The Chase
by Clive Cussler
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Book Reviews of The Chase
Book Review: A fun read
Summary: 5 Stars
Well written and researched, what I call a "fun read" - hard to put down, since it flows so well.
I do have one gripe - and this has to do with the various backgrounds given to the main characters - they vary from part to part in the book.
In the paperback Berkley Nov. 2008 edition on page 107 it says "Marion was 21 when she finished college and came to work for Cromwell as a teller, and she had risen to manager." but on page 204 she is described as going to the "city's first secretarial school" and "working up from an office typist to his personal secretary." and then on page 331 she says "I was in the first graduating class of Sanford University. My degree was in law" Ooops!
As for our hero Isaac Bell, on page 202 the author has him "going to Yale University" but on page 330 he is "Harvard, Phi Beta Kappa."
For some reason these types of errors really bother me in such a well written and enjoyable book. Doesn't anybody EDIT any more??
Book Review: Where was the editor?
Summary: 1 Stars
Normally I enjoy Clive Cussler. Even though he is not the best writer in the world, particularly regarding dialogue, belief can be suspended easily enough to ensure an enjoyable read. This is not the case with this book. It's beyond boring and predictable; the dialogue is agonisingly inept, even for Cussler, and it's so riddled with inconsistencies and errors that it's practically unreadable. I thought that it would get better as it went along but it just kept getting worse. I don't know why I even finished it really, except that I couldn't believe it could get any worse towards the end. Unfortunately it did. Badly written, badly edited, and oh so boring. Come on Clive, don't palm this kind of rubbish off on your readers. You must know how excrutiatingly bad it is. I think I'll stick to James Rollins in future for this genre. James can write and his editors can edit.Book Review: A FUN READ
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed my second Isaac Bell adventure in The Chase. It was very entertaining although predictable. As I said in my review of The Wrecker, I enjoy the time period in which Bell was at his peak. I did read The Wrecker first which leads me to the first observation. In The Chase, Bell gets married and when the prologue comes along he and wife Marion are well along with children as he returns to Flathead Lake in Montana. That said, in The Wrecker which was written next, Bell has a romantic interest and no mention of Marion. Don't think Clive meant to have his hero married off in the first novel. Regarding The Chase, it was a fun read but did they have interstates back in 1906? How on earth could his Locomobile be doing 90 miles an hour on the chase to San Diego on any kind of road at the time?Book Review: Good Read but Bad History
Summary: 2 Stars
At first I really enjoyed The Chase. Great setup, great characters, and a very intriguing story with lots of possibilities. I also like Cussler's easy-going style of writing. I was really hoping this one would deliver, but the second half of the book was a real let down. I'm a railroader and a railroad historian, and what happens in the second half is laughable. Cussler demonstrates that he knows very little about the railroad world, especially as it existed in 1906. I gathered from the text that he rode aboard a steam locomotive for a few hours to "get the feeling," but that's about it. If you know nothing about trains you might love this, but if you're a railfan you'll end up scratching your head a lot. The Chase is a decent read, but it's bad history.Book Review: Wild! Fun!! Exciting! Enjoy the Chase!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like all Cussler books that I have read this book is a little cheesy but in a very good way. This majority of this book is set in the early 1900s where a very cleaver killer is on the loose robbing banks and killing all witnesses. Only one man can capture this man, the Dirk Pitt of the early 1900s Isaac Bell.
While this book is a little cheesy and the main hero is way too perfect that's what makes it fun as well. The chase for the notorious "Butcher Bandit" is a lot of fun. The book is very exciting, well detailed, well paced with great characters.
It's a good quick fun read for everyone. I highly enjoy and would recomend it to anyone who wants to escapse to the early 1900s and enjoy a good chase.