97 books like The Mediterranean Caper

By Clive Cussler,

Here are 97 books that The Mediterranean Caper fans have personally recommended if you like The Mediterranean Caper. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

James Lindholm Author Of Calypso Down

From my list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined.

Why am I passionate about this?

The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as I’ve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, I’ve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels. 

James' book list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined

James Lindholm Why did James love this book?

I love this book despite the incredible discomfort I experience every time I read it.

Diving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic on a good day is no picnic. But diving deep into the wreck of a mystery U-boat, not knowing if you are going to come out? Epic.

I just recently listened to the Audible book while driving back from an undersea research project in a van filled with young scientific divers. The climax had us all squirming in our seats!

By Robert Kurson,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Shadow Divers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller 

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the…


Book cover of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

James Lindholm Author Of Calypso Down

From my list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined.

Why am I passionate about this?

The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as I’ve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, I’ve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels. 

James' book list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined

James Lindholm Why did James love this book?

This epic adventure is, hands down, my favorite nonfiction book of all time.

Not only does it tell the harrowing story of the SS Central America’s sinking through the eyes of its survivors, but it also tells the equivalently riveting story the search and recovery effort. As the title explains, this is the richest wreck in history. But recovering all that wealth from depths previously unvisited, using technologies developed on the fly specifically for the recovery? Incredible.

I could not put it down and have returned to it many times. Drop whatever you’re doing and go read this book!

By Gary Kinder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The 20th-anniversary edition of Gary Kinder's bestselling dramatic story of shipwreck, treasure lost and found, and a new chapter in deep-sea technology

From bestselling author Gary Kinder, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is a "ripping true tale of danger and discovery at sea" (Washington Post), newly updated for this special 20th-anniversary edition.

In September 1857, the SS Central America, a steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, was caught in a hurricane two hundred miles off the Carolina coast. Despite the heroic efforts of the captain and his crew, the ship, over…


Book cover of Neptune's Eye

James Lindholm Author Of Calypso Down

From my list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined.

Why am I passionate about this?

The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as I’ve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, I’ve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels. 

James' book list on ocean adventures, both real and imagined

James Lindholm Why did James love this book?

I love mysteries, undersea adventures, and books that transport me to new places. This book does it all.

I first read it when I moved to New England for graduate school many years ago. As a new research diver living on Cape Cod, reading about Aristotle's “Soc” Socarides’ adventures introduced me to the region, both above and below the ocean’s surface.

The story was so compelling that on weekends, I would dive in the morning and then spend the afternoons driving around trying to find the locations featured in the novel. 

By Paul Kemprecos,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Neptune's Eye as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Absorbing . . . Soc is an appealing, witty protagonist . . . and the Cape Cod locale is rendered with panache in this fast-paced enjoyable yarn.”
—Publisher’s Weekly

UNDERWATER UNDERHANDEDNESS . . .

A simple missing-persons case: Find Frederick Walther’s beautiful young daughter, who disappeared after a love affair turned sour. Simple, that is, until Leslie Walther’s lover turns up dead in a fishy place—the seal pool at the Woods Hole aquarium. Part-time fisherman—part-time private eye “Soc” Socarides finds the highly loathsome Tom Drake had a number of acquaintances, business rivals, ex-lovers, and an ex-wife—all with reason to want…


Book cover of Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks

Ret Talbot Author Of Chasing Shadows: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Great White Shark

From my list on world books through science, history and adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been passionate about the natural world since I was a child. This passion took me to many remote corners of the globe, and I always returned with a desire to share what I observed. As a science writer and journalist, I’ve been fortunate to tell multidisciplinary stories from the tops of the Andes to the reefs of Papua New Guinea and many places in between. As a writer, I know the importance of reading, and I’m constantly seeking out books by journalists and authors obsessed with topics that are often obscure but always fascinating—topics that have led them on journeys of exploration they share through their books. 

Ret's book list on world books through science, history and adventure

Ret Talbot Why did Ret love this book?

I love how journalist Susan Casey takes us inside this story and ultimately becomes part of it while revealing remarkable facts about white sharks and the scientists who study them. As a journalist, I can relate to how her obsession almost drew her too deep into a largely unknown and dangerous place inhabited by an animal that was as much myth as reality to her before she came face to face with it.

There is a lot to like about this book, but for me, ultimately, the immediacy, honesty, and vividness of her writing made me unable to put it down.

