"The assassin" by Clive Cussler. This book is published by Penguin UK in 2016 and has 448 pages.
It's 1899. Rockefeller's Standard oil has used every means to choke, bankrupt and buyout independent oil producers. His strategy is not to lose the men he had ruined but instead hire them. He doesn't lose any resources. One such, Bill Matters, decides to join him and take revenge. He recruits an assassin.
Who is the assassin? How does Van Dorn detective agency and Isaac Bell come into picture? What is the objective of the assassin? Can Isaac stop the assassin?
Isaac Bell series started with banking, then moved to mining and now the series enters a very interesting industry, the oil industry, where people have made money like never before. This story is a prequel to some of the previous stories. It happens between 1899-1905, before Bell meets his eventual wife.
The story has the usual locomotives and locomobiles. Isaac Bell is investigating murders of independent producers. There is a mystery of an army deserter, another mystery of what Rockefeller wants, another one of assassin and yet another one of missing son of Bill Matters.
Two beautiful ladies, Nelly and Emma Matters, who are also daughters of Bill Matters, John D. Rockefeller - Chief of Standard Oil, The assassin, Bill Matters complete the cast along with Isaac Bell, Archy Abbott, Wish Clark and Mr. Joseph Van Dorn.
The story is good as usual. Author recreates a period hundred years ago with ease. The detailing is so thorough that you feel as if you are there and are witnessing the happenings.
In this book, however, I felt that most of what happens in Baku trip was unnecessary. It only increased the book length. Author could have done away with. So was the epilogue with a time leap of 35 years.
It was not hard to guess the identity of the assassin. I guessed it industry upon the entry of character. Then the story was a wait to determine if I guessed correctly.
A good book. If you have read the series, you will read this too.
No comments:
Post a Comment