Book review: The Chase by Clive Cussler

Clive Cussler's books are usually fun. I have read almost all of them over the years. The Chase has its moments, but over all I felt as though it was a story outline filled in with facts from an old encyclopedia. 

In this period adventure tale Cussler strays from his unusual ocean theme and presents us with a new hero, Isaac Bell, and a new era.  While the book begins in the 1950s, most of the action takes place in 1906.  The tale involves a serial killer/bank robber "The Butcher Bandit."  The characters are pretty typical, Cussler-good vs. evil, with beautiful women thrown in for decoration.  The problem I had with this story is that Cussler kept interrupting the storyline with technical details that were unnecessary.  In fact, by the end of the book I was skipping over things like how many horsepower a car had in 1905 ,and which type of steam engine was faster prior to 1910. I did not need to know about the hairstyle of day in such details that I am sure it came directly from some resource book. At times, I felt like he took copy directly from owners' manuals or patent information for each car, motorcycle or train in the story. I sensed that this was truly a short story that Cussler and his staff flushed out with all these details to make it a full length novel. 

I will give Cussler credit for painting an interesting picture of the American West at the turn-of-the-century, and for trying a new setting and cast of characters.  Yet, in the end, I cannot recommend this book unless you're a die-hard Cussler fan.