can offer an old nemesis in this thrilling adventure that “goes down like a chilled Stolichnaya martini.” (Kirkus Reviews)

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From Publishers Weekly

This newest addition to the Kurt Austin series (after Blue Gold) has the men from NUMA ([National] Underwater & Marine Agency) team up with former KGB spies to face down a Russian mobster with czarist aspirations and a zealot's hatred for the "corruption and materialism" of the Western lifestyle. The NUMA research vessel Argo is in the Black Sea for a PR jaunt when Austin spots the overdue TV crew being chased down an island beach by mounted Cossacks. Austin learns from his old KGB Cold War adversary Vladimir Petrov that the island is a mothballed submarine base commandeered by paranoid mobster Mikhail Razov (employer of the Cossacks), a billionaire who built Ataman Industries by taking over utilities and mines sold by the state. Razov claims descent from the Romanovs and is plotting to assume the throne. Meanwhile, when a U.S. Navy sub goes missing and a mysterious tidal wave swamps a Maine coastal town, the NUMA team figures out that Ataman is mining "fire ice" unstable and explosive solid methane in the high-pressure deep-sea bottom. Austin and his oceanographic team join forces with Petrov and set out to foil Razov's plot. Cussler is in top form here, working in a role for Old Ironsides and Czar Nicholas II's crown while throwing in enough derring-do and eco-lore to leave his fans breathless. Coauthor Kemprecos (Blue Gold, with Cussler) adds his oceanographic expertise to the mix.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Deposits of "fire ice," frozen methane hydrate found in abundance off of the East Coast of the United States, become potential hazards of monumental proportions. When an insane Russian mining mogul decides he can use the sub stance to threaten and destroy large areas of major national powers, he becomes the target for Kurt Austin, leader of NUMA's (National Underwater and Marine Agency) Special Assignments Team. Austin and his partner in the fight against crime, Joe Zavala, encounter a band of traditionally dressed and armed Cossacks; an underground bunker of a Nazi sub; and the Russian mogul's assistant, who looks and acts like Rasputin. With its many surprises, constant action, and Cussler's special brand of characters, the book will be just the thing for readers who enjoy fast-paced action-adventure flavored with some alternate-history events.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.