Op-Center fans will find this a worthy entry in the series.
America’s relations with China get testy in the Tom Clancy industry’s 22nd Op-Center thriller.
Sen. Yvonne Malo and three fellow astronauts circle the Earth in the Phoenix One until suddenly everything goes wrong. They lose all power and communications, the vehicle burns, and they all die. China has fired the first shot in what could be a war in space. It doesn't take long for Americans to figure out that the Chinese have sabotaged Phoenix One in retaliation for the American abduction of a Chinese engineer who was working on a hypersonic missile program. Now President John Wright looks for a way to retaliate without escalating too far. This calls for the Op-Center, a strike force that takes on highly secretive missions for the president of the United States. China wants their man back, and they demand that Adm. Chase Williams make the delivery. Hmm, that sounds suspicious. Yes, they kidnap him to use him as bait to destroy Black Wasp, a subgroup of five members of Op-Center that does tough, on-the-ground dirty work at the behest of the president. As with all the novels that are part of the Op-Center formula, this one is filled with well-plotted action and strong characters. In captivity, Adm. Williams does himself credit as an American citizen, but can Black Wasp rescue him? Or will the Chinese destroy them all? When a Black Wasp suffers a heavy personal loss, readers might expect a greater showing of grief. Yet amid all the violence and turmoil, there is an unexpected grace note at the end. The writing style has not changed since The Hunt for Red October—eminently readable and enjoyable but with no memorable dialogue. More importantly, this story reflects America’s ongoing struggle to maintain its place in the world and China’s ongoing effort to surpass us. It’s a world where the U.S. is imperfect but essentially just, no victory is ever complete, and the sequels keep coming.
Op-Center fans will find this a worthy entry in the series.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868725
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
It’s just as exhausting as it sounds, but it may be the most ambitious spy novel you’ve ever read.
What happens when an eminent mystery novelist collaborates with an award-winning journalist on a spy thriller? Pretty much everything you can imagine.
While food blogger Alice Li is in retreat from her overbearing mother, famous Chinese dissident Vivien Li, in a restaurant bathroom, the alarm goes off. And not just the fire alarm, but every alarm in the city, the country, and around the world. Their triggering is clearly an act of terrorism, and the silencing of all those alarms, which comes as suddenly and inexplicably as their screeching, is anything but reassuring. Vivien spirits her daughter off to the White House, where Grant McAllister, the director of National Intelligence, informs Alice that her friend and fellow blogger Liam Palmer has just been fished from the Hong Kong harbor. McAllister and Alan Zhou, head of the China Mission Center, are convinced Liam knew something about those alarms, and President Fraser Pardington is determined to do whatever he can to prevent a sequel. He fails, of course, and the second act of global terrorism is even more disastrous than the first. All the president’s men and women initially believe the threat comes from the Chinese government, and Chinese President Chen Jiayang thinks the Americans might be behind it. Alice and Vivien race around the globe to track down the culprit, and what they find will knit together the fates of Alice’s family, the U.S. and China, and the history of the world as we know it.
It’s just as exhausting as it sounds, but it may be the most ambitious spy novel you’ve ever read.Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9781250412522
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.
On the isle of Capri, Helen Lingate seeks revenge on the people responsible for her mother’s death 30 years earlier—her own family.
When Sarah Lingate fell to her death on Capri in 1992, she left behind a 3-year-old daughter, Helen, and a legacy as a gifted playwright; her favorite necklace of golden snakes was lost to the sea. Thirty years later, Helen, chafing at the restrictions she’s grown up under as a member of the old-money Lingate family, hatches a plan with her uncle Marcus’ assistant, Lorna Moreno, to blackmail her uncle and her father with that same necklace, which mysteriously entered her possession a few months before. The novel begins on Capri just after Lorna disappears, and then traces her steps from 36 hours earlier. Interweaving chapters from the points of view of Helen, Lorna, and Sarah—as well as, later, a few others—we learn how Sarah gradually became stifled by the constant pressure of keeping up appearances until she became inspired to write a play, Saltwater, that was a not-so-thinly veiled tell-all revealing dark Lingate family secrets. It was shortly after this that she fell to her death. The loss of her mother has come to define Helen’s life, and if she can use the necklace as leverage to escape her family, and maybe learn the truth along the way, she’ll take the risk. Lorna’s motives are both murkier and more straightforward—she’s never had money, and she’s got a chip on her shoulder about it, so splitting 10 million euros with Helen sounds like a way to discard her past and start fresh. These strong, conniving women drive the drama and the narrative, and they are captivating enough that as twist after twist begins to unfurl, the novel still feels character-driven. The end—well, the end shocks. And it’s well earned. By the time the sun sets on the gorgeous excess and rugged coast of Capri, lives will have been destroyed.
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593875551
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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