Clint

This is the fourth installment in a series that I have truly enjoyed since the beginning. Isaac Bell is a typical Cussler-style hero. Tall, good looking, green-eyed, chivalrous, clean cut, and really, really lucky (never gets hurt really badly, and always overcomes the obstacles that the bad guys throw his way); however, Sherlock Holmes he is not!

The usual five-star rating for the storyline dropped one notch this time, because Isaac's character was slow to realize the identity of one of the bad guys that he had direct contact with throughout the story. Just doesn't seem believable that the Chief Investigator for the premier detective agency of the time would be that unobservant.

The terminology used by the characters seems to be true to the period; however, I got really tired of hearing "on the jump" (meaning, do it quickly). Not sure why this bothered me. I suppose I expected a broader period-specific vocabulary from the characters.

The story is very creative and enjoyable. A few additional threads to follow, but all are tied together quite well.

Scott Brick gave another excellent narration performance. Some of the dialects were a little unpolished, but I relate his voice with Clive Cussler stories, so as long as he's doing the performance, he gets a lot of slack from me. If you want to lose a Cussler audiobook fan, change narrators. Scott is irreplaceable.

Justin Scott has a fifth book "The Thief" due out on 3-6-2012. I'm really looking forward to listening to it!

I'm sure that Felix had been writing much of the final "Dick Francis" series for his aging father, which allowed him to do such a great job with his first solo offering, "Gamble". While I could have enjoyed an abridged version of the story more than this lengthy tomb, the storyline is actually very good. Not just standard Dick Francis, but enough of the family story telling formula and horseracing DNA to leverage his father's popularity, while allowing Felix to begin building his own unique brand of excitement. An imaginative and believable plot set in current day with plenty of realism brought out by obviously extensive research. Very impressive! I look forward to his next story. Keep 'em coming, Felix! Your father would be quite proud...