Similar Juan Cabrillo, Al Giordino, Dirk Pitt, James Sandecker | ||
Joe zavala back in the day
Jose "Joe" Zavala is the sidekick of Kurt Austin in the NUMA Files adventure novel series, similar to Al Giordino in the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Cussler.
He is described as slightly shorter than six feet tall with a dark complexion. He financed his way through college fighting as a middleweight.
Zavala is well known in the halls of NUMA for his ability to fix any machine or engine; he has designed many of NUMA's submersibles and can pilot all of them. His car, a 1957 Corvette, was restored by him. He is also a womanizer though he draws the line at married women. His parents are Mexican immigrants who crossed the Rio Grande when his mother was 7 months pregnant. Joe was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In Fire Ice, Medusa and Serpent, Zavala drives a 1961 Corvette.
Zavala's main task in the novels is backup for Austin. He usually carries a much more powerful firearm than Austin's trusty Bowen .50, often an Ingram MAC-10. He tends to sing in Spanish on dives, much to the dismay of anybody listening on speakers.