Elusive Isabel

by Jacques Futrelle

A spy classic of epic proportions by Jacques Futrelle, author of The Thinking Machine Isabel Thorne—half Italian, half British—is a formidable international spy. Employed by the Italian secret service, her mission is to ensure the signing of a secret contract allying Latin countries against England and the United States. The pact is to be sealed right under the noses of “the enemy” in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Isabel’s brother has invented a means of deploying underwater missiles in the hopes of securing worldwide military dominance. The entire globe is suddenly in danger, and Isabel Thorne finds herself right in the thick of the conflict in this thrilling spy mystery that has endured for generations. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Genres: Mystery, Espionage, Ebooks, Classics

124 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2015

About the author

Jacques Heath Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring the "Thinking Machine", Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen. He worked for the Atlanta Journal, where he began their sports section; the New York Herald; the Boston Post; and the Boston American. In 1905, his Thinking Machine character first appeared in a serialized version of The Problem of Cell 13. In 1895, he married fellow writer Lily May Peel, with whom he had two children. While returning from Europe aboard the RMS Titanic, Futrelle, a first-cabin passenger, refused to board a lifeboat insisting his wife board instead. He perished in the Atlantic. His works include: The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906), The Simple Case of Susan (1908), The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908), The Diamond Master (1909), Elusive Isabel (1909), The High Hand (1911), My Lady's Garter (1912), Blind Man's Bluff (1914).

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads somewhat like a movie script, I could actually see the action played out in my head on an old black and white television set. Classically interesting, fast-paced, filled with oodles of characters, a page-turning mystery.

[Mbuye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of espionage and aspiration for the ‘Latin Countries’ against the United States and the United Kingdom. A group of these countries have invented/discovered a way to destroy enemy submarines and mines by the use of a simple device using remotely powered radio waves. Now they are meeting in secret to sign a joint agreement in the United States, and when this is done, to declare a World War that will destroy both the United States and the United Kingdom and so achieve World Domination for their Alliance. Of course there is a beautiful, intelligent woman acting for an enemy power in the mix, and of course the hero has to go and fall in love with her, and she with him…

Although it was published in 1909, five years before the First World War, many of the details in the book are prophetic of what was to be called The Great War, seen at a distance of more than a century and a quarter later. Only the key players have new identities. The use of radio waves is so passè that we forget who actually invented the radio. Of course, the location of choice for a secret agreement between four or five great powers (not that it would have been so secret) might be in a neutral country, but at that time, the US was considered neutral, given its isolationist foreign policy.

A thrilling catchment of spies, secret agreements and beautiful agents working for the wrong side seem so utterly innocent next to the cerebrations of le Carré or the violence of Daniel Silva. One cannot help remarking on the extraordinary methods of mass destruction devised since its publication, and observing that no one has yet achieved that long-desired dream of World Domination – and not for want of trying. And in that dream, first articulated by him in those words, Jacques Futrelle voices the individual as well as the national dream of man down through the long centuries.

[Mh430 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the history books I've consulted are sadly ill-informed about it, this novel provides the startling news that there was a vast international conspiracy against both the United States and the British Empire in the years before the First World War. It seems that the "Latin nations" of that era, Italy, Spain, France, and various South American countries were on the verge of banding together in a military alliance against the Anglo-Saxon peoples of America and the United Kingdom who they feared were destined to conquer the world through their superior economic power and organizational ability. The Latins chose a young woman of mixed English and Italian ancestry to arrange the signing of the secret agreement that will serve as the prelude to this global war. Her alias was Isabel Thorne and readers would be hard pressed to find a more intelligent, quick-thinking, and resourceful female in the literature of the day. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your own national inclinations, her espionage activities in Washington bring her into open conflict with Mr. Grimm of the American Secret Service. Being of a taciturn and humorless nature, he can't match her amiable charm, but his intellect and his sense of duty is on par with her own. This novel details the struggle between these worthy adversaries and makes for terrific reading. I really wish the author had revisited these characters in a future work, because their relationship is so intriguing and since certain important questions about their respective futures remain unanswered at book's end. But unfortunately, the sinking of the Titanic a few years in the future of this publication put an end to Mr. Futrelle's contributions to popular fiction.

[Two Envelopes And A Phone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came out in 1909, the same year as another quick Spy Thriller - Spies of the Kaiser, by William Le Queux. I enjoyed Le Queux, but hanging with Futrelle's creation, Isabel, is a lot more fun. Her nemesis is Special Agent Grimm. At stake is the fate of the world, and the threat of world war, if certain countries secretly sign a pact to crush the power of the USA, and Britain, with methods that would include a new super-weapon. Isabel can actually be labeled the "enemy agent" - the baddie - with Mr. Grimm getting snarled up in her strange and strangely connected adventures. Thefts, kidnappings, as well as dastardly deeds that more obviously link to the main, world-shaking, plot - it all gets explained in the end. Before that, it's murky...and complicated by love blossoming between the two combatants. It's easy to cheer for Grimm, while falling for Isabel...and wondering what her true motivations are.

The pieces end up fitting in a slightly contrived manner, so all the exciting set-pieces and unusual occurrences fit a pattern, and all is explained by the finale. Where will falling in love fit in, as the world's fate is decided?...I won't tell.

This seems to me to be just as worthy an early Espionage Thriller to read as several more famous books it pre-dates: The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim; Bulldog Drummond by 'Sapper'; The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley; Maugham's Ashenden tales; anything by Arthur B. Reeve or Sydney Horler (more Crime & Mystery, than Espionage, in the case of Reeve's The Adventuress and so forth, but with a similar feel). This is like watching Fritz Lang's silent fim of the 1920s, Spies, and seeing a lot of the groundwork laid for more famous action-oriented or 'glamorized' spy shenanigans to come, like James Bond.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated but fun

[aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great!

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've only discovered Futrelle recently and the great thing about old books, of course, is that so many are available to read on Kindle for free. This story I didn't like quite as much, but then again I don't really like spy novels as much as mysteries. There is still that lovely quaintness to his writing and I very much appreciated the strength of the main female character, something quite unusual for 1909. Of course, it's more of an Isabel and Mr. Grimm story, although a female superspy secret agent is infinitely more interesting than a suit trying to prevent some sort of an international political disaster, but there you have it, both of them. Fairy entertaining quick read.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering when it was written, it was an interesting concept-geopolitically-that could almost be a foreshadowing for today's world. It is a very stylized novel in keeping with the time it was written.
Characters are very black or white-good or bad-not nuanced as we would find today. The mystery as such is more about how it was done. In general an interesting example of a genre from turn of the century

[Claire Gilligan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story, but was also one of the rare times when reading it a century (or so) late is a negative -- because its best qualities have been reused by so many other authors!

Still, it was a great tete-a-tete between two very sharp minds, with twists and turns, international intrigue, and a good ending, so I certainly can't complain!

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Heather L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great classic mystery.

[Ashley]

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NC
Own on Nook. Book inside 50 Classic Mystery Books.

FS: "All the world rubs elbows in Washington."

LS: "Washington! directed Mr. Grimm. Never mind the speed laws. The End."