Golden Buddha by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo

The Berkley Publishing Group, New York
ISBN 0-425-19172-9

Large Trade Paperback

Price on cover: $15 (US)
$22.50 (CAN)

The new OREGON Files series, GOLDEN BUDDHA, was released October 7th. Golden Buddha is the first book in the OREGON Files series. The hero of the OREGON Files is Juan Cabrillo, named after the explorer who discovered California. He is the Dirk Pitt® or Kurt Austin® of this series. FIRST in a series featuring mercenary Juan Cabrillo & his state-of-the-art special operations ship OREGON.

from the inside:

"Dear Readers,

A few years ago, while I was writing Flood Tide, I realized that Dirk Pitt needed some help on a particlular assignment, and so I dreamed up Juan Cabrillo.
Cabrillo ran a ship called the Oregon, on the outside completely non-descript, but on the inside packed with state-of0the-art intelligence gathering equipment. It was a completely private enterprise, available for any government agency that could afford it. It went where no warship could go, transported secret cargo without suspicion, plucked data out of the air - it was the perfect complement to NUMA.
In fact, I had so much fun writing about the Oregon and its rakish one-legged chief that I was sorry to see it sail off when its task was done. I promised myself I'd find a way to bring them back some day - and here , I am pleased to say, ethey are. Golden Buddha is the first in a new series about Juan Cabrillo's merry men (and women!), and I hope you get as much a kick reading about them as I did creating them.
And who knows, maybe some time they'll cross paths with Dirk Pitt again... Clive Cussler"