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The Wrecker (Isaac Bell) |  | Authors: Clive Cussler, Justin Scott
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $13.99
as of 11/23/2009 10:57 MST details
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Seller: joann_alva
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 116
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 0399155996
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399155994
ASIN: 0399155996
Publication Date: November 17, 2009 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Another Cussler Success November 23, 2009
Tired Turtle (Southlake, TX)
We first met Isaac Bell in "The Chase" in an exciting historical thriller. Clive Cussler has another page turner hit with "The Wrecker." In the early years of the 20th Century the fastest and most "modern" method of travel was by rail and the fastest communication was via the telegraph. Clive Cussler sweeps us back to these times in which Isaac Bell must contend with a dangerous, greedy man, intent upon causing the destruction of the most successful railroad mogul of the era. If successful the evil doer will be able to take over the enterprise and become immensely wealthy and famous. He acts ruthlessly to keep his identity hidden. Isaac Bell, the Van Dorne Detective Agencies top agent is placed on the case and the contest is joined. Though the reader soon knows the identity of the killer/scoundrel Isaac and his fellow agents must overcome limitations of travel and information lag times to assemble enough facts to finally unmask the villain. (For older readers one is reminded of the Saturday Movie Serial as audience members yelled at the screen to warn the hero, as the bad guy lurked in the shadows and the unknowing hero fell into a diabolical trap.) The action is fast, furious and fun as you spend time in the early 1900's traveling the rails, fighting nature, hob nobbing with industry titans as well as rubbing elbows with scum of the earth out to do in the good guys. I highly recommend this novel. Cussler is at the top of his game and we Cussler fans benefit.
More Powerful Than a Locomotive November 23, 2009
Bookreporter.com (New York, New York)
As does the cover photo of an exploding locomotive atop a wooden railroad trestle, authors Clive Cussler and Justin Scott snatch the reader's attention from chapter one. Cussler arguably is best known for RAISE THE TITANIC! (the third in his series of Dirk Pitt novels), and he and co-author Scott (whose pseudonyms include Paul Garrison) specialize in transportation-themed novels, many of which are set at sea. This is the second in the Isaac Bell historical thriller series, following THE CHASE. Both are set shortly after the turn of the 20th century, a time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and collapsing banks with the Panic of 1907, in which stocks lost half their value.
As the recession in 2001 was complicated by terrorist attacks on 9/11, the 1907 economic chaos in this time-travel educational thriller is compounded by a mysterious saboteur dubbed the Wrecker, a diabolical man who recruits hobos to create havoc for the railroads, the main form of transportation a century ago. But the Wrecker thinks "he [is] no radical. He [is] no destroyer. He [is] a builder." However, the vile Wrecker sets explosives so that "only the full weight of a locomotive could trigger the detonator." After blasts sabotage Southern Pacific Railroad, the Van Dorn Detective Agency dispatches its best: Isaac Bell.
In 1907 --- a year when thousands died in train-related accidents --- a New York Times article quoted Central Railroad's W.C. Brown's denunciation of public criticism of railroads as being "a menace to national economy." That year also marked the end of "robber barons" such as Edward Henry Harriman and James J. Hill, who took over so many railroads that various stock market panics ensued. The stage is set with references to 1903's The Great Train Robbery, but it's a certain senator who, like his counterparts today, uses his influence to get more ill-gotten gains than in the film.
In this research-rich installment, Southern Pacific Railroad's president, Osgood Hennessy, epitomizes the term "robber baron." Intent on controlling all railroads, Osgood's crowning glory is a massive trestle being constructed over Oregon's Cascade Canyon, a slightly smaller version of its better known Arizona sibling. Osgood wagers all on the Cascade Canyon Bridge that will reduce transportation time through rugged mountains --- and channel all transportation of goods on his railroad. Osgood's bridge can be compared to the Panama Canal in its relevance to speeding transportation of goods. And that bridge is like a magnet, attracting the Wrecker to achieve the pinnacle of his diabolical career.
Purposely stilted dialogue of the period derails the plot at times, and train speeds at 127 MPH raise eyebrows in disbelief. Curiously, Ma Bell (no relation to Isaac) completes a phone call from Oakland to L.A. quicker than traditional telegraphs of the time: "Telephone the Los Angeles office. Tell them I said to get to the wreck and don't let anyone touch anything. Including the police." Isaac and other Van Dorn detectives look down on mere police as though they're all Keystone Kops.
Although the Wrecker seems always a step ahead of him, Isaac uses old-fashioned cunning to deduce where he will strike next. Without Google or cell phones and the only twitter being from birds, Isaac successfully puts himself into the mind of the Wrecker. With the Wrecker's identity pegged midway through, this is more of a "whydunit" than a "whodunit." And the authors are more powerful than a locomotive in their ability to transport readers back a century with this equally powerful vehicle.
--- Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
Back on the tracks. November 20, 2009
Marcus A. Lewis (South El Monte, CA United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The first posted review can be difficult to follow sometimes, but I think I'm safe here. All the salient plot points have already been covered for you so here are a few things I would like to add: Once you get past the fact that this novel, like the other previous ones, is not a Dirk Pitt adventure, you can open yourself up to enjoy it. We first met "Isaac" Bell in "The Chase" (11/07). He is a special agent that works for the Van Dorn Detective Agency (very similar to the Pinkertons). Cussler& Scott use the frame format of storytelling, taking the reader back in time to recount the story's events. Much like Watson in his adventures with Sherlock Holmes.
The action is fast paced as previously stated and the language is archaic at times, which makes it more of a period piece. I think this character will resonate with readers. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Wrecker." Give this dynamo a look.
 fast-paced historical thriller November 19, 2009
Harriet Klausner
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In 1907, the Southern Pacific Railroad is constructing the Cascade Canyon Bridge in Oregon, but has deep financial problems. Bankers inform the firm's president, Osgood Hennessy that if the project is not finished by winter, they will withdraw their funding. Hennessy knows if the backers leave his company goes bankrupt.
The SPR can complete the project easily on time except for the labor unrest that has led to delays due to explosions, fires and track destruction leading to derailing and other dangerous mayhem. Hennessy hires the Van Dorn Detective Agency who sends their best sleuth James Bell. He quickly concludes that the Wrecker is causing the deadly havoc by using hobo recruits to sabotage the SPR; after the mission is done he kills his new allies and sets forth on lining up his next crony. Bell believes he is running out of time to prevent the Wrecker's next terrorist act, which will be greater than all his previous sabotage combined.
Even with an odd writing style that represents a bygone era when trains ruled distant travel over automobiles and planes, THE WRECKER travels at speeds much faster than Obama's rail proposal. The story line is filled with action on top of more action. Ironically, the audience knows which direction the plot travels and who the Wrecker is from almost the onset; yet readers will still go along for the ride expecting a High Noon showdown between the saboteur and the detective on THE CHASE to prevent a terrorist act on a scale never seen before.
Harriet Klausner
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