The Kingdom by Clive Cussler

          I just finished listening to The Kingdom by Clive Cussler on audio book.  I really enjoyed this one.  Mr. Cussler’s imagination continues to amaze me.  How does he think this stuff up?

          The story starts with an ancient soldier, one of an elite group trained from birth to protect their kingdom’s most prized possession, as he runs away from an invasion force with his treasure in tow.  The scene ends as the invaders trap him at the lip of a waterfall.

          The next scene opens centuries later with an Italian man (no, not Leonardo) building a flying machine for an Asiatic despot.  With his brother being held as hostage to ensure the return of the machine, the inventor takes off on the flying machine’s maiden voyage.

          Then the story moves to present day. A pair of treasure hunters, Sam and Remi Fargo, is asked to look for a friend who disappeared while working for a Texas oil man.  They travel to exotic locales, have dangerous adventures, outsmart scary folks, and display a MacGyver-like ability to create life-saving apparatus out of detritus. 

          While the story requires some suspension of disbelief, it stays well away from the edges of fantasy.  Guys will appreciate the car chases and gun battles.  Girls will like the loving relationship between the main characters. I recommend The Kingdom for anyone who enjoys thrillers.