Night Probe! by Clive Cussler
No, it's not as dodgy as it sounds, although the title's not explained until nearly the end and the exclamation mark was probably a bit uneccessary. This isn't the most dramatic of the books, lacking as it does any actual threat to the whole world. In fact the tension here is between the USA and Canada/Britain, so reading it as a Brit there's a bizarre sense of divided loyalties. Especially as one of Pitt's adversaries is a certain British secret agent recalled from retirement - which I think would have worked a lot better without the final-scene namecheck for the thick members of the audience who hadn't worked it out yet.
Anyway, the upshot is, a treaty involving Canada was drawn up between the USA and Britain a hundred or so years ago, and both copies promptly lost, one on a sunken liner and one on a train that plunged into a river. Pitt has to find a readable copy before a forthcoming presidential address, and, as usual, various people want to stop him. There's a bit of a political sub-plot involving Canadian separatists too, but it doesn't really get in the way.
I liked this one, actually, even though there was no great peril and you couldn't help feeling you didn't actually care if he found it or not. There's a good bit with a ghost train too...
posted by Izzy @ 6:20 pm
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