Charon's Landing (Philip Mercer) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The book differs from Vulcan's Forge in that it has little geological information or plot details, a much simpler plot that takes a while to develop, a love story, and a key focus on sadistic pleasures among its villains. If you don't care much for reading about sadism, you won't like this book. On the other hand, Du Brul succeeds in using it (much like Ian Fleming did) to provide an edge to his villains. I graded the book down one star because the sadism was overdone for my taste.

If you decide to read the book, avoid reading any detailed reviews or the material on the book's cover before you begin. The story itself will provide lots of suspense for about 300 pages if you do. In that sense, it is superior to Vulcan's Forge. Otherwise, you will find the first 300 pages move a little slowly.

The double crosses within are a quality Du Brul trademark, and provide the main suspense in keeping the story interesting to the end. The last 50 pages are about as action-packed as you can imagine.

A high point of the book comes in the remarkable ways that Du Brul designed to help Mercer rescue the world again. They are truly fascinating and bring the book to an exciting and powerful close.

Philip Mercer is the ultimate bureaucracy stallbuster. Enjoy!

Donald Mitchell

Coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise (available in August 2000) and The 2,000 Percent Solution

(donmitch@fastforward400.com)

I am here to tell ya, Kerikov is back in this installment in Alaska. Kerikov joins forces with a renegade Arab oil minister to control the supply of oil. The Main character as we know, Phillip Mercer, saves the day and again get the girl, Aggie Johnson. Kerikov's fate was......well I can't tell ya here. I recommend this book, even if I say its a difficult read, you must read it for yourself. This is pure adventure like the famous Dirk Pitt character in Cussler's novels.

Overall with its difficult writing style flaws, I give it a 4 1/2 to 5 stars. I do plan to get his next book "THE MEDUSA STONE". I understand the Stone has better reviews.

Mercer must stop Ivan Kerikov, an ex-leader of the KGB's secret science division, who teamed up with an Arab oil minister, plans to take control of the US oil supply.

Even though the novel does contain some good action scenes, it is peopled with too many characters and jumps from setting to setting every chapter.

Half way through "Charon's Landing" I gave up, I just did not care what happened.

Jack Du Brul has been compared to Clive Cussler, and although he does show promise, I will take a novel by Cussler any day.