Clive Cussler, the author of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers, unleashes a hero for the next millennium in an electrifying new series of unrelenting action and edge-of-your-seat thrills.

When Kurt Austin, the leader of a courageous National Underwater & Marine Agency exploration team, rescues beautiful marine archaeologist Nina Kirov off the coast of Morocco, he becomes the next target of Texas industrialist Don Halcon. A madman bent on carving a new nation out of the southwestern United States and Mexico, Halcon's scheme hinges on Nina's recent discovery involving Christopher Columbus, and a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria. Only Kurt Austin and his crack NUMA team stand between Halcon and the Andrea Doria's silent steel hull — and if their deadly mission fails, Halcon will ride to power on a wave of death and destruction.

Publishers WeeklyGreat fun...Plenty of hair-raising derring-do.

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)In the tradition of Pitt, there's a lot of underwater excitement.

Kirkus ReviewsSimply terrific fun.

The Denver PostClive Cussler has created a new bunch of NUMA supersleuths and they infuse his work...a jolt of energy.

Welcome to Books 'N' BytesSerpent is a typical Clive Cussler novel, as the plot is filled with endless excitement, nonstop action, and quite a degree of entertainment...A pleasurable thriller that will entice fans of action tales to want many more novels from the NUMA files.

The Cape CodderMany twists and turns...[and a] devious plot that certainly will delight mystery fans.

Clive Cussler, the author of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers, unleashes a hero for the next millennium in an electrifying new series of unrelenting action and edge-of-your-seat thrills.

When Kurt Austin, the leader of a courageous National UnderwaterandMarine Agency exploration team, rescues beautiful marine archaeologist Nina Kirov off the coast of Morocco, he becomes the next target of Texas industrialist Don Halcon. A madman bent on carving a new nation out of the southwestern United States and Mexico, Halcon's scheme hinges on Nina's recent discovery involving Christopher Columbus, and a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria. Only Kurt Austin and his crack NUMA team stand between Halcon and the Andrea Doria's silent steel hull — and if their deadly mission fails, Halcon will ride to power on a wave of death and destruction.

Clive Cussler is acclaimed worldwide as the Grandmaster of Adventure. He got his start in advertising, first as an award-winning copy writer, and then as creative director for two of the nation's largest agencies. His initial foray into fiction was in 1973, when he wrote his first Dirk Pitt® novel.

Since then he has continued to write Dirk Pitt® adventures while living a life that nearly parallels that of his action hero. Like Pitt, Cussler enjoys discovering and collecting things of historical significance. With NUMA (National UnderwaterandMarine Agency, a non profit group begun by Cussler) he has had an amazing record of finding over 60 shipwrecks, one of which was the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley. Cussler also has a renowned and extensive classic car collection, which features over 80 examples of custom coachwork.

Along with being Chairman of NUMA, he is also a fellow of the Explorers Club (which honored him with the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration), the Royal Geographical Society and the American Society of Oceanographers. Married to Barbara Knight for 40 years, with three children and two grandchildren, he divides his time between the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Arizona.