2006: #86 – Polar Shift (Clive Cussler)

Book #86 was Polar Shift, the 6th book in Clive Cussler’s NUMA files series. The back of the book reads:

Polar shift: It is the name for a phenomenon that may have occurred many times in the past. At the very least, it disorients birds and animals and damages electrical equipment. At its worst, it causes massive eruptions, earthquakes, and climatic changes. At its very worst, it would mean the obliteration of all living matter, and if that happens—exit Earth.

Sixty years ago, an eccentric Hungarian genius discovered how to artificially trigger such a shift, but then his work was lost, or so it was thought. Now, the charismatic leader of an anti-globalization group plans to use the work to give the world’s industrialized nations a small jolt, then reverse the shift back again. The only problem is, it cannot be reversed. Once the shift starts, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Austin, Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team certainly have faced dire situations before, but never have they encountered anything like this. This time . . . even they may be too late.

I like Cussler’s books because the plots are so out-of-this-world over-the-top. And he makes them believeable! Kurt Austin is pretty much Dirk Pitt with another name, but that doesn’t bother me so much. It just kind of cracks me up, because Cussler doesn’t even really try to hide it. I mean, Pitt lives in a converted airplane hanger, and Austin lives in a converted boat house. Same guy, different day. Also, Cussler didn’t make his usual cameo appearance in this one.

Book count: 86
Pages in book: 416
Page count: 36,969
Words in book: 119,334
Word count: 11,052,921

1,000,000 words surpassed — 2/2/06
2,000,000 words surpassed — 2/14/06
10,000 pages surpassed — 3/10/06
3,000,000 words surpassed — 3/16/06
4,000,000 words surpassed — 4/3/06
5,000,000 words surpassed — 5/30/06
50 books surpassed — 6/12/06
20,000 pages surpassed — 6/29/06
6,000,000 words surpassed — 6/29/06
7,000,000 words surpassed — 7/21/06
8,000,000 words surpassed — 8/18/06
30,000 pages surpassed — 9/3/06
9,000,000 words surpassed — 9/6/06

10,000,000 words surpassed — 9/27/06
11,000,000 words surpassed — 10/9/06