The new series is referred to as “Fargo Adventures,” based on its action heroes, a married couple named Sam and Remi Fargo.

After a few years of entrepreneurship early in life which made them a fortune, the Fargos have been able to devote their new lives to their main passion, archeological treasure hunting. And they generally let nothing and no one deter them from finding their prize.

The Fargo Adventures feature a new set of characters and a new approach in the form of archeological treasure hunting. (New in terms of being the main focus.) But as with any Cussler-novel, we can still expect a lot of the action to take place in and around water, as well as plenty of exotic cars, foods and drinks.

Through Spartan Gold we follow Sam and Remi Fargo as they pursue a trail of clues left behind by Napoleon Bonaparte on the back of wine-bottle labels from his lost wine cellar. Not only are the clues written as riddles but they are also in code, which they must first crack.

Of course there are also adversaries to be faced and dealt with. A former Soviet freedom fighter turned mafia billionaire sends his hired hooligans to interfere with the Fargos’ investigation, several times imperiling their very lives.

Bondaruk believes the end of the trail will lead to an ancient Greek gold-treasure once conquered by his ancestor, the Persian ruler Xerxes the Great. A treasure which Bondaruk has convinced himself is his rightful heritage, and no one will be allowed to stand in his way of getting it.

The trail laid out by Napoleon through the wine-bottle riddles leads Sam and Remi Fargo from a German WWII submarine in Maryland to Rum Key in the Bahamas and through many European countries, including Germany, Monaco, Italy, Croatia and Ukraine.

To sum it up, Spartan Gold is the first in an exciting new series by the master of marine action novels, Clive Cussler, complete with the distinct hallmarks that we have come to love and expect from this beloved author. In other words, Spartan Gold is another guaranteed New York Times bestseller.

Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and three children, operating her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been long time favorite author. Visit her Cussler book site to order Spartan Gold or read her review of the most recent Dirk Pitt novel, Arctic Drift.

The bad guy of the story, Mitchell Goyette, is a Canadian energy tycoon with a public facade of green technology and renewable resource businesses. However, his dark underbelly conceals heavy involvement in oil and natural gas.

South of the Canadian border, the United States faces a financial crisis of unequaled of proportions, a crisis intensified by the looming boycott of the U.S. by the international community if the country does not cut its greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning and automobiles.

The American president pins his hopes on Canadian natural gas to replace the coal used in many of the country’s electricity generating power plants, as well as the gasoline used in cars. The U.S. would thereby make substantial savings on expensive imported oil, while at the same time being able to meet the international demand to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

This desperate American play gets exploited by the industrialist Goyette to the fullest. Officially, he is the hero of the green movement because of his heavy investments in wind power and carbon dioxide sequestering. Unofficially, he holds a major interest in the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta, as well as the entire Melville natural gas field in the Canadian Arctic.

The unconscionable Goyette strikes a deal with the American government to sell nearly limitless supplies of Melville natural gas at market value, which would help the U.S. avert the escalating energy crisis, a financial meltdown, and an international trade boycott. But when Goyette is able to secretly work out a better deal with China, he does not hesitate to break his agreement with the U.S. and leave the southern neighbor high and dry.

(In the real world, any business in breach of such a huge and important contract would probably not survive. But it’s a good set-up for an intriguing story line.)

However, Goyette’s double-dealing with the U.S. and China may actually be the least of his crimes. He’s also guilty of assassination, bribing politicians, creating toxic waste that kills people and wildlife, and almost instigating a war between the U.S. and Canada.

The only fly in Goyette’s ointment goes by the name of Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler’s action hero of 35 years. In the end Pitt prevails over Goyette, and multiple crises are averted.

Arctic Drift is an excellent and seamless co-authorship between Clive Cussler and his son, Dirk Cussler. It is hard to tell the penmanship of one apart from the other throughout the book. Whatever sections Dirk Cussler wrote, he did an excellent job of adopting Clive’s inimitable style. (That’s an intentional oxymoron.)

Arctic Drift is a thrilling read in classic Clive Cussler style. You will not be disappointed. It may not be the edge-of-your-seat non-stop action from cover-to-cover as in some of the older Cussler works, but it’s still an exciting, intriguing and brilliantly written story that keeps your attention and makes you want to keep reading. The thugs are as smart as they are sinister, and the heroes as pure as Arctic ice.

Britt Hellman lives in Western North Carolina with her spouse and three children. She runs her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been one of her favorite authors since reading his Trojan Odyssey, a Dirk Pitt Novel, in 2003 and she writes reviews like this one on Arctic Drift for the fun of sharing that excitement.