This is standard Clancy fare: If you liked the last one, you’ll like this one. And the next one.
A failed missile test launches the 21st Op-Center adventure created by Clancy and continued by Rovin.
The Chinese test a new Qi-19 hypersonic missile that blows up on the launchpad, and someone must be blamed and pay a heavy price. Gen. Zhou Chang unfairly blames chief aeronautical engineer Dr. Yang Dàyóu and orders him to confess to either carelessness or treason. So Yang is imprisoned and could be executed for an error that the general made. American intelligence gets wind of the failure, and the new president, John Wright, understandably wants to know what happened. He calls in Chase Williams, director of the National Crisis Management Center, aka the Op-Center. Wright wants Williams to assign the Black Wasp team’s Lt. Grace Lee on a solo mission to find out what went wrong with the launch, what the missile’s payload was, and what happened to Yang. Lee is an all-American patriot with Chinese immigrant parents. She can blend right into the Chinese countryside, has a “flair for independent action,” and can kill with anything she can get her hands on. There’s a long buildup to more action as readers learn more about the left-of-center administration and its lack of gravitas. Wright is a “left-of-center superstar [replacing] a right-of-center warhorse,” the more Clancy-ish and therefore sensible President Midkiff. The well-meaning but inexperienced Wright doesn’t ask good questions, the chief of staff is out to get Williams fired, and a couple of staff come across as lightweight flunkies from Hollywood. But Lee is the star of this show as she navigates problems with considerable skill and no gratuitous violence. The plot and characters are what fans will expect, though the Mongolian woman pilot might come as a surprise. The ending suggests unfinished business, so the storyline may continue into another book. The best line: “The Ilyushin Il-76 did not so much land as stop flying.”
This is standard Clancy fare: If you liked the last one, you’ll like this one. And the next one.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-2508-6139-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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