This one’s as good as all the others and those to come. Read and enjoy, Clancy fans. ’Til next time.
Jack Ryan is a hands-on president in Cameron’s latest Tom Clancy techno-thriller (Oath of Office, 2018, etc.).
Developers have built artificial intelligence into a computer application called Calliope. Nearly sentient and thought of as female, she’s “no ordinary gaming software” and can take over any connected electronic device and perform any mission asked of her. But don’t call her just a virus. Calliope is a predator, “fairly bursting at the seams as she sought new challenges.” Of course the Chinese military lusts after her like Dr. Strangelove lusted after nukes, so their spies are “all over the damn place.” Meanwhile, Sen. Michelle Chadwick, who harbors a “visceral hatred of all things Jack Ryan,” is shown a video of herself in the sack with a Chinese agent (oops!) and is persuaded to get close to Ryan. That’s a bit awkward, but she agrees to approach the president with an olive branch and then politically destroy him. The Chinese plot spreads a wide net, entrapping Father Pat West, an ex–CIA agent and friend of Ryan's, who's thrown in jail in Indonesia. The poor guy is falsely accused of proselytizing Muslims and faces an uncertain future, and Ryan wants to go to Indonesia and personally get him released. First lady and ophthalmologist Dr. Cathy Ryan plays an important role by assisting on a little girl’s eye surgery. And somewhere out in the field Jack Junior does his bit, making this a Ryan family affair. Of course the story is fun, as the Clancy yarns always are, but some backstories feel like filler necessary to reach 500 pages. Cameron’s writing channels the great man’s style to a T, but one day maybe Calliope will get the mission to take over the series and continue it forever. Imagine three generations—hell, four—of Ryans in the White House.
This one’s as good as all the others and those to come. Read and enjoy, Clancy fans. ’Til next time.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-54172-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
This thriller aims right for the heart and never lets go.
A tense thriller explores the bond between sisters and family dynamics that give new meaning to the term “dysfunctional.”
Three years ago, 17-year-old Emma Tanner and her 15-year-old sister, Cassandra, left home, disappearing into the night; as Walker's (All Is Not Forgotten, 2016, etc.) book opens, Cass shows up at her family’s house—without Emma. Dr. Abby Walker of the FBI, a forensic psychiatrist who’s been on the case from the beginning, is desperate to find out what happened and to find Emma before it’s too late. Cass tells Abby she and Emma had been arguing the night they took off and that it soon became obvious that Emma was packing up to leave. Cass, hoping to get her sister in trouble, hid in the car when Emma drove off, heading to the beach, where she was met by a man and woman Cass didn't recognize. When Cass revealed herself, they decided to take her with them as they left for a remote island off the coast of Maine. Emma was pregnant, Cass says, and the couple had offered to help her, but what they really had planned was to keep the baby for themselves. Cass finally managed to escape, she says, but without Emma. It’s a harrowing tale, and Cass says all she wants is to find Emma, but Abby suspects she's hiding something. Cass’ first-person narrative, interspersed with Abby’s investigation, paints a shocking picture of Cass’ ordeal and her family’s disturbing history. Her mother, Judy Martin, has always used her beauty and charm to manipulate her family, and her girls had to flatter her to win her affection. She was jealous of the attention given to her beautiful daughters, which threatened her fragile ego, and she was always scheming to get what she wanted—even seducing her stepson, Hunter, who was obsessed with Emma. Cass is a survivor, forced to become an adult very quickly, and readers will root for her as she tells her disturbing story and looks back on what could have been, when hope was all she and Emma had.
This thriller aims right for the heart and never lets go.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-14143-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.
The Sisterhood takes on yet another evildoer in their endless quest to right wrongs against unjustly maligned women.
Architect Isabelle Flanders’s life was destroyed when her coldly ambitious employee Rosemary Hershey framed her for vehicular manslaughter and stole her ideas and her fiancé Bobby Harcourt. Now the Sisterhood (The Jury, 2005, etc.) has devised a diabolical plan to help her get revenge and recover her reputation. Wealthy Sisterhood stalwart Myra Rutledge installs Isabelle in a luxurious office and buys a Virginia property to set up a bogus contest in which local architects will be invited to design a sumptuous horse farm, planning to make Isabelle and Rosemary the only finalists. Meanwhile, Bobby, long fed up with Rosemary’s greed, sues for divorce, planning to start his own architectural firm. Rosemary, who’s receiving anonymous letters reminding her that it was she and not innocent Isabelle who ran down and killed a family, is sinking into a funk as the Sisterhood increases the pressure. A rainy night in a cemetery, bogus snakes and a broken rope finally get Rosemary to confess and leave the Sisterhood ready to plot their next adventure.
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7278-6349-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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