I used to read a lot of Cussler ... Cyclops, Sahara, Inca Gold, Shock Wave, etc. I basically just chewed them up one after the other in late middle school. I have a sinking feeling that I might've been doing it for the sex scenes, which were pretty much guaranteed in each book but almost never more than a page or so of significant suggestion and then a flowery phrase that meant "they're bonin'." To be fair, it was always fun to figure out what new massive global threat Dirk Pitt would defeat next, and the supporting characters were usually really cool. I stopped after "Serpent" was released, after basically reading everything he'd written between the mid-80's and the mid-90's.