Valhalla Rising

When a revolutionary new luxury cruise ship catches fire and sinks on its maiden voyage with its alarms and sprinklers mysteriously disabled, NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt rescues the engineer's daughter, Kelly Egan, and begins investigating the wreck. What starts as a maritime insurance investigation leads Pitt toward machinery that should not exist, technology that belongs in the pages of Jules Verne, and a ruthless oil magnate with designs on a different kind of power. The novel also delivers a major revelation about Pitt's personal history that changes the trajectory of the series.

Ron McLarty narrates Cussler's action-adventure universe with the robust authority the material requires, keeping the Jules Verne homage playful without losing the thriller stakes. His command of the ocean setting and the historical-technology elements gives the novel its distinctive tone. At just over six hours, this is a notably compact entry in the Pitt series, making it one of the most accessible starting points in the long-running catalog.