Clive Cussler · 1983 · sea

Clive Cussler's first Dirk Pitt adventure. The nuclear submarine Starbuck has vanished in the Pacific Vortex, a stretch of ocean north-west of Hawaii that has swallowed ship after ship. Pitt takes up the hunt from Pearl Harbor, past Kaena Point and out into the Vortex itself - toward a hidden undersea empire and the man who rules it.

1. 1
   Pearl Harbor

   Washed ashore on Oahu, a sealed canister holds the last message of the submarine Starbuck, missing with all hands. At Pearl Harbor, Dirk Pitt joins the search for a boat lost where dozens of ships have vanished before.

2. 2
   Kaena Point

   Off Kaena Point at the western tip of Oahu, Pitt's first dives meet violence rather than answers - and he begins to understand that whatever took the Starbuck is neither natural nor finished with the living.

3. 3
   The Pacific Vortex

   Out in the Pacific Vortex, the stretch of ocean north-west of the islands that has swallowed ship after ship, Pitt finds the Starbuck lying on the sea bed - and learns she was not lost at all, but taken.

4. 4
   Kauai

   The trail leads to a hidden undersea stronghold and the strange dynasty that built it, and Pitt must fight his way out beneath the sea off Kauai before the Starbuck's missiles can be turned on the world above.