Point of View

The story bounces between limited third person and omniscient third person. Cussler effectively uses both.

At times, he pulls back from the action and acts as an all-seeing, all-knowing narrator to provide historical information or a bird's eye view of something. This is usually done outside of the narrative (almost as if a narrator were reading in a voiceover), but he effectively ties it to the story by mentioning a character in some way. Other times he pushes in close to the action but continues his omniscient third person narration by telling the reader what a character is thinking or feeling.

Often, and especially for increased dramatic effect in climaxes, Cussler acts as a limited third person narrator, not sharing the thoughts of a person.

For example, when Summer tries to free her brother from drowning in the cave, the chapter closes with Dirk Pitt, Jr...