For decades, Clive Cussler has been delighting readers with novels filled with suspense, action, and sheer audacity. Now he does it again, in one of the wildest, most entertaining historical thrillers in years.

April 1950: The rusting hulk of a steam locomotive rises from the deep waters of a Montana lake. Inside is all that remains of three men who died forty-four years before. But it is not the engine or its grisly contents that interest the people watching nearby. It is what is about to come next . . .

1906: For two years, the western states of America have been suffering an extraordinary crime spree: a string of bank robberies by a single man who cold-bloodedly murders any and all witnesses and then vanishes without a trace. Fed up by the depredations of the "Butcher Bandit," the U.S. government brings in the best man they can find-a tall, lean, no-nonsense detective named Isaac Bell, who has caught thieves and killers coast to coast.

But Bell has never had a challenge like this one. From Arizona to Colorado to the streets of San Francisco during its calamitous earthquake and fire, he pursues what is quickly becoming clear to him is the sharpest criminal mind he has ever encountered, and the woman who seems to hold the key to the bandit's identity. Using science, deduction, and intuition, Bell repeatedly draws near only to grasp at thin air, but at least he knows his pursuit is having an effect. Because his quarry is getting angry now, and has turned the chase back on him. The hunter has become the hunted. And soon it will take all of Isaac Bell's skills not merely to prevail . . . but to survive.

Filled with intricate plotting, dazzling signature set pieces, and not one but two extraordinary villains, this is the work of a master writing at the height of his powers.

Mike Lupica is one of the best-known and widely read sports columnists in the United States. He began his newspaper career with the New York Post in 1975, at the age of 23, covering the New York Knicks. In 1977, he became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the Daily News, where he currently writes four syndicated columns a week. He has also worked for New York Newsday and The National. Since 1987, Lupica has written "The Sporting Life" column for Esquire magazine. His work has also appeared in Sport magazine, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Parade. Lupica is also a regular on ESPN's Sunday morning show, "The Sports Reporters." Lupica has written or co-written several nonfiction books: Reggie, the autobiography of Reggie Jackson (Villard, 1984); Parcells, an autobiography of former Giants and Patriots coach Bill Parcells (Bonus Books, 1987); Wait 'Till Next Year, co-written with novelist and screenwriter William Goldman (Bantam, 1988); Shooting From The Lip, a collection of columns (Bonus Books, 1988); Mad As Hell, exploring the divisive issues compromising professional sports (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996), Summer of '98, a fresh look at the '98 season in baseball (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999); and Bump and Run, a satire about the world of professional football (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2000). In addition, he has written several novels: Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, and Full Court Press. Dead Air became the CBS television movie "Money, Power, Murder," for which Lupica also wrote the teleplay.