The Wrecker

I have always enjoyed Clive Cussler novels.They are all really captivating,can’t put them down type of novels.This one is about a railroad magnate who nis expanding his railroad to the upper northwest,he is being thwarted by a U.S. senator who obviously is known as the Wrecker.His identity is unknown to all till near the end.His motive is to bankrupt and gain all of the rairoad magnates empire including his daughter’s hand in marriage.The book starts off at about 75 miles an hour ,dips a few times to lesser speeds ,but then finishes off at a clear 100 mph.It was fun and entertaining and as all Cussler’s novels a really great ride.

I Like Cussler (and whoever actually does, or helps with his writing). The books mover quickly, making them a perfect diversion from rough days of work. I also like his placing the Isaac Bell series of his books (of the which “The Wrecker” is book two) in period correct settings, using historical facts.

I would like to make the point that though there is some sequential information throughout the series, one does not necessarily need to read the books 1 through whatever. Most do have a railroad theme, though trains play just a minor transportation mode is several, and the detail of railroads he gives is quite good. In “The Wrecker”, that detail really shines, and adds deeply to making the book seem almost be non-fiction.

In “The Chase”, Clive Cussler introduced readers to a new character: Isaac Bell. Bell is a detective with the Van Dorn Detective Agency, and it’s his job to travel the country to catch notorious bad guys. In “The Wrecker”, Isaac will face his biggest challenge yet.

The story is set at the turn of the 20th century. Financial unrest and labor strifes have beset the nation, none more so than on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Osgood Hennessy, president of the Southern Pacific, controls most of the railroads in the West. It is his plan to build the Cascades Cutoff, which will help the flow of railway traffic. However, Hennessy is faced with a saboteur on a grand scale; a man known simply as “The Wrecker”. The Wrecker recruits down-and-outs from the hobo villages along the train lines to perform acts of sabotage against the railway, then kills them. Hennesy hires the Van Dorn agency to catch the Wrecker, and soon, Isaac Bell is on the case. From the west coast to New Jersey, Bell chases the Wrecker, but to no avail. To make matters worse, the Wrecker has his sights set on blowing the Cascade Canyon Bridge. Will the Wrecker succeed, or will Bell catch him before it’s too late?

I’ve become a big fan of the Isaac Bell series, and “The Wrecker” is packed full of action and adventure. Isaac Bell is the prototypical hero, sporting a stetson hat, white suit, and blond mustache. The Wrecker is a devious, well-disguised bad guy who is cleverly hidden by Cussler throughout the book. The supporting characters are well-developed and they add to the suspense of the story.

I recommend “The Wrecker” very highly. The story is full of thrills, and the characters jump off the page. Don’t miss this great story from Clive Cussler.

Cusslers 2nd in the Isaac Bell series is also mine, and confirms I have indeed found another hero to follow. I probably wouldnt have called it the best series hes ever put out were it not for the endless flow of sub-marine and ocean going sagas Ive been following, and my only criticism so far would be fear of a similar outcome here if Bell continues exclusively in pursuit of railroad crime. This, however, will possibly take me the entire series to determine, as did his others. I found a noticeable scarcity in the number of bad customer revues, and, of those I read, I found the criticisms trivial or at least unfathomable. An added bonus is that, unlike Cusslers (and most other authors) works of late, we have moved away from the modern trend of high technology and secretly political or intrinsically confusing plotting.

I have read every one of Clive Cussler’s books. As he is getting on in years, he now works with “co-writers” to pump out series beyond his original Dirk Pitt books. Unfortunately, the quality of these books has become uneven. The Pitt series, given to his son, is suffering greatly in my opinion. The Oregon novels with Jack Du Brul have become consistently excellent. Now….out of nowhere comes this historical Isaac Bell detective series. The first book, The Chase, was pretty good even though I thought that the characters weren’t sketched out all that well and the narrative didn’t draw me into the world of the the late 19th century.

Now comes The Wrecker, which I just finished yesterday. Absolutely fabulous. The author (I’m assuming ol’ Clive in reality has little to do with the book other than lending his name to it) does a phenomenal job fleshing out all of the characters, but leaving just enough hidden to keep you guessing. I guessed the identity of the bad guy pretty early on, but I just couldn’t swear on it until he was truly revealed later on in the book. The various subplots were skillfully weaved together. I had no trouble remembering who was who and never once got confused. Finally, the greatest strength of the novel was the way the author brought the America of the early 1900’s alive. It was as if I was a part of the scenery. This book is 80% thriller, 20% history book. I was excited by both the plot and the vivid description of the mighty industrial revolution fever that was gripping the country at the time. Yet, the author does not just paint bright pink hues here–the seedy underside of the times are there as well: the financial panics, the out-of-work drifters, the overt “yellow” racism and “accepted” black racism, and the gritty dichotomy between the haves and have-nots.

Get it, read it, and be prepared for some sleep deprivation for a couple of days.

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