Golden Buddha

I have read most of Cusslers Dirk Pitt books and decided to start on the Oregon Series. I looked over the reviews for the 1st and 2nd books in the series. For both books the 1-3 star reviews outweighed all others. Hint! I started with book 3 and finished the series. I decided to take a chance on Golden Budda. I don’t know who wrote this book but it wasn’t Cussler.

Way to many characters called operatives with little or no description. I’d go as far as to say there were more operators than an old Bell South switchboard. If I hadn’t read later books in the series I would have never known what was going on, who was who or finished the book.
Many of the chapters had multiple sub chapters causing me to pause and figure out what country I just got transferred to.
The book was also filled with useless filler info.

I am not a great book reviewer but this book through me for a loop. I never thought a Cussler book could be this bad. Gave it 2 stars because I am a Cussler fan. If you must read it, buy used paperback for a few dollars.

Note: Book 3 and on are great.

I have read and own most of the Oregon books. And I did not read them in order, which is better than starting with “Golden Buddha” . Mos of the Oregon books I have read are really great. But the first book is just to confusing, I get the premise but it has over 7 or 8 parallel part of the story line that just confused me and the geoloical references as to where the team was is just ridiculously long and boring. who really cares about the history of numerous locations especially in very remote locations.
The later Oregon books are better written and more focused on an intriguing story line, and how the Oregon team foils numerous foes.
I am older so my reference to “Mission Impossible TV Series” might not connect with some. But most of the Oregon books are books you find hard to put down 🙂

I have enjoyed the Oregon files books in the past and have read this one before but found my attention wandering, motivation to continue reading waning during this reading. The characters are as I remember, engaging, but there seemed to be a lack of development that satisfied. Perhaps too much focus on keeping up with the progression of the plot(s) to reach the final goal. I’m interested to see how the next book in this series reads.

Clive Cussler was a great writer and story teller. The Golden Buddha was a fun read .
I purchased this book over a year ago and it worked fine. The 5 stars is for the book.
Then Amazon loaded a firmware update and wiped out the book cover art for this book in my library. I still had the book but no art. After working with a great customer rep on the phone (about 5 calls total over 7 days) and trying different scenarios to try to fix the problem – Amazon told the rep to offer me a $5 refund and to stop. I had asked 4 times to refund me the cost of the book and I would delete the book and then repurchase it with a new download. Amazon refused. Case closed.
I used the $5 and deleted the book and repurchased it. That appears to have cleared the issue and the book cover art was back. That ‘fix’ cost me to correct their problem. The library shows the orange book cover art- but the book opens to the hardcover book art.
Hope you have better luck with firmware updates. As they say – If ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I read this book while sitting on the beach a few weeks ago, and it’s definitely a page-turner, carrying the reader through the book from situation to situation without really any dull spots to slow the narrative. Be warned, however, that there are a couple of pretty serious shortcomings:
1. Every one of the “good guys” on the protagonist team are portrayed as strikingly handsome/beautiful/intelligent/witty. There’s literally not a “rough and/or haggard” one in the bunch.
2. Every single challenging situation goes the way of the good guys. There’s not a single instance where the plan doesn’t work, or that unforeseen circumstances get in the way of something going well. Even when one of the good guys is injured, there’s always a Johns Hopkins-class medic just a few minutes away to save the day.

Therefore, if you’d like to put your mind on neutral and just read a tome where the good guys always come out on top, backed by some amazingly prescient planning, incredible equipment that never misfires, and shots that never miss the mark, then this book is for you.

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