The Chase

By: Clive Cussler

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

A no-nonsense detective is on the trail of the sharpest and deadliest criminal mind he has ever encountered: a serial robber who murders any and all witnesses in cold-blood.

©2007 Clive Cussler (P)2007 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Cussler takes a breather from his several ongoing series with this historical thriller set in the western states, circa 1906. The U.S. government hires the renowned Van Dorn Detective Agency and its equally renowned lead agent, Isaac Bell, to capture the bank robber known as the Butcher Bandit....Once San Francisco gets hit by the 1906 earthquake and the principals climb aboard a pair of fire-breathing locomotives, the novel cranks up a head of steam and some high-speed thrills." ( Publishers Weekly)

Not Cussler's best

Clive Cussler has been writing and coauthoring historical thrillers for over 40 years and he has a large and faithful following or readers. 24 of his 60+ unabridged novels in English are available at Audible in audiobook format. Many are narrated by Scott Brick, my favorite narrator.

The Chase is Book 1 in the 8 novel Isaac Bell series. It is well worth listening to, but it is not a good as most Cussler novels. My advice is to start listening to Cussler with his Dirk Pitt novels seven of which are available in audiobook format.

quick easy listen

This was an entertaining story as most Cussler books are: very defined bad guys going up against our James Bond like good guy. However, the story is implausible and there are some parts that could just be cut out. Also, I found the characters a bit undeveloped and hard to like. Finally, the narrator, Scott Brick, has done some excellent work in the past, but in this book, he is much too melodramatic. If you're looking for a light, fun listen this is a good choice.

Great Historical Novel

Fast moving thriller. Starts and ends in the 1950s, with most the story taking place in 1906. Gives a great historical context of a detective chasing down a bank robber killer.

I tend to follow Scott Brick's books and this one did not disappoint. Just purchased The Wreck and looking forward to it.

Excellent Opener to Cussler's Isaac Bell Series

One of Cussler's best written books. In this book, he introduces his new character named Isaac Bell, who is a detective for a large detective agency in the early 1900's.

The plot involves a highly successful bank robber who never leaves witnesses. Or at least he tries not to!

Excellent characters, plot, and adventure. Perhaps I learned a bit too much about railroads and communication via telegraph. But it's always such a pleasure to listen to Scott Brick's narration, I really didn't mind.

I finallly figured it out

I listen to a lot of books, there are several that I've stayed with for just a short time before I have to quit. This is one of those books that after 5 minutesI was so irritated by the narrator that I turned it off. I went through some of my other books that I've shelved and most of them were narrated by Scott Brick.

His tone is one in which puts you on the edge of your seat through every word spoken. He puts too much emphasis on every word and his enthusiasm is way over the top. I can just imagine him stomping around waving his arms while reading.

It was just too much for me. I won't be buying any more books narrated by him.

A new series for me

I love Clive Cussler but never ventured to try this series because I generally do not enjoy books set in the early 1900's, particularily in the Western US. Boy was I surprised. This book has all of the fast paced adventures of his other thrillers. I love Isaac Bell just as much as I love all of his other heros beginning with Dirk Pit. If you like the NUMA adventures, or the Oregon adventures you will love the Chase and Isaac Bell.

Villains make this a good read

This is my first Clive Cussler novel and I'll probably give him another look. He certainly came up with an easy-to-dislike antagonist in the form of Cromwell. Apart from a grudging fondness for his sister, Cromwell seemed to be totally without redeeming value. Even his philanthropic work was performed for cover. Our hero, Isaac Bell, was a likable-enough character although the romance that blossomed with one of Cromwell's employees strained credibilty. Much of the story strained credibility but did so in a way that did not detract from a reader's ability to enjoy the listen. I did.

Bad

Scott Brick must be one of the worst narrators ever. This is the second book of his I have listened to and I have disliked both. His style is very over-the-top. He is too dramatic and his sentences too often reach an unneeded crescendo. Half the time he cannot keep his voices and accents straight and in one instance a French accent slowly turns into a badly done Irish accent. When he isn't whipping himself into a frenzy or botching the voices, he sounds just plain haughty.
The book itself is just ok. Period references are good if they are done correctly. This book just squeaks by in that department. It starts to get a little annoying with the references (yes, we know 85 miles an hour was fast in 1906), but then backs off before it gets TOO bad. The ending cannot be described as anything but cheesy.

It was hard to put down...

...in those hours when I had to eat, sleep and go to work. It was intriguing and exciting from page one and I'm recommending it to some very finicky readers in my family.

Purple prose

Now I know what that term means! The first half of the book was tolerable, but the second half became cliche after cliche. I expected Guy Noire to show up at every turn. I'm so happy I got this book for cheap, it would have been a waste of a good credit.