Great Read! And I had thought I had read all the Issac Bell Books. Nice surprise Kim! ( )

I especially liked this book as it had a vast amount of Panama Canal history in it which I found fascinating. I liked how Cussler/Du Brul weaved that history in with the story. It made me more aware of the hardships of building that canal.
Bell is in fine form once again as he saves a Senator's life and Teddy Roosevelt's. ( )

The Saboteurs is a book with a lot of impossible situations involving the main character. It is not a believable story. The Saboteurs has a lot of adventure. Unfortunately the storyline did not tie all of the pieces together at the end. Not up to Clive Cussler's standards of a well researched novel. Consequently, The Saboteurs only rates three stars in this review. ( )

The Saboteurs (2021) (Bell #12) by Clive Cussler, Jack Du Brul. There is one thing that unites all the books of Clive Cussler: history. Each offers us a peek into the near or distant past, usually as a setup for what is to come. In this instance the history surrounds Teddy Roosevelt, assassination attempts, and the Panama Canal.
The tale starts with Isaac Bell’s daring rescue of a senator from killers sent by a Panamanian “freedom” group called the Red Vipers. Thwarting the attack is only the first step in Bell’s mission, the next sends him and his wife Marion to Panama and the still under construction canal.
What follows is the usual type of dare-devil adventures you expect in a Cussler novel, none-the-less the action is thrilling, the details of the canal very interesting, and the adventure is fast paced. The German government is involved, various South American governments play a role, and there is a greedy industrialist and his deadly right hand man (wink, wink) that are formidable foes for our hero.
As far as Marion Bell’s contribution to the story, I’m sorry to say it is minor. She does play a role, but more as a pawn than a queen.
This story will not disappoint, has some wonderful scenes and a great outcome. I’ll say this is a standard type of story for the late Cussler: it grabs you at the start, shakes you almost senseless throughout, and leaves you wanting more at the end. Another great read. ( )