4 stars out of 5
As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan of history - as in the classroom learning of it. I do, however, enjoy learning how things that happened in the past impact the way we all live and work today as well as details that likely won't be included in any history textbook. My first and only experience with this series featuring James Bond-like private detective Isaac Bell, The Striker, was a pleasant one (like this one, I gave it, the sixth, 4 stars back in April 2013). But books by too many other favorite authors intervened (including several of the author's Dirk Pitt novels), and I somehow never got around to reading another until now.
And I admit I probably should have read the 7th (The Bootlegger) before tackling this one, although from my perspective it stands well on its own. I've read other reviews, though, claiming that questions and situations happening in the previous book were either left unresolved or not included here at all, leaving them to wonder why the oversights. But I also learned (after the fact) that this book is set four years prior to the first book of the series (The Chase, 2008), which certainly could account for seemingly left-out references.
That said, I really enjoyed this one, despite more than a few situations that seemed a bit over the top (a hot air balloon incident, for instance). The plot, set in the late 1890s and early 1900s, centers on an attempt to bring down oil magnate J.D. Rockefeller and his all-powerful Standard Oil. I wasn't around back then, but I do remember Standard Oil, and the cities of Cleveland and Oil City, Pennsylvania, where at least some of the action takes place, are less than a couple of hours from my northeastern Ohio home (and I've spent time in both).
The book begins as an assassin begins to murder opponents of the huge oil conglomerate, one of whom is Bell's best witness in his company's investigation of Standard Oil's monopoly. That's followed by the sniper's detonation of an explosion that destroys the witness's independent refinery.
The chase to find the diminutive assassin leads Bell around the world, from New York to the Midwest to the vast oil fields of Russia and puts the detective in many life-threatening situations that put his mental and physical skills to the test. Historical details are abundant, but at no time did I feel that they overwhelmed the story; in fact, they added to it and, whether they were fact or fiction, to my enjoyment of the book as well. Heck, I even learned a new word: inveigle. In case you're wondering too, it means to convince someone else to do something through coaxing and/or flattery.
The Assassin by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2015); 418 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Dirk Pitt, Clive Cussler's legendary hero who's now heading up the National Underwater and Marine Agency, doesn't play much of a role in this one, but there's plenty of action nonetheless. In fact, it's a little too much for me; NUMA agents Kurt Austin and fellow agent and friend Joe Zavala are about as close to super-heroes as you can get. No capes, perhaps, but plenty of other gadgets and gizmos courtesy of the U.S. government (chameleon suits? Who knew??) to satisfy all the techies out there.
In the beginning, Austin is injured while trying to rescue folks (one a former love) from a yacht that's about to sink. But his injuries come with memory malfunctions, and he isn't sure exactly what he saw. Determined to get to the truth - and prove that his long-ago love really isn't dead - he teams up with his pal Zavala to investigate (with Pitt's permission). All this leads to the discovery of a ship that was thought to be lost nearly a century ago and the possible downfall of the United States itself that brings computer hacking to a whole new level.
Some of Cussler's work of late has been less than satisfying, but this one - co-written by Graham Brown - is, with the exception of the aforementioned almost unbelievable super-hero antics, perhaps - very well done. The story is a bit complex, but the authors do a great job of sorting it all out so it makes sense in the end.
Ghost Ship (The NUMA Files) by Clive Cussler (Putnam Adult, May 2014); 440 pp.
4-1/2 stars (out of 5)
After reading Cussler's disappointing Poiseidon's Arrow, co-written by his son Dirk Cussler last year - I gave it just 3 stars - I wasn't expecting this to be much better (read my review here). That book was the 22nd "starring" Dirk Pitt, who since his introduction in 1965 has "graduated to head up the National Underwater and Marine Agency. Pitt makes an occasional appearance in that capacity in Zero Hour, but this one (Book 9 of The Numa Files) follows friends Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala and the rest of the Numa team as they try to stop a mad scientist who's bent on destroying the world as they know it.
The focus, if you will, is on "zero point energy," which is a theoretical state of energy that well-known scientists like Nikola Tesla reportedly espoused but for which his designs mysteriously disappeared before they could be tested. If tapped, it could be used as an energy source for the betterment of the world; but misused, the consequences could be dire. Here, the Numa team learns that a discredited and paranoid scientist has mastered the technology and, together with his son, plans to unleash it by targeting a fault line that runs through the middle of Australia and splitting the continent right down the middle.
As the team searches to find and shut down the villain before that happens at "Zero Hour," the chase moves along nicely, making this book hard to put down. On occasion, the boundaries of what the human body is capable of are tested a bit as the testosterone levels shoot up (literally and figuratively), but it never quite reaches the point of super-human that always bugs the heck out of me when I run across it in other books of this genre. All in all, a great job!
Zero Hour by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown (Putnam Adult, May 2013); 400 pp.
Let me fill you in on a little-known fact: I am not - let me repeat that, not - a history buff. Back when I finished the first of what would be three basic history classes in college, in fact, I changed my major simply so I could avoid taking the other two. Honest.
So when I saw the period setting of this book, the fifth in Clive Cussler's series featuring early 1900s detective Isaac Bell, I was more than a little reluctant to start reading. Then I learned that it takes place in and around the coal mines of West Virginia and Pennsylvania not far from my home at a time when labor unions were trying to gain a foothold. Vilified by mine owners, union organizers were targeted, roughed up and even killed as they attempted to win higher pay and safer working conditions for workers in this extremely hazardous, but exceedingly profitable, industry.
This is the fourth in the Bell series written in collaboration with author Justin Scott, an established writer of several novels under his own name and the pen name Paul Garrison - for whatever that is worth. I've read and enjoyed other books by Cussler, but not any in this series; that, too, gave me pause until I found out it's really a prequel to the other four - the book in which Bell proves his bones as a private investigator.
Bell, who is relatively fresh out of an apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, is hired to find unionist saboteurs in the coal mines. In the process, he witnesses an accident that he believes wasn't an accident at all - and sets off to get to the truth. Doing so pits him against very ruthless and powerful people who, especially in the days of crooked politicians and coal industry magnates, will stop at nothing to keep the "working man" in his place and keep racking up enormous profits to fund their private yachts, elegant mansions, steamboats and special railroad cars.
I admit reading was a bit of a slogfest for me, but only because the dialogue is in keeping with the times (and yes, a bit of my aversion to history). But it was totally fascinating and expertly crafted; I'm sure a great deal of research went into the writing and many of the happenings are based - though perhaps loosely - on real events. There really was a Henry Clay Frick (a bad guy in this book has a similar name) who was a major American industrialist and financier during the coal-coke-steel industry's early years, for instance - at one time he was considered the most hated man in America.
It was also quite interesting to see names of places very familiar to me: Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle, the Monongehela and Ohio rivers on which barges tote coal to big cities like Cincinnati (perhaps stopping for water in Steubenville, Ohio).
Heck, I even got a chuckle or two, such as when a powerful judge pronounced, "Nothing becomes Pittsburgh like the leaving of it!"
All in all, it's an excellent read - and for those who love history and whodunits, it's ideal. I know I'll take a break by reading a couple of other books in present-day settings, but this one was interesting enough that I'm actually considering giving the rest of this series a try.
The Striker by Clive Cussler (Putnam Adult, March 2013); 384 pp.