By Susan Casey,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Devil's Teeth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Since "Jaws" scared a nation of moviegoers out of the water three decades ago, great white sharks have attained a mythical status as the most frightening and mysterious monsters to still live among us. Each fall, just twenty-seven miles off the San Francisco coast, in the waters surrounding a desolate rocky island chain, the world's largest congregation of these fearsome predators gathers to feed. Journalist Susan Casey first saw the great whites of the Farallones in a television documentary. Within months, she was sitting with the program's two scientists in a small motorboat as the sharks - some as long…


Book cover of Sahara

Graham Smith Author Of The Flood

From my list on where the weather is a character and a foe.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a novelist with a passion for reading and it is this which I feel qualifies me to speak on this topic. My reading is eclectic across the crime/mystery genre and there’s nothing I love more than a book that sucks me right into the same world its characters inhabit, something all five of my choices did. As a novelist I appreciate the way these novels all use the weather conditions to add an extra layer of threat to the protagonists and it’s something I’ve always wanted to emulate.

Graham's book list on where the weather is a character and a foe

Graham Smith Why did Graham love this book?

One of Cussler’s earlier novels featuring Dirk Pitt, Cussler sends his erstwhile hero deep into a desert landscape where he throws all manner of problems at them.

As Pitt and co battle to survive the harsh conditions, they are tested to the limit as they must not only escape the arid landscape, but do in time to foil a dastardly plot. While perhaps not as much of a literary heavyweight as some of the other authors mentioned on this list, Cussler is brilliant at writing a rollicking good yarn.

By Clive Cussler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sahara as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The eleventh classic Dirk Pitt novel, where the adventurer is drawn to a secret in the burning African desert, which could destroy all life in the world's seas.

A CREEPING RED TIDE OF DEATH

Deep in the African desert, Dirk Pitt discovers that a top secret scientific installation is leaking a lethal chemical into the rivers, threatening to kill thousands of people - and to destroy all life in the world's seas.

To warn the world of the catastrophe, Pitt must escape capture and death at the hands of a ruthless West African dictator and French industrialist, and undertake a…


Book cover of Raise the Titanic!

David Z. Pyke Author Of Rescuing Crockett

From my list on elements of historical adventure fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for historical adventure and Texas history stems from my heritage: I’m a native Texan related to one of the Alamo defenders. My great-great-great-great-great-granduncle, Isaac Millsaps, was one of the Immortal 32, the reinforcements from Gonzales who answered William Barret Travis's call for help, rode to San Antonio, and died in the Alamo on March 6, 1836. My relationship with words began in elementary school, where I read Beowulf and Dracula by the time I was 10 years old (probably explains a lot about me). I began writing for newspapers in 1975 and have been writing professionally ever since.

David's book list on elements of historical adventure fiction

David Z. Pyke Why did David love this book?

I chose this for the power of hook and title. This action & adventure novel with historical elements has the greatest title in the history of literature.

The purpose of a title is to sell the book, and no title ever succeeded so well. Raise the Titanic! was published a decade before the wreck of Titanic was discovered, so in the world’s imagination the ship was still largely intact. Cussler tapped into the intoxicating idea of the legendary ship’s resurrection and the completion of its maiden voyage.

I was so struck when I saw Raise the Titanic! in a bookstore, I decided to buy it before I picked it up. The book propelled Cussler from moderate success to the best-selling grandmaster of adventure, and it inspired my search for a hook and title.

By Clive Cussler,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Raise the Titanic! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail

The fantastic fourth Dirk Pitt classic from multi-million-copy king of the adventure novel, Clive Cussler.

A tidal wave of pounding excitement from the first page to the last . . .

Two and a half miles beneath the icy North Atlantic the mighty Titanic holds the key to the safety of the free world. The Americans want it. So do the Russians. Ace maritime troubleshooter Dirk Pitt faces one of the most stupendous tests of courage and ingenuity ever.

Raise the Titanic is a spellbinding blockbuster of action and…


Book cover of Deep Six

Roger Weston Author Of Hostile Takedown

From my list on or about the sea.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.  

Roger's book list on or about the sea

Roger Weston Why did Roger love this book?

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.

By Clive Cussler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Deep Six as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An adventure from Cussler's hero, Dirk Pitt.


Book cover of Night Probe!

DL Tolleson Author Of The Gray Stopgap

From my list on movie-ready thrills and good plots.

Why am I passionate about this?

In childhood, I memorized the Encyclopedia’s human anatomy pages, leading the family physician to explain, “Children like this become doctors or writers.” Good call, Doc! I wrote 14 of the 92 entries in my high school’s annual literary magazine (the most by one student). In college I earned a Bachelor’s, two Associates and Intercollegiate Press Association awards for Journalism and photography. I followed that with years of photography, photographic surveillance, 14 years of law firm litigation support, a temporary appointment as an SBA Paralegal Specialist, and 7 years of contract compliance at RadioShack headquarters. And, of course, my debut novel took 20 years of 8 drafts—I’m methodical that way.

DL's book list on movie-ready thrills and good plots

DL Tolleson Why did DL love this book?

