I have worked and lived at sea for months at a time, and I have many memories of the sea, good and bad. I have lived through extreme Alaskan storms, fished in remote coves, and worked beyond exhaustion over and over. Working at sea taught me some important lessons about life and the possibility of sudden death. I experienced the romance of the sea from a young age, and it has inspired my writing.
CIA Director Will Harlock has a secret: Working off-the-books, using the CIA as a cover and also working from an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, he reigns over the Firm--the smallest, most elite, and most secret intelligence organization in the world. With a handful of eclectic agents, he oversees an operation to discover what is behind a secret cargo that poses huge danger to the public. America’s future is at stake. Will America survive—or will it crash and burn like the Roman Empire?
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I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. This is a great classic sea adventure because of the authenticity, the characters, and the conflict. I felt like I was on this voyage with the characters. I recommend this for anyone who has time to immerse themselves in a great adventure story. It’s one of the great classics of the sea.
The suspense of this novel captured me right from the start and kept me involved to the end. The adventure of being trapped on an iceberg in such a terrible predicament was fully entertaining. I recommend this because it is the most suspenseful book I can recall reading, and at the same time it offers escapism into the extremities of the polar ice cap.
I read this while living in Korea, so the sinister Asian shipping empire theme inspired me at a time when I was learning to write sea adventures myself. Deep Six also involves the Aleutian Islands, which is another place where I have lived and worked. These coincidences caused me to identify with the book, but Cussler is a master storyteller, which brought it all together.
5,215 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about espionage, Alaska, and sea captains.
We think you will like The Matarese Circle, A Winter Circuit of Our Arctic Coast: A Narrative of a Journey with Dog-Sleds Around the Entire Arctic Coast of Alaska, and The Rook if you like this list.
From Allen's list on The best underrated gems by master spy/thriller writers.
It’s too easy when reading Ludlum to get caught up in the Bourne Trilogy and overlook the author’s other great political thrillers. For me, The Matarese Circle best captures a theme that appears in most of Ludlum’s work – “We shouldn’t always trust our own intelligence community.”
In The Matarese Circle, two disaffected covert agents—one American and one Soviet—team up to identify members of an international league of assassins bent on achieving world domination to promote commercial gain. This corpse-laden, globetrotting chase is one of Ludlum’s finest.
From Patrick's list on The best first-person books about the outdoors that should be better-known.
The oldest of my choices, published in 1920, this classic account of an epic 2,000-mile dogsled journey in northern Alaska, written by an Episcopal missionary, still makes lists of the best books about the 49th state. A masterpiece of adventure and ethnography, with lyrical descriptions of nature, A Winter Circuit is the work of a man not only deeply and widely read about polar exploration and the history of the Far North, but also keenly aware of the social forces bearing down on Alaska’s Native peoples, and eager to support and defend their time-honed way of life.
From Alesha's list on The best fantasy novels that prove secret agencies often mess things up, and we need a hero.
My husband, a sci-fi/fantasy geek and storyboard artist for The Simpsons TV show shoved this book toward me and told me I had to read it. Seriously, it was a fantastic read and I’m glad he suggested it.
The Checquy is a secret British organization dedicated to dealing with the paranormal—unfortunately, Myfanwy Thomas has been betrayed by someone with in the organization and wakes up randomly in a park with a simple note: "The body you are wearing used to be mine." That alone is intriguing, and as you delve into this world of espionage, magic, and the seemingly impossible, you’ll find The Rook hard to put down.