The Spy

This is an improvement over the previous novel in the series: the plot is tighter, and the villains identity is kept secret through most of the book. When it is revealed, its a gangster thought to have died many years ago, not a well-known personage as in the first two books. The action occurs in East Coast and West Coast ship yards, primarily in the Philadelphia-New Jersey-New York metro area. The plot revolves around spies from various European countries and Japan escalating the race to build the largest, most impervious dreadnought warships. The ending confrontation between Bell and the villain in a superyacht vs. a submarine is pure Cussler excitement. The only hole in the plot was an explanation for the relationship between the inventors daughter Dorothy and the villains ward Katherine Dee. And it bothers me that Cussler kills off so many of his series good guys in each novel. As with The Wrecker, the framing story could have been jettisoned. Other than those issues, Cussler has gotten the series back on track.

In this 3rd novel, Isaac is involved with a case involving 3 “brothers” who are rampaging throughout several areas. He gets called into Van Dorm office in New York to meet a new client whose father had apparently just committed suicide. The daughter insists that her father could never do this, nor could he sell trade secrets to foreigners. Isaac agrees to look over crime scene as it hadn’t been gone over by the navy, who was trying to keep this quiet. He finds evidence of forgery in the suicide note as the signature is more like the father’s signature at a much younger age than current. Isaac makes a promise that the Van Dorn agency will look into the death as well as completing the capture of the 3 brother band. They are able through questioning figure out who set up the fake suicide but 2 other developers are also found dead. Bell is approached by a top Admiral who fought in the war with current President Theodore Roosevelt. He explains to Bell about the new ships being built and the new guns. He also explains about the shielding material needed for the new unmaded ships called Hull 44. There were only 5 people plus the Admiral who were involved in developing the means to achieve this. Of the 5, 3are dead, so the Van Dorn agency places the remaining 2 under 24 hour watch. This doesn’t stop the attackers but they soon figure out that one person called the Spy is behind everything. Like all Bell stories, we get introduced to the suspect early in the story but only after Isaac Bell gets beat up a few times, does he realize who it is. Isaac and Marion finally decide on a stone for her ring and solve the crime.

You either like Cussler or you don’t. I like the books he authors/co-authors. I enjoy the formulaic aspects of the writing. You know Bell will win in the end; it’s getting to the end, and the twists and turns that keep me interested. So interested that I am re-reading the whole Isaac Bell series for the third time having just re-read the Fargo series for the third time.

Cussler may not create award winning books, but they are enjoyable, especially if you like good guys to win, sometimes against long odds.

Fair point: I did not read the first non-Cussler Bell book. In fact, it’s been a while since Cussler has written alone, right? I hope all is well.

I gave this book 4 stars. I’ll begin with my complaints:
1) Bell is too perfect. He’s very much like Pitt, only more. He’s too good. But he’s still entertaining.
2) The historical nods are obnoxious. For instance, at one point Bell meets a dancing kid. Before a name is given I’m thinking it’s Fred Astair or Gene Kelly. I couldn’t pick either out of a lineup. I couldn’t tell you approximate years they lived. I couldn’t tell you a single thing they did. I know zero about them, yet I could still see it coming. You then get a first name “Fred” and you sigh. Then, at the end of the passage, with a wink you’re told his last name is Astair. It’s kind of insulting – you figured that out before it was even presented. Don’t give it to us with a wink, as if there’s some surprise or suspense, when it’s so obvious a guy that knows nothing about Fred Astair saw it coming. It really is a bit insulting. Other historical name-drops are equally frustrating. Characters invent things that eventually be popular far too easily (in one case it makes some sense, given who says it, in another case Bell not only has the idea for the invention but comes up with the not-so-obvious name it ended up receiving.) Lastly, I swear the Lusitania is name-dropped at least 20 times. A few make sense. 20 are absurd.
3) The epilogue is idiotic.

What’s good?
Everything else. It’s a quick moving novel. Maybe it could use some balance away from just Bell, but it works fine as is. Honestly, I enjoyed the first Bell book and this is only marginally worse. Justin Scott does a great job keeping up with the original Cussler. If you liked that one you’ll like this one. If you like Cussler at all you’ll like this book. It’s written down a bit, but it’s the minor winks that are dumb, not the book as a whole (assuming you’re supposed to know who the Spy is almost immediately, and I feel it didn’t try to hide it. There’s only one suspect until a final train ride, which is far too late for others. I hope it was intentionally transparent, but feel it was.)

Bottom line – if you’re reading this you already know Cussler, and therefore know if you’ll like this book. Like him, like it.

So I was surprised to see this book had some 1 star ratings. It isn’t a Fargo book. Turns out it’s being torpedoed by angry Kindle fans based upon the pricing. I’ll approve of that. I wouldn’t mind $15 Kindle prices when the book is hardcover if we had $5 when it’s paperback. Can’t have it both ways. I bought this for $5 used. Had I been a Kindle reader (and I soon will be) I certainly wouldn’t have read this book.

The Isaac Bell stories are a little different to vintage Clive Cussler, maybe because the “and Justin Scott” on the cover probably means Cussler did not write them. That is no bad thing as, much as I have enjoyed many Cussler fictions, they have become a little tired. The Isaac Bell stories are all set around an emerging United States of America and the plots interwoven with commentary on developments in railways, roads, shipping and, indeed, air travel which makes the reads in interesting insight into rapidly changing times as well as decent fictional story lines.

My only real criticism is that the development of the main character seems to have taken a step backwards part way through the series. Maybe the publisher should look at the time frame of the books and public a reading order as it clearly should not be in the order they were published.

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