An ill-timed robbery and a mysterious ghost train—both from 1914—and the present day CIA and MI6: All are perfectly normal, abnormal elements to this Clive Cussler novel.

I especially like this book for its ties to recent American history. It flirts with elements of espionage and the crackerjack job of merging a confounding prologue with a mystery that needs solving. There is a combination of Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels that have influenced my own story-telling, and this one is among them.

Cussler penned an entire series around his National Underwater and Marine Agency Projects Director, Dirk Pitt. Nearly every one of the novels begins with an event of the distant past that culminates in the present. This novel follows that pattern but involves political concerns regarding the North American Continent. While Cussler’s characters only occasionally rise to the challenge of emotionally involving me, his plots—the twists, turns, and historical antecedents—always…

By Clive Cussler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Night Probe! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail

The page-turning Dirk Pitt classic from multi-million-copy king of the adventure novel, Clive Cussler.

May 1914. Two diplomats hurry home by sea and rail, each carrying a document of world-changing importance. Then the liner Empress of India is sunk in a collision, and the Manhattan-Line express plunges from a bridge - both dragging their VIP passengers to watery oblivion. Tragic coincidence or conspiracy?

In the energy-starved, fear-torn 1980s, Dirk Pitt discovers that those long-lost papers could destroy whole nations, throwing him into his biggest challenge yet. Racing against hired…


Book cover of The Bermuda Connection

Rick Simonds Author Of Operation: Midnight

From my list on thrillers revealing government conspiracies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have long had an interest in government conspiracies and have spent hundreds of hours researching the many experiments our government has foisted upon an unsuspecting populous. When the Church Committee released info on Projects MK Ultra, Bluebird, Artichoke, and others, people were stunned to realize what had been going on. Movies such as The Matrix dealt with mind control and the attempt to create the perfect soldier, and I am convinced such research and experimentation continues today.

Rick's book list on thrillers revealing government conspiracies

Rick Simonds Why did Rick love this book?

A government researcher disappears and the protagonist, Nick Randall, is battling reoccurring visions that are somehow intertwined. When assassins attempt to kill him, he is forced to go into hiding. I loved the use of Randall’s son, John, who discovers that he is part of a clandestine psychological project being overseen by the military.

As a father, I loved the use of Randall’s son, who is also searching for someone—his partner—in this fast-paced novel that uses very different locales.

By Robert Rapoza,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bermuda Connection as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A recurring frightening vision and the disappearance of a top government researcher are somehow tied to each other. Only Nick Randall solve the mystery.

Archeologist Nick Randall is haunted by a recurring nightmare that may be tied to his controversial research. As he searches for answers, assassins nearly kill him, forcing him into hiding.

Nick’s son, John, a talented bioengineer, faces his own mystery. Having developed a drug that erases traumatic memories, his research partner suddenly disappears.

While searching for him, John makes a terrifying discovery. He has been part of a secret, psychological, military project, and the shadowy figures…


Book cover of The Eye of Heaven

Jody Summers Author Of A Brush With Death

From my list on romance, adventure, or a touch of the paranormal.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been an avid reader all my life and have been fortunate (or unfortunate) to have a life full of a variety of experiences. Wonderful stuff to draw on when you’re writing, including a unique near-death experience. When I stumbled on a book idea with a topic I’d never heard of before, I was fascinated with the idea of writing “something new under the sun.” I also am thrilled to write books that give others as much joy as reading has given me over the years. A little action, a little passion, and a bunch of plot twists bring other worlds to life for me.

Jody's book list on romance, adventure, or a touch of the paranormal

Jody Summers Why did Jody love this book?

Most people know Clive Cussler for his Dirk Pitt series and the movie Saraha, but Clive has several series going and the Eye of Heaven showcases one of my favorites, the Fargo series. This follows 2 multimillionaires with rapier wit and insatiable curiosity as they travel the globe unraveling historical finds.

I love the romance, and there is plenty of action, and all the plots have some plausible connection to a real or (close to real) historical event and, of course, the bad guys trying to stop them. The couple is altruistic and always puts what they find in its rightful place. But they are all a delightful, adventurous romp across the globe.

By Clive Cussler, Russell Blake,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Eye of Heaven as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A rip-roaring Fargo Adventure from the Grand Master of Adventure, Clive Cussler.

In the stormy wastes of Canada's Baffin Island, treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo make an astonishing discovery - a Viking longship frozen in the Arctic ice . . .

But what is more astonishing still is the longship's cargo - a hoard of pre-Colombian artefacts from Mexico. This tantalizing mystery sends the couple to Central America in search of further evidence - and into deadly trouble.

For Sam and Remi's find puts them on the trail of legendary jewel the Eye of Heaven, which also sees other…


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