Japanese businessmen have created a diabolical plot to control world economy, and all is going well until a radiation leak occurs on board the auto carrier Divine Star . Dirk Pitt is almost killed in the tremors from the explosion aboard the carrier, and the plot weaves suspensefully as he begins to solve the puzzles around him. Nuclear holocaust, secret underwater stations, Japanese art discovered in an old Nazi underground vault, and the kidnapping of two U.S. Congressmen carry readers through an exciting story of power and insatiable greed. Humor pervades the story; Cussler places himself in one scene, suggests in another that the yen become the currency of the United States, and dresses Pitt's Uncle Percy in a lavender sport coat and lizard-skin boots. An attention-holding novel set in 1993.