THE GRAY GHOST: CLIVE CUSSLER AND ROBIN BURCELL

MY REVIEW:

Flashback to the past and set the stage for the reason why Rolls-Royce is now the center of this novel as the year is 1906 and the place Manchester, England and the prototype called the Gray Ghost has gone missing. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce created this prototype and if it is not recovered they would be in financial dire straits. Hoping to have someone find it they hire a detective but unfortunately he is killed and the novel flashes to the present.

Family history and family honor is at stake when the past becomes important in the present. The Gray Ghost is the car in question and it was owned by the Payton family, formerly owned generations ago by the Oren-Payton family. But, it’s not just about the missing car it’s about worth, value and hoping to save a family from ruin. How far will someone go to gain control of this car and own it knowing that it may be worth several millions of dollars? As the story unfolds and you learn more about the Gray Ghost readers as well as those hunting for this remarkable car will learn that the thieves that originally stole it in 1906 might have left something worth even more than the car within it. A hidden treasure that could solve many mysteries yet there is no trace of it when the Gray Ghost was found after the war. But, someone from the family wants that car when we meet Sam and Remi Fargo in the present. Sam’s mother phones him with a request to help find the current owner, namely Lord Albert Payton, Viscount Wellswick, who when you the reader meet him will understand that something about him is questionable and you wonder if he understands the nature of why he is meeting with Remi and Sam and what is at stake. Arthur Oren the cousin has the car stolen in the present and loses it track of it. Just who stole it and is it the same thief from the past?

The authors create the prologue of first scene where we hear the voice of Jonathon Payton, fifth Viscount Wellswick and just how the original Gray Ghost went missing and what would happen if it’s never found. Will Sutton was hired to find the Gray Ghost but the final scene in the prologue or first chapter from the past is explosive, places two children in danger and one is killed as his brother is holding him in his arms and the other is Will shot. But, who was responsible for killing him and who will stop at nothing in the present to make sure that car belongs to him?

The meeting takes place in Pebble Beach and the events during that meeting start a chain reaction that will take Sam and Remi on more than just a treasure hunt for a missing car and what might have been hidden inside of it. Meeting Oliver and his Uncle Albert claiming to be British royalty, explaining that the prototype Gray Ghost from the past was missing. The car was last scene possibly just after WWII, making the value practically priceless and the stakes higher for anyone that gets in the way of the one person who wants it found and Remi and Sam terminated.

Marcus Peyton was accused of stealing the Gray Ghost and it’s his family in the present that wants his name cleared. Isaac Bell worked the case in the past but at the time was dealing with criminals who targeting train cars and did he find or locate the car? It is the family that meets with Sam and Remi in the present that want to clear the name of Marcus Peyton in the present and find the car worth 50 million dollars.

Sam and Remi are bent on helping Oliver and his Uncle Albert by giving them a loan and helping them deal with the Gray Ghost that is part of the car show. But, an alert is sounded in the area where the car is stores and when they finally see where it was supposed to be, how could it be missing and where is Uncle Albert? Things spiral out of control as Sam and Remi find their way into the warehouse where the cars were stored and realize how the thieves stole in and in a an obvious manner and the end result turns out to be something unexpected. Uncle Albert is in the car and the thieves planned it that way but if they ever find him will he remember anything? Someone wants all four of them out of the way and will resort to anything including total elimination to get the car and take out Oliver, Albert and the Fargos. The car might be one ultimate prize but the treasure within it is more and one person will stop at nothing to get both. Meet Angela, Oliver’s sister who is cynical, sarcastic and thinks the impossible when Albert is found and arrested for not only stealing the car but would you believe murder! How could someone with Alzheimer’s steal a car, drive it, and then murder the guard in the warehouse where he was found. Angela insists it’s for the insurance money that he had the car stolen again just like in the past but there is no insurance on the car and she fails to understand that when both Oliver and Sam remind her that Uncle Albert never paid to have the car insured. Thinking rather than auction and sell the car it would be better to have it stolen since Albert’s financial situation is dire and he has almost nothing.

Flashing back to 1906 you learn more about the original Gray Ghost and Isaac Bell and someone that was enlisted to help him find the car and you learn that the Gray Ghost was stolen and the Silver Ghost took its place and received more attention at the time. Flashing to the present and Arthur Oren who is determined to destroy Albert and Oliver by taking it all away from them and making sure the care is transported to him. But, someone else is in the picture named Chad and thieves have taken his mother and if they don’t get the car something might happen to her. Remi and Sam come up with a plan that is so outrageous it just might work. Can a counterfeit car pass for the real Gray Ghost? Someone wants to take Remi and Sam down but can they deplete their wealth too? Bodies are found and lives are at stake and someone decides to fake a suicide. Remi and Sam create their own means of solving problems when fires start, they get locked in the warehouse, facing off with gunshots and then hoping to save Albert from remaining in jail.

A video reveals a lot as they watch the video and are told several things that might help them free Albert and possibly find out who is behind stealing the car and more but first they have to remain alive!

Remi and Sam create havoc and Oliver begins to wane at times and we get to know something about Angela that Oliver might be shocked at and what role does her ex-husband play? As a detective comes to Angela’s house he notices that something is out of place as she has to hand over the important journal that will explain the history of the Gray Ghost, how Reginald Payton had the car stolen and how a little boy named Toby helped to identify him. The journal is quite telling and revealing as we get to know someone in the Payton family working with Isaac Bell to uncover the mystery in the past but what about the present?
Things escalade as their funds, cards, phones and Internet are hacked leaving them without money, no jet, unable to fund anything or contact Selma who deals with their affairs at home. It gets more dangerous when Georgia, their contact in Italy tells them that Lucas would meet with them to help get them into the secret auction where the Gray Ghost and the 40/50 cars are for sale but the buys and seller’s information is confidential. So, why do they wind up having to change into many different personas, have to leap off of balconies and then pray to get away. These scenes are priceless as we read more about Reginald and Jonathan Payton in the past and what happens to the governess Miss Atwater when she is kidnapped. Things will eventually come together as they learn that someone named Oren, but which one is after their funds and the car?

The journal uncovers for those in the present just who orchestrated the theft of the Gray Ghost and who in the present was determined to not only have the car but what he thought was in it. Things get out of control as Remi and Sam face off with the thieves, the broker of the stolen goods, his coons and of course Arthur Oren. In the past cousin Reggie makes sure that Jonathan and Miss Atwater are taken out of the equation until they are not. An ending that will surprise readers as authors Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell orchestrate an ending equal to that of Mission Impossible Episode, or even Hart to Hart. When they realize the role that Allegra’s ex-husband played and the danger he placed his son in, things spiraled out of control and one teen named Trevor after reading the journal along with Remi will surprise readers with what they realize and if there really was a treasure but was it in the car?
The Gray Ghost: did they ever get it back? Will Uncle Albert sell it for cash or will he do something else with it? Greed, power, self-worth, revenge, family disloyalties past and present, cars that are priceless and the groundbreaking prototype that is coveted by so many but who will win the valuable car? A journal so valuable with the information it relates, a teenage boy and Remi who uncover a secret and the fate of the most important element in the story what happened to :THE GRAY GHOST?