bookrev: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell by David Michaels

Sometimes you just gotta run through a fun, throw down book, especially after some Splinter Cell interesting but thick material. I’ve read almost all of Tom Clancy’s novels (they got kinda slow around Red Rabbit, never made it through that one) but had never attempted one of his franchise series (Splinter Cell, Op Center, Power Plays, Net Force), created by him and written by a series of writers under on pseudonym.

Splinter Cell is based on a well know game of the same name (which I think I have actually played with my son), featuring Sam Fisher, intelligence gatherer extra-ordinaire of the black ops group Third Echelon.

The story is predictable, but a quick read. Fisher finishes a mission in Macau, then goes from Iraq to Iran to Turkey to Armenia, Azerbijan, Cypress and Israel, chasing bad guys all the way, figuring out the plot which has two sets of bad guys (terrorists and arms dealers). All in a weeks work for the latest super spy. The travels and the areas are pretty well described; this ain’t no travelogue, but it fairly well done.

The technology is almost James Bond outlandish; Fisher has a bottomless back pack from which he pulls anything he might need. His suit is the coolest thing around: climate controlled, able to ward off knife and all but point blank bullet attacks. He has a worldwide available built in sub vocal uplink and downlink that connects him to Third Echelon headquarters.

And, despite being in his forties and doing this for a few years, Sam Fisher is the baddest man around, an expert in Krav Maga and an apparent quick healer.

So, yes, I should have filed this under fantasy/science fiction. But it is an enjoyable “suspension of belief” fast paced read, and I may pick up the others in the series.

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