Jason Dean

Wow. That was really good. Great characters, good twists, not predictable. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to the next one.

This was not a very well-written book. The narration was terse and juvenile, the characters were mostly weak, and the plot-convenience was frustrating.

The idea was pretty good, but this read like a really poor first draft of what could have been a good novel, if any time had been taken to improve it.

I really doubt I will continue the series.

While it is enjoyable to have new stories in the Ryanverse, this one is mediocre at best. This book has Clancy's characters, but it does not have Clancy's style. It started strong, but weakened throughout as the story went on. Many times I found myself rolling my eyes at the dialogue, descriptions, and characters.

The Jack Ryan in this book is not the Jack Ryan from Red October (which took place shortly before this story) and the Mary Pat Foley is not the Mary Pat Foley from Red Rabbit or Cardinal of the Kremlin (which took place shortly before Red October and shortly after this story, respectively. They were weaker versions of the characters with different traits and attitudes.

John Clark was maybe the closest character to what we know from the “real” Clancy books, and he was hardly in this one.

The plot was OK, but the descriptions were messy and, many times, I had a hard time following them.

I didn't hate this one. It was better than Teeth of the Tiger, but it failed to completely fill the Clancy void for me. I'll probably read some of the other post-Clancy works, but I won't get my hopes up that anyone will ever be able to replace the man himself.

Not as good as I remembered from when I read it as a teenager. Amateurish dialogue, ridiculous scenarios. Enjoyable, but overall, meh.

A fine historical read, but very clinical and dry. I honestly didn't care for it, but that doesn't make it a bad book. For what it was, it was fine. For what I wanted it to be, it fell short.