Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

For seven books, Clive Cussler has dazzled readers with the aspine-tingling adventuresa (Chicago Tribune) of Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and the rest of the NUMAA(R) Special Assignments Team, but in Medusa the NUMAA(R) team faces what may be its most perilous mission of all.
In the Micronesian Islands, a top secret, U.S. governmenta sponsored undersea lab conducting vital biomedical research on a rare jellyfish known as the Blue Medusa suddenly . . . disappears. At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere is attacked by an underwater vehicle and left helpless a half mile below the surface, its passengersaincluding Zavalaaleft to die. Only Kurt Austinas heroic measures save them from a watery grave, but, suspecting a connection, Austin puts the NUMAA(R) team on the case. He has no idea what heas just gotten them all into. A hideous series of medical experiments . . . an extraordinarily ambitious Chinese criminal organization . . . a secret new virus that threatens to set off a worldwide pandemic. Austin and Zavala have been in tight spots before, but this time itas not just their own skins theyare trying to saveaitas the lives of millions.
Filled with the high-stakes suspense and boundless invention unique to Cussler, Medusa is the most thrilling novel yet from the grand master of adventure.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In the latest in the long line of popular adventure novels by Cussler, whose first major success, Raise the Titanic, now seems eons ago, an influenza pandemic in China threatens to explode and kill countless millions. While a joint U.S. and Chinese team makes strides on a vaccine, bad guys working on their own vaccine to gain great wealth and power kidnap the scientists. Enter Cussler hero Kurt Austin (The Navigator) and his NUMAr buddies to take on the villains, and who do you think will win? Cussler loves to combine history with current action, so the key to a vaccine lies in the log of an 1847 whaling ship owned by the descendants of a crewman. VERDICT Cussler's thrillers are predictable and over the top, attributes relished by his legions of fans, and this one is filled with action, heroics, and apparently plausible science, which makes for great summer escape reading. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/09.]-Robert Conroy, Warren, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In the prologue to the winning eighth Kurt Austin adventure from bestseller Cussler and Shamus-winner Kemprecos (after The Navigator), 18-year-old Caleb Nye, a farm boy on his first sea voyage in 1848, finds himself a modern-day Jonah after being swallowed by a whale and then cut from the stomach, alive but forever changed. In the present, a Russian captain sees his Typhoon-class submarine sold to an unknown buyer, and in China, Dr. Song Lee, who's been banished to the countryside, gets orders to return to Beijing to fight a deadly SARS epidemic. Meanwhile, off Bermuda, Kurt Austin and the stalwart crew of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) lower a bathysphere to the ocean depths, where something big snaps the cables connecting the vessel to the mother ship. Soon enough, the disparate plot lines converge in an action-packed tale that snags readers and drags them racing through heavy seas and high drama. 600,000 first printing. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Kurt Austin must stop a deadly virus from decimating the world in the latest NUMA Files novel. Research using a newly discovered jellyfish shows promising results, but before the tests even start, scientists studying these Blue Medusas start dying. As the pandemic threatens to spread through China, the NUMA team realizes that a Chinese triad is behind the outbreak. Now in their eighth adventure, Austin and partner Zavala are becoming almost as entertaining as Dirk Pitt and his gang. Some clunky dialogue and an ending right out of a Scooby Doo cartoon hurt a bit, but Cussler fans will stick around for the action.--Ayers, Jeff Copyright 2009 Booklist