Date first published	1 Oct 2009
ISBN Number	978 0 718 15464 6
Page Count	470 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

It is 1907. Train wrecks, fires and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's Cascades express line. Desperate, the railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency. Van Dorn sends in its top investigator, Isaac Bell.

Bell quickly discovers that a mysterious saboteur haunts the hobo jungles of the West. Known as The Wrecker, he recruits accomplices from among the down-and-outs to attack the railroad, killing them afterwards. The Wrecker travels the vast spaces of the American West as if he had wings, striking wherever he pleases, causing untold damage and loss of human life.

Who is he and what does he want? Is he a striker? An anarchist? A criminal mastermind engineering some as-yet unexplained scheme? Whoever he is, whatever his motives, The Wrecker knows how to create maximum havoc. Bell senses that he is far from done ­ indeed, it would seem that The Wrecker is building up to a grand act unlike anything committed before.

If Bell doesn't stop him in time, the entire future of the country could be at risk.

Review

This is the second Isaac Bell novel, and pretty much picks up where The Chase left off.

Where the Chase centred around a bank robber, who travelled the country doing his dirty deeds, this story focuses on a 'Wrecker' travelling the country sabotaging the expanding rail companies. This is probably the only real gripe I have about the novel, the chase across the country is just too similar to the last novel. It's done to create a sense of action and pace, but in reality it wastes a lot of time, and slows the pace of the book down, mainly because you have an event, Bell then travels to investigate and of course it may take him 2-3 days to do so.

Once the action stops roving across the countryside, it picks up, as bell tries to identify the Wrecker, and put an end to his schemes. It is actually quite a long way into the book before you know why the Wrecker is doing what he is doing. You begin to suspect who the Wrecker is about two thirds of the way in, and who his spy in the camp is in the final few chapters, although it is not confirmed until the chapter.

The character of Bell is not fleshed out any further, than what we know in the Chase, although his relationship with his fiance´ does unfold a bit more. The other characters are sketched in just enough for you to feel empathy for them in the crisis. The Wrecker is thoroughly evil, as a good baddie should be. There is no moral high ground for him to take, and no reason for him to do what he does apart from personal gain. He kills without a second thought, and doesn't care.

The Wreckers demise is somewhat of a let down, yes he gets his just deserts, but there is little sense of revenge, and not much justice - but you could argue that is life!

Overall it's not a bad novel, it paints a vivid picture of early 20th Century America, a period where the whole of the civilised world was being transformed, by rail, cars, and the coming of electricity. You have the rich and wealthy, with luxury carriages, down to the hovels where the men that built the railways lived. It is quite a startling difference and gives the book an extra dimension for those whose American history (like mine) is a tad on the weak side.

I hope that there will be a third story, but one without the continuous travel, there is plenty of scope to have a story set in a single city, after all Jack the Ripper operated in London when it was a relatively small place.

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