Atlantis Found

*Atlantis Found*
Written by:	Clive Cussler
Central Theme:
Synopsis:
Series:	NUMA Series
Preceded by:	Flood Tide
Followed by:	Valhalla Rising (Dirk Pitt novel)
First published:	December 6, 1999
More Information
The Wiki Rule:	Dirk Pitt Wiki
	v · d · e

Atlantis Found is a 1999 adventure-thriller novel and the fifteenth book in the NUMA Series featuring the character Dirk Pitt, written by Clive Cussler. It was released on December 6, 1999.

A group of U.S. scientists discover a mysterious underground chamber in Colorado containing, among other things, a polished obsidian skull. They come under attack and are left to drown, but are saved by none other than Dirk Pitt, who then offers his assistance in their research. Pitt then makes his way to Antarctica, boarding an icebreaker to search for a 1770s merchant ship (that the book reveals had been initially found by whalers in 1858) in order to recover a second obsidian skull.

Meanwhile, Al and Rudi Gunn head to a remote island where another chamber similar to the first was found, and end up targeted by the same group that attacked the scientists previously, but manage to survive. Dirk Pitt himself narrowly escapes disaster at the hands of a German U-boat thought to be missing since 1945, and when he dives aboard and recovers the body of a female officer, he stumbles upon a nefarious plot...

Both skulls found are given to NUMA for study and analysis and a theory about the possibility of them being Atlantean in origin develops.

Tropes used in Atlantis Found include:

Apocalypse How: The endgame of the Wolf family plot: use nanotechnology to separate the Ross Ice Shelf from the Antarctic mainland in order to unbalance the planet and create a catastrophe that they can ride out in their superships, then re-create civilization in the Nazi image.
Atlantis: Obsidian skulls found around the world are theorized to possibly be Atlantean in origin.
Creator Cameo: Clive as usual.
Critical Research Failure^[context?]
Dead Person Impersonation: A woman is caught attempting to steal the latest reports from the NUMA director's office, and blood tests reveal her to be a twin "cousin" to the dead U-Boat officer Pitt had found previously.
In Their Own Image: The endgame for Karl Wolf and his associates is to destroy and remake civilization in the image of the Nazis.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A member of the Wolf family looks into Dirk's background and reports that his background looks like a series of adventure novels.
Those Wacky Nazis: The Wolf family are descendants of Nazi escapees and run Destiny Enterprises, a corporation based in Argentina that is rumored to include Fourth Empire Holdings from Nazi Germany.