Clive Cussler – Blue Gold

Clive Cussler – Blue Gold is the second novel in the series of NUMA Files and was co-written with Paul Kemprecos.

This story had a release date of August 1, 2000.

Blue Gold book description

From deep within the Venezuelan rain forest emanates the legend of a white goddess and a mysterious tribe with startling technical accomplishments. Few believe the tribe exists — and even fewer suspect its deity may hold knowledge that can change the course of history.

For National Underwater & Marine Agency crew leader Kurt Austin, an investigation into the sudden deaths of rare whales leads him to the Mexican coast, where someone tries to put him and his mini-sub permanently out of commission.

Meanwhile, in South America’s lush hills, a specially assigned NUMA crew turns up the white-goddess legend — and a murderous cadre of bio-pirates intent on stealing medicinal secrets worth millions.

Soon Austin and his crew realize they’re working the opposite ends of the same grand scheme. A billionaire California tycoon is poised to rise to power by monopolizing the earth’s vastly depleted freshwater reserves and ultimately dominate the world.

Austin has a hunch Venezuela’s mythical tribal goddess has some real roots in science, and may be the key to locating a secret formula that could turn vast amounts of seawater into fresh.

But with each step into the bush, he and his NUMA team feel like fish out of water — and must fight a deadly, twisting trail of enemies through a dense jungle of treachery, blackmail, and murder.