The Chase
by Clive Cussler
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.01 You Save: $6.98 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Chase
Book Review: Not the Cussler's best
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Chase" is one of the books that Clive Cussler wrote completely on his own. While some of those can be generally thought as very decent works of fiction (that's the reason why Cussler is such a well-known writer), "The Chase", which first saw print when Cussler was at ripe old age of 76, is probably not on that list.
To be sure, the premise is original and interesting, and the book is reasonably enjoyable (personally, I enjoyed it as an audiobook on two different 5-hour trips, and it did the job of distracting me from the dullness of driving). A fair bit of historical research seems to have gone into writing this book. However, there are shortcomings, and those are too significant to ignore.
For one, the language is even more cliche than normal for Cussler. I don't want to go back through the book right now, but let's just say that there's more than one place that will make you cringe. (Probably you more than me, since I'm not even a native English speaker!) There are some major logic gaps. For example, the place where they decide to arrest the main villain - pretty much out of the blue. The detective figures out the identity of the villain about halfway through the book. Then follows a burst of furious activity. About a hundred pages later, after one long car chase and with zero new evidence, they essentially say, "aw heck, let's just arrest him and see what happens ..." In another example, the author seems to "lose" a big chunk of time. At one point, it's March 30'th, then a few pages later it's all of a sudden April 16'th, and there's nothing in the book that would explain what happened during the missing two weeks.
That said, I do recommend the other two books in the Isaac Bell saga, "The Wrecker" and "The Spy". Those were written by Justin Scott under the supervision of Clive Cussler, and they are much less deficient in the writing aspect than "The Chase".
EDIT: it appears that the time gap I mentioned was "fixed" in the current edition. Chapter 30, second paragraph, the original text: "... I'm going to attend the National Conference for Community Banks. It is being held in Los Angeles this year on March twenty-eighth to March thirtieth." Current edition: "... on April sixteenth to April eighteenth". At least someone has been paying attention.
Book Review: A Victorian Age Wild Wild West with Shades of Sherlock Holmes
Summary: 4 Stars
"I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all." -- Ecclesiastes 9:11
If you like stories about catching master crooks, of the sort that Sherlock Holmes stalked, The Chase offers much to delight you. Just at the beginning of the 20th century, someone has been robbing banks crammed with payrolls, killing all the witnesses, and disappearing without leaving any clues behind. Patrician Isaac Bell is pressed into the hunt. Before long, he knows who's doing the crimes but lacks a way to get a conviction. From there, it's mano a mano was the hunter and the hunted seek to outwit one another. Before the story ends, fate steps in to reshuffle the deck and lead to the wildest train race in any fiction that I've read.
A hundred years ago, crime was pretty straightforward. You stuck a gun in someone's face and took what you wanted. Now, the bigger crimes involve fooling people to willingly give you their money with nary a weapon in sight. The current style of crime makes for more interesting reading if you like mysteries. Clive Cussler decides to do what the old television series did and imagine what if with a master criminal with diabolical plans to take over the American West. Isaac Bell will remind you of James West, except for his city slicker background in Boston.
The story has a negative tone though in that the master mind is a sociopath who kills with no compunction. This guy has got to be stopped.
I was impressed by how the story combined an understanding of finance with many good perspectives on various Western locales. It's a most unusual and entertaining combination.
Unfortunately, the book's end is a little disappointing compared to many of the surprises early in the story.
Watch out where you deposit your money!
Book Review: A great example of terrible writing
Summary: 1 Stars
I couldn't wait to finish this book so I could tell the rest of the world (or anyone wihtin eyeshot) of Cusslers God-awful writing style as of late. I only had a few weeks in between semesters for some recreational reading and, holy crap, did I ever pick the wrong book! This is the last time I pick up a tome on premise alone. The characters are extremely typical in their description, rugged jaw, piercing eyes, hour glass figure, heaving breats, yadda yadda yadda YAWN! The dialogue was grade-school at best and quite frankly, I didn't give a crap as to whether or not the "Butcher Bandit" got away. As a matter of fact, Issac Bells behavior was so sickeningly over-the-top heroic that I found myself cheering for the bad guy! I couldn't help but envison a different ending. Tell me what you think:
Cromwell puts a bullet right between Bells eyes while doing Marion from behind on a pile of cash with Margaret blowing Roosevelt on the bidet.
Classic.
Sweet Jesus I hated this book so much. People, if you have to read this, set your wince factor to 10 and be prepared to roll your eyes, grimace and set the book down a LOT. That is if you can keep from hurling it across the room. Seriously, it's a hardback and wasn't worth the $5.99 I paid at Borders. I won't donate it to the library or lend it to anyone unless they want an example of inane descriptions, ridiculous celebrity placement (Nils Lofgren? Really??) and the worst dialogue ever! Calling it pedestrian is a slam to pedestrians world-wide.
Seriously, avoid this incredible POS...stick with the guilty-pleasure Dirk Pitt novels of old...or pick up a classic for chrissake. Ugh.
Book Review: Terrible
Summary: 1 Stars
I can't recall how long it's been since the last time I read a Clive Cussler book, but apparently it's been so long I totally forgot he's a really bad writer.
Sloppy writing, bad history, cardboard characters, preposterous plotting, wince-inducing romantic scenes, laughable dialogue--this book has it all, folks.
This is the kind of book where our intrepid detective protagonist meets a strange woman in an elevator, she calls him by his name and reveals she knows about his personal life, he concludes she's spying on him (YA THINK?). Yet he continually talks about how clever and cagey she is! Hello, she might as well have been wearing a sign saying "I'M SPYING ON YOU." That's neither clever nor cagey, it's actually kind of stupid.
This is the kind of book where someone out of the blue asks what the date is so the reader will know the San Francisco earthquake is going to happen next.
This is the kind of book that has a such a diabolical antagonist he ruthlessly kills every witness--man, woman, child--to avoid capture. Yet at the same time he makes sure to roar through the towns he robs on a motorcycle, his red hair flapping in the wind while showing off the missing finger on one of his hands.
This is the kind of book where the hero chases down the villain and has almost nothing whatsoever to do with the villain's ultimate downfall.
This is the kind of book that should be avoided. There are better light reads out there, even some that are at least competently written.
Book Review: The best chase scenes are not in cars
Summary: 5 Stars
Ace detective Isaac Bell goes after the heartless Butcher Bandit in this great yarn by Clive Cussler. You can find plot synopses in other reviews. I just wanted to comment on the chase scene that concludes Bell's pursuit of the bandit. Typical movie chase scenes take place in cars, and sometimes involve trucks or motorcycles. However, the best chase scenes I know of involve none of these devices. The best one I had read prior to this novel is the one in chapter 17 of Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage, which takes place on horseback. It is dramatic and riveting. However, Cussler gives Grey a run for his money, so to speak, in the great chase near the end of this novel. It involves two trains and two groups of men (and one woman, the bandit's sister and accomplice). They set out from San Francisco on the day of the great earthquake in 1906 and proceed at breakneck speed over the rail lines of the West. The passion of the men after the criminal is palpable. The tale involves moral courage and determination as much as the physical strength of the train's engine and the men who run it. Very well worth the read!