Pretty good book as far as fun and games go, but I wish Mr. Cussler would tone it down a bit with larger-than-life plots and ridiculous ideas. This book would be indefinitely better if the scope of the story did not involve whole continents, 500 presidents, millions of people and so on.Dirk Pitt was meant to be likeable and desireable. Instead, he comes off as an arrogant, selfish fool, who is extremely sure of himself, an apparent sexist, homophobic megalomaniac, and a killer with no remorse, who always finds a way to explain away blowing up people and shooting a person or two.I only recommend this book if you have nothing else to read or if your other reading choice is a local newspaper. There just isn't anything believable about this particular story and the characters are not likeable - there is nothing one can relate to in this book.