Title: The Wrecker
Author: Clive Cussler with Justin Scott
Review: This is a most enjoyable book; I was very let down when I finished it. It is one of the series of books that Clive Cussler co-writes with Justin Scott. The Hero in the book is Isaac Bell, a detective from the early 1900s. (this is a departure from Cussler's other books which are usually in the future by a few years).
The book opens twelve years after the main part of the story takes place. Isaac is watching an exclusive men's club and waiting for the members to leave, all, that is, except for one.
The story then jumps to a coal mine where a union is forming. The company doesn't want a union, if they have a union they will have to pay fair wages, and give the injured some sort of recompense to help them and their families live. The story is fast moving with many characters you love and hate.
Isaac is investigating accidents that keep occurring in the mine. The mine bosses blame in on agitators that are trying to form a union. The people trying to form a union blame it on the company owners who, they feel, will stop at nothing to force them out of the mines or kill them. Isaac barely makes it out of the mine at one point, when an explosion occurs killing what were called the "door boys", little boys who were forced to work in the mines to help support their families.
As Isaac goes into the mines to find out more about what is going on he encounters many adventures, some of which he would rather go without. The most dangerous being a gas explosion which makes no sense and almost kills Isaac as he is investigating what is going on.
When Isaac wakes up from the explosion, he sees a man in the mine that does not belong there, or at least he appears not to be one of the miners. The man sees Isaac laying there but instead of reaching out to help him, he raises his hand and knocks him out again. The one thing that Isaac notices about the man, before he is knocked unconscious, is his 'Amber Colored Eyes, This is what he looks for as he goes on to Chicago and New York investigating what is really going on and who is responsible for what is going on inside the mines.
This was a fast moving book full of twists and turns and loads of wonderful reading just like all of Clive Cussler's books. What an author, I love him and all of his books too! This book receives a 5 out of 5
Thanks Eileen for this review.
Publisher: Published November 17th 2009 by Putnam Adult
ISBN: 9780399155994
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 470
Where did I get the book: I picked it up at my local library.
Quick Review: 5 out of 5 stars
Synopsis: In The Chase, Clive Cussler introduced an electrifying new hero, the tall, lean, no-nonsense detective Isaac Bell, who, driven by his sense of justice, travels early-twentieth-century America pursuing thieves and killers . . . and sometimes criminals much worse.
It is 1907, a year of financial panic and labor unrest. Train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad?s Cascades express line and, desperate, the railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency. Van Dorn sends in his best man, and Bell quickly discovers that a mysterious saboteur haunts the hobo jungles of the West, a man known as the Wrecker, who recruits accomplices from the down-and-out to attack the railroad, and then kills them afterward. The Wrecker traverses the vast spaces of the American West as if he had wings, striking wherever he pleases, causing untold damage and loss of human life. Who is he? What does he want? Is he a striker? An anarchist? A revolutionary determined to displace the ?privileged few?? A criminal mastermind engineering some as yet unexplained scheme?
Whoever he is, whatever his motives, the Wrecker knows how to create maximum havoc, and Bell senses that he is far from done?that, in fact, the Wrecker is building up to a grand act unlike anything he has committed before. If Bell doesn?t stop him in time, more than a railroad could be at risk?it could be the future of the entire country.
Filled with intricate plotting and dazzling set pieces, The Wrecker is one of the most entertaining thrillers in years.
Author Biography: Cussler began writing novels in 1965 and published his first work featuring his continuous series hero, Dirk Pitt, in 1973. His first non-fiction, The Sea Hunters, was released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the Maritime College, State University of New York, considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded Cussler a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997. It was the first time since the College was founded in 1874 that such a degree was bestowed.
Cussler is an internationally recognized authority on shipwrecks and the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, (NUMA) a 501C3 non-profit organization (named after the fictional Federal agency in his novels) that dedicates itself to preserving American maritime and naval history. He and his crew of marine experts and NUMA volunteers have discovered more than 60 historically significant underwater wreck sites including the first submarine to sink a ship in battle, the Confederacy's Hunley, and its victim, the Union's Housatonic; the U-20, the U-boat that sank the Lusitania; the Cumberland, which was sunk by the famous ironclad, Merrimack; the renowned Confederate raider Florida; the Navy airship, Akron, the Republic of Texas Navy warship, Zavala, found under a parking lot in Galveston, and the Carpathia, which sank almost six years to-the-day after plucking Titanic's survivors from the sea.
In September, 1998, NUMA - which turns over all artifacts to state and Federal authorities, or donates them to museums and universities - launched its own web site for those wishing more information about maritime history or wishing to make donations to the organization. (www.numa.net).
In addition to being the Chairman of NUMA, Cussler is also a fellow in both the Explorers Club of New York and the Royal Geographic Society in London. He has been honored with the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration.
Cussler's books have been published in more than 40 languages in more than 100 countries. His past international bestsellers include Pacific Vortex, Mediterranean Caper, Iceberg, Raise the Titanic, Vixen 03, Night Probe, Deep Six, Cyclops, Treasure, Dragon, Sahara, Inca Gold, Shock Wave, Flood Tide, Atlantis Found, Valhalla Rising, Trojan Odyssey and Black Wind (this last with his son, Dirk Cussler); the nonfiction books The Sea Hunters, The Sea Hunters II and Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt r Revealed; the NUMA® Files novels Serpent, Blue Gold, Fire Ice, White Death and Lost City (written with Paul Kemprecos); and the Oregon Files novels Sacred Stone and Golden Buddha (written with Craig Dirgo) and Dark Watch (written with Jack Du Brul).
Clive Cussler lives in Arizona.
Justin Scott - Also writes as Justin Scott, Paul Garrison, J.S. Blazer, and Alexander Cole.
Other Reviews:
Scott Parker
Book Reporter