Sahara (novel)
First Edition Hardcover
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| Author | Clive Cussler |
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| Cover artist | Paul Bacon |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dirk Pitt Novels |
| Genre | Adventure, Techno-thriller novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
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Publication date
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June 1, 1992 1st Edition Hardcover |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 541 pp (hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 25410390 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.U75 S35 1992 |
| Preceded by | Dragon |
| Followed by | Inca Gold |
Sahara is an adventure novel by Clive Cussler. First published in 1992, it is the eleventh book in Cussler's Dirk Pitt series. In 2005 the film Sahara was released based on the book.
A week before the surrender of Confederate forces of Robert E. Lee in 1865, the Confederate Navy ship CSS Texas is being loaded at a dock with crates supposedly filled with documents. The ship's captain Tombs has been ordered to take the ship past a Union blockade and to any neutral harbour where she should dock until summoned by a courier. At the last minute the secretary of the Confederate navy and an admiral arrive and mention that he will be taking a prisoner on board. Tombs is shocked when the prisoner arrives under heavy guard with Confederate soldiers in Union uniforms. The ship gets under way and is battered by the Union navy trying to attempt to pass the blockade into the open sea. To make matters easier, Tombs brings the prisoner onto the deck, and the Union soldiers stop firing and salute.
The plot then moves to 1931, when a lady, Kitty Mannock, is flying over the Sahara in quest of a new aviation record. A severe sand storm fouls her carburetors and her plane crash lands in the desert. While her landing is on level ground, the plane reaches the edge of a ravine and tips over. Even though a search is launched she is not found.
The plot then moves to 1996. A convoy of tourists are crossing the Sahara on a fleet of Land Rovers when they reach a scheduled stop at a village in the country of Mali. They find it is unusually deserted, but as they are refreshing themselves at the village well they are attacked by red-eyed savages who kill and eat them. Only the tour guide escapes with his life.
Meanwhile, working in Egypt on an archaeological mapping of the Nile, Dirk Pitt is able to rescue Dr. Eva Rojas, a scientist working for the World Health Organization, from a mysterious attacker. Shortly thereafter, Eva flies to Mali with an international team of scientists to investigate a mysterious disease that has been reported from various desert villages. At the same time, Pitt and his best friend Al Giordino are hurriedly flown to a research vessel outside the coast of Nigeria. There they are informed by their boss, Admiral James Sandecker, of an algal bloom, in this case a red tide, that is growing unnaturally fast, and threatens to consume the world's oxygen supply and extinguish almost all life. The growth speed is suspected to be fueled by some type of pollutant.
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