Great books. And, he always found a way to insert himself in the books.
I always liked that plot device - showed he didn’t take his writing TOO seriously.
And who can forget Dirk Pitt’s orange Doxa dive watch, which survived many a peril. (Cussler’s own watch.)
“Great books.”
I have to disagree. I read a couple of his books, “Raise the Titanic” and “Iceberg,” but ended up literally throwing the latter across the room because it was so ridiculous. If I want to read fantasy, I will read fantasy and I expect the author and the publisher to describe it as such. However, when a book is marketed as “suspense” and in fact falls into the category of absurdity because if its fantastic (i.e., fantasy-based) content I get pissed. And “Iceberg” was such a book.
I do respect his maritime interest and his monetary contributions to that discipline, and for that I say RIP.