TOM CLANCY COMMAND AND CONTROL

A generic title for Jack Ryan’s umpteenth encounter with mortal danger.

An aide tells President Ryan that he is “the kind of man who creates his own weather,” but that weather tends to be a violent storm. This time, Ryan plans a flight to Argentina but decides to first make a secret stop in Panama to visit President Botero. The secret leaks, of course, resulting in mucho mayhem as Ryan stumbles into the middle of a coup attempt. Meanwhile, the CIA’s Ground Branch kills the Venezuelan Russian assassin Joaquín Gorshkov, incurring the wrath of his batbleep-crazy sister, Sabine Gorshkova. Not much of a family person, she decides to have her younger sister, Blanca, killed and fed to the pigs. Sabine lays blame for her brother’s death on Mary Pat Foley, Director of National Intelligence, and swears claw-hammer vengeance. “I have a special interest in a little bird traveling with the President,” she declares. Oh yes, and a plot is afoot to murder Panama’s president and vice president to “liberate” the country. Russian naval vessels linger near the Panama Canal, ostensibly ready to help should the need arise. Ryan must tread carefully so as not to make the situation worse than it already is. The action-filled tale carries on the late Clancy's tradition, for example including great dollops of detail without hurting the storyline. There's almost enough about the Panama Canal for a Wikipedia entry and yet the facts flow as well as water through the Miraflores Locks. And readers will learn all seven types of weaponry on the Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, aka The Black Terror, and the handy fact that a Bowers Group suppressor needs lithium grease. Bombs explode, bullets fly, and a Panamanian major shows her heroic mettle.

Jack Ryan is in good hands with Cameron. There’s plenty of action for Clancy fans.