The Race by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott

               Isaac Bell #4

               This is book 4 of the Isaac Bell series, but the first one I’ve read. It did fairly well as a standalone. Overall, I was a little disappointed. I’m accustomed to Cussler plots being tauter and the characters being more memorable.

               The Race is set during the early days of flying – later than the Wright brothers, but before Lindbergh and Earhart. A newspaper has set up a cross country flying race. Its entry is Josephine Frost, “America’s Sweetheart of the Air”.  She is not only attempting the dangerous feat of flying cross country (expected to take about 80 days), but her insane husband is trying to kill her. So the newspaper hires Isaac Bell’s firm of detectives to protect her on the journey.

               As the race progresses, Josephine overcomes various hazards that leave her competitors literally dropping out of the race, while Isaac Bell foils her husband’s ever more violent  attempts to murder her.

                This is a fairly fun read that manages to sneak in a good portion of the early history of aviation.