The Solomon Curse

Bestseller Cussler’s perfunctory seventh Sam and Remi Fargo adventure (after 2014’s The Eye of Heaven), his second with coauthor Blake, takes the husband-wife treasure hunters to Guadalcanal, where in 1170 C.E. a royal residence built on islets in the shallows of a bay and laden with gold plunged beneath the water during a tsunami. Sam and Remi’s Russian friend, Leonid Vasyev, have enlisted the Fargos to help him explore man-made structures on the sea bottom off the island, which is afflicted by some sort of curse. The Fargos go about their usual business of snooping around and diving. They also put up with being shot at, run off the road, and tortured—just another day at the office, or at least that’s the way it reads. The snappy patter seems forced, and the exotic location is neither very exotic nor appealing. A number of side plots distract from the main action. Perhaps Cussler needs a new hand at the helm to get the series back on course. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (Sept.)