Lost City

A Kurt Austin Adventure

By: Clive Cussler, Paul Kemprecos

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

An enzyme that will dramatically prolong life has been discovered 2,000 feet down in the North Atlantic, in an area known as "Lost City". But why are the people attempting to harvest it getting killed? Why are the scientists in a remote Greek laboratory disappearing one by one? What does this all have to do with a body found frozen in the ice high up in the Alps? To Kurt Austin, leader of NUMA's Special Assignments Team, and his colleague Joe Zavala, it's clear they have their work cut out for them, but it may be even bigger than they think, in fact, it may be their greatest challenge of all.

Rich with all the hair-raising action and endless imagination that have become Cussler's hallmarks, Lost City is an exceptional thriller.

©2004 Sandecker, RLLLP (P)2004 Penguin Audio and Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"[An] excellent series....Kidnappings, hair's-breadth escapes, fierce battles, strange science, beautiful women and plenty of action add up to vintage Cussler." (Publishers Weekly)

Audio book down loaded to my kindle

If you could sum up Lost City in three words, what would they be?

Another Cussler Great

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Like all of Clive Cussler's stories, there was action, impossible situations to get out of, and unexpeded turn of events.

What about Scott Brick’s performance did you like?

Scott Brick is one of my favorite readers and as always does a great job on reading the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The were some laughs in the story, but the action and the flow of the story was what kept me glued to the auto book.

Any additional comments?

I wish that all of Clive Cussler's older books could be put on audio CD or Audio Book down loads, and in Unabridged format.

Major plot holes

I've been devouring the Numa Files audio books over the last several months and I have to say that this is the weakest so far. Brick delivers his usual excellence, but the story is lacking. I'll try not to give anything away, but at the end of one chapter they are exclaiming that they "must find the villain behind this nefarious plot" and at the beginning of the very next chapter, they know who the bad guy is without skipping a beat. Huh? Did I miss something?

The villains in the Paul Kemprecos collaborations seem like overblown Bond villains, two dimensionally evil, without any depth other than world domination (who would want that job?) For my money, I'd stick with Cussler's collaboration with Graham Brown. The stories are much more believable.

In addition, the audio book is poorly edited. Usually, the audio book chapters tend to mirror the actual chapters in a book. Not so in this case, which is annoying. Also, the edits between sections or chapters occur too quickly, without a natural beat to signify the change. The result is jarring and irritating. Overall, a poorly executed audio book.

Guilty pleasure

I feel guilty about enjoying Cussler's novels so much. But they do always seem to deliver the fun elements that keep me enthralled: lots of action and adventure; inventive and imaginative plots; bad bad guys vs. good good guys; and, of course, the good guys always win. Cussler and, now, his co-authors produce undeniably satisfying escape fiction. But they also do their research -- kind of like Chris Kuznesky -- so that the stories, even though they strain credibility, are based on some element of historical or scientific fact. I'm docking a couple of stars from my rating of "Lost City" for two reasons. First, the premise of this story -- enzymes, derived from ocean bacteria, that can not only reverse aging, but extend life indefinitely -- strains credibility even too much for my taste. Secondly, Scott Brick's voice always annoys me. (I must admit, however, that Mr. Brick does a pretty good Scottish accent.) All the same, I recommend this audiobook to anybody who enjoys a guilty pleasure. If you are looking for an escape-fiction thriller audiobook to satisfy a slightly more cerebral, critical taste, try Chris Kuzneski's oeuvre.

Audio was horrible.

Audio skipped 4 or 5 times. Quality was poor. Something was really wrong. I own a lot of Clive Cussler audio books and they are great. I was really let down by the quality especially after paying extra for this title.

My first Clive Cussler

I enjoyed my first Clive Cussler book. He has an excellent ability to tell a story. By the end I felt that there were too many 'close calls' for one book. Other than that, an excellent book.

editing not good

so I have been going through Clive Cussler books like crazy, I enjoy them and have for years. this one was not great, the editing was choppy at best and there are many points it seemed like the voice was sped up the sound was bad. let's see what the next one offers.

another thrilling story

though the story and narrator was good the volume drops at different places takeing me out of the story. overall definitely a fascinating story.

Veryy compelling

I loved the story. I enjoyed the fact that it was not a simple conclusion after the first hard issue was resolved. I enjoy the final wrap-up of all of the different storylines.

Very disappointed

The story was interesting, but the gratuitous foul language was unnecessary. Cussler’s books have always been a good choice as there is usually no or very, very minimal foul language, so this book was truly disappointing.

just ok

not as good as the Issac Bell series, but still a good book. good plot turns keep you guessing on the how.