Book Review: "Threat Vector" - Tom Clancy

"Threat Vector" - Tom Clancy

A lot has been made of the comparison between Clancy's earliest and most critically acclaimed novels - say, "The Hunt for Red October" or "Clear and Present Danger" - featuring Jack Ryan, John Clark and so many other characters from the incredible universe that Tom Clancy created, and his more recent work - "Red Rabbit" or "The Teeth of the Tiger" - which are either described as being slow and clunky, or else feature more of Jack Ryan Junior than the original Ryan. Then there's the alleged controversy over Clancy co-writing with another author.

I'll say it right now - I've enjoyed every major book that Clancy has ever written. To clarify, I mean his Ryan novels, Red Storm Rising and the more recent books co-written with either Mark Greaney, Grant Blackwood or Peter Telep, rather than the Op Centre, Power Plays or Net Force series'. Yes, you can tell the parts that the co-writer has put together, and you can wonder about how much content Clancy actually contributed, but, at the end of the day, there are few better story tellers in the world than Tom Clancy. Any novel, written fully by him or with the help of another author, that delves into the so-called Ryanverse, is a good thing in my book.

And Threat Vector is good. Not great, but certainly not as bad as many doom-and-gloomers on the internet have suggested. The intricate plot lines, cutting-edge technology and exciting action scenes are all back. Once again, Jack Ryan Junior and the off-the-books intelligence unit, The Campus, are front and centre, but Jack Ryan Senior, recently re-elected President of the United States, features more in this novel than in the last few, as the White House and the Campus must deal with a scandal involving the Chinese and cyber warfare, which takes Clancy's writing into a new realm, keeping him well in step with the changing world. And ripped-from-the-headlines have always been a Clancy specialty.

A few old characters return - some only in cameo roles, like President Ryan's brilliant chief of staff Arnie Van Damn and First Lady Cathy Ryan - and others who contribute greatly to the story. Fantastic to see the names Clark, Chavez and Foley jump off the page. If the more recent Clancy novels have been lacking something, it's the focus on newer characters from the Campus, although some are very good, rather than the Old Guard whose exploits we've followed for years and years.

There's a satisfying ending, and plot lines that began in the previous book, Locked On (which, in turn, extended or finished story arcs from Dead or Alive), are wrapped up, and you finish the novel with a solid understanding of where each of the characters are at. The only frustrating thing is the incredible amount of backstory, pages and pages on each character, which didn't feel completely necessary. You don't need to know in-depth about the childhoods of all these people to care about them. The book might've been significantly shorter had these chunks of detail been removed. And, I don't think the story would've been any worse off, either.

Ultimately, there's no cliffhanger ending at the end of Threat Vector, like there was to Locked On. Perhaps this is a product of Clancy not knowing whether there'll be a follow up. If not, it's been a solid trilogy of books bringing Clancy's old characters into a new age, after too long without a Ryanverse novel. 

Rating: 3.5 stars (from a possible 5)