Clive Cussler is a writing machine, releasing books written in conjunction with other writers at regular intervals.
The plots are outrageously written.
In The Thief (Penguin), Cussler teams with Justin Scott to give wealthy private detective Isaac Bell a new adventure combating German secret agents.
His fiancee, the most glamorous Marion, consents to become his wife and they are to be married on the Cunard Line's Mauretania.
And of course the problems start there.
Scott has written all but one of the five Bell adventures with Cussler, who wrote one on his own.
Just so there is no mistake, the "good" characters are groomed to the highest levels, the "bad" characters are always surly, scarred and ruthless.
The one character who will be "saved" is a damsel in distress.
Unfortunately, this was a disappointing read. Although the book is said to be first published this year, the plot is too alike another one published previously to be read completely.
When that happens, readers need to ask themselves questions of the factory reads that keep popping up on bookshelves.
• Dene Mackenzie is a Dunedin writer.
