As usual, Clive Cussler stays right on top of current world events in his latest Dirk Pitt novel, Arctic Drift. This time, not surprisingly, the book set in the year 2011 revolves around the financial crisis and global warming.

The crook in Arctic Drift is a Canadian energy empire billionaire by the name of Mitchell Goyette who is publicly admired for his green technology businesses, while concealing his heavy involvement in natural gas and oil.

Meanwhile, the United States faces an unprecedented financial crisis, made worse by the international threat of a trade boycott if the country does not find a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning power plants. Canada, with its vast resources of natural gas, may hold the key to saving its southern neighbor.

The sitting American president, who in 2011 is neither Democratic nor Republican but an independent, hopes to use Canadian natural gas to replace coal for producing electricity and even for powering cars converted to run on natural gas.

However, Goyette is in a perfect position to take advantage of the United State’s desperate gamble, and he does so without conscience. To the Canadian public, Goyette is an environmental hero who invests millions in wind power and carbon sequestration. Unbeknownst to the masses, he’s unscrupulously involved in every dirty industry that will make him more money, in particular the oil sands of Athabasca, Alberta, and the Melville natural gas fields of the Canadian Arctic, over which he has full control.

The unconscionable Goyette strikes a deal with the American government to sell nearly limitless supplies of Melville natural gas at market value, which would help the U.S. avert the escalating energy crisis, a financial meltdown, and an international trade boycott. But when Goyette is able to secretly work out a better deal with China, he does not hesitate to break his agreement with the U.S. and leave the southern neighbor high and dry.

(In the real world, any business in breach of such a huge and important contract would probably not survive. But it’s a good set-up for an intriguing story line.)

However, Goyette’s double-dealing with the U.S. and China may actually be the least of his crimes. He’s also guilty of assassination, bribing politicians, creating toxic waste that kills people and wildlife, and almost instigating a war between the U.S. and Canada.

What Goyette does not count on, of course, is Dirk Pitt, the hero of 20 Clive Cussler books, including this latest installment. In the end, good prevails over evil.

Arctic Drift is an excellent and seamless co-authorship between Clive Cussler and his son, Dirk Cussler. It is hard to tell the penmanship of one apart from the other throughout the book. Whatever sections Dirk Cussler wrote, he did an excellent job of adopting Clive’s inimitable style. (That’s an intentional oxymoron.)

All in all, Arctic Drift is an excellent action thriller. It’s does not have the cover-to-cover non-stop action of some of the older Dirk Pitt novels by Cussler, but it does have quite enough action, plus the story line is brilliant and intriguing and keeps you wanting to read more. And as always in Dirk Pitt’s world, the villains are as clever as they are evil, and the heroes as pure as Arctic snow.

Britt Hellman resides in Western North Carolina with her husband and three children. She runs her own copywriting company from home. Clive Cussler has been one of her favorite writers since reading his Trojan Odyssey in 2003. She writes reviews like this one on Arctic Drift for the fun of sharing that excitement.