CLIVE CUSSLER – THE SEA WOLVES
By Jack Du Brul
Putnam Books
385 pgs
Of all the adventure pulp series the late Clive Cussler created, our favorite remains the Isaac Bell stories. Oh, we totally appreciated the Dirk Pitt tales. It’s always been our belief that they were the first in a resurgence of American pulp fiction. Still, the turn-of-the-century setting established for professional Van Dorn Detective Bell appeals to our love of history. Cussler only ever penned the first Isaac Bell book, “The Chase.” The next eight were written by Justin Scott, and he did a magnificent job with them. Now the baton has been handed off to Jack Du Brul, another “Cussler” writer. “The Sea Wolves” is his third Isaac Bell outing, making it the twelfth in the series.
As the drama begins, World War One is ravaging Europe, but President Woodrow Wilson is determined to keep the United States neutral. Still, he’s willing to aid our cousins, the British, with much needed war armament. Learning this, the German set about targeting these ships with their U-Boats patrolling the North Atlantic. Their retaliation is cautionary in that they only hunt British ships avoiding those flying the US Flag. Whereas their success rate of discovering and sinking those specific ships is uncanny. Enough so that a young Navy Officer, Joe Marchetti, suspects a German spy ring to be operating on the docks of New York harbor and responsible for identifying those ships to the German submarines.
Marchetti seeks out Bell’s help in not only finding the spies but determining exactly how they are getting their messages to the submarines. Once again, Du Brul narrates a suspenseful, fact moving thriller; at the same time capturing the feel of the period and the events that tragically led to America’s entry into the war. It’s a terrific read and highly recommended.
