Marauder by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 10, 2020

Clive Cussler was a prolific and popular writer when he was alive. He died earlier this year. Judging by the ongoing production of the Robert Ludlum and Robert Parker factories, death doesn’t stand in the way of churning out new books. Marauder is co-authored by Boyd Morrison. The degree to which Cussler contributed to the book is unclear. Since most (maybe all but the first) of Cussler’s “Oregon Files” novels were co-authored (several with Morrison), it probably doesn’t matter.

Marauder is the name of a trimaran that bad guys have equipped with a plasma weapon. It battles Captain Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the newly refurbished Oregon who have abundant weapons of their own. Shootouts ensue.

Marauder doesn’t even attempt a plausible plot. It isn’t the kind of novel that really needs one, although thrillers tend to be better when they fall within the realm of realism. This is basically a novelized action movie. Since the thrills come from the action, giving much thought to why the thrills are happening is perhaps an unwelcome distraction. And yes, the story is entirely predictable. Well, we wouldn’t want the bad guys to win, would we?

The premise involves the Chinese, the current boogeymen for people who need to believe in boogymen. Angus Polk, a senior analyst in the Australian Department of Defence, is married to April Jin, an intelligence officer in the Australian navy. They both served time for selling military secrets to a Chinese company owned by Lu Yang. Although Yang recently died, he spread some money around and got his two spies an early release from prison. Now he wants to leave his vast fortune to Polk and Jin on the condition that they carry out his final plan.

Yang has whipped up a new weapon, a gas that paralyzes people. If an antidote is not administered within one week, the paralysis becomes permanent. Yang’s plan is to paralyze everyone in Sydney and sell the antidote to rich people. More nefarious, however, is the notion that Australia will be flooded with Chinese caretakers for all the people who don’t get an antidote. This influx of Chinese will somehow give the Chinese a hidden army in Australia. Unless, of course, Australia opts to import caretakers from the Philippines or other Asian countries that have a long history of training caretakers. Details, details.

As the bad guys move forward, a bunch of people — including one of Juan’s team — become paralyzed, giving Juan and crew a mere week to find the antidote. Naturally, the antidote is made from a nut that only grows in a couple of remote places, so our heroes need to traipse around groves of nut trees (where more shootouts ensue) before engaging in last-minute heroics as the confront Polk and Jin.

The plot is full of holes. The dialog is wooden. Characterization is an afterthought. But there’s plenty of action and some of it is exciting. Fans of action novels could do worse. Fans of good books could do better.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS