TOM CLANCY DEFENSE PROTOCOL

5 stars out of 5

After reading several of these books, the Jack Ryan family - Jack Sr., his wife Cathy, and children Jack Jr. and Katie - almost feel like family to me (and it doesn't hurt that I'm married to a guy of the same name). But I look forward to reading them because they never fail to disappoint - and this one's no exception. Actually, Jack Jr. doesn't enter the fray here except in the occasional mention of his name - he's got his own series going now - but rising Navy officer Katie sure does. It's fun to watch as she starts to sound and act more like her father - now the President of the United States - every single day. 

This time out, the story involves an attempt by the greedy and corrupt leader of China to attack and take over Taiwan - a headline ripper if there ever was one. But of course, it can't be seen as an outright act of war; the Chinese need to pass the blame on to someone else and have concocted an elaborate plan to accomplish that. But early on, Chinese defense minister Qin Haiyu realizes the damage such an act will cause to their own people - a fact the current leader is choosing to ignore - and surreptitiously passes a message to an American ambassador to sound the alert (silently, of course). It's an act of courage that easily could backfire if if the ambassador doesn't realize what's going on or believes it's some kind of scam - and heaven help him if he's caught. But the man has put his very life on the line, as well as those of his wife and two children, who are enjoying a vacation in the Maldives.

The message was received, but the intent wasn't very clear until Katie offers her insights - demonstrated to be spot-on in a previous book, the powers that be in the United States - including the President and his trusted director of national security, Mary Pat Foley - buy in. Collectively, they lock into the need to get Qin out of China and his family out of the Maldives - as quickly as possible. Given China's nearly impenetrable internal defense systems, accomplishing that is next to impossible; exfiltrating all four puts the U.S. teams in nearly unsurmountable danger. Without help from an internal spy - a woman known as the Night Spider - either or both missions likely will end in failure. But first, they have to get a message to her - and doing that alone could get everyone, including her, very dead.

The rest of the book centers on the details of  both exfiltrations, with chapters shifting from China to the President's office to Katie's latest assignments as well as the Chinese efforts to run up a false flag in the Taiwan takeover effort. As always, it's all very exciting - holding my attention from beginning to end. Also as always, the devil is in the details, but those you'll have to read for yourself. I'll just thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to get in on the action by way of a pre-release copy. Well done once again!

Tom Clancy Defense Protocol by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (G.P. Putnam's Sons, December 2024); 512 pp.

THE RECKONING

5 stars out of 5

Without doubt, this is one of the saddest and most haunting books I've read in a while (close to downright depressing, in fact). What's more, about a third of it was so unsettling that insofar as possible, I skimmed through it. It is written matter-of-factly, without emotion - but the emotion comes through loud and clear nonetheless. Did I love it? In many ways, no; but in the overall scheme of things, it's pretty darned awesome.

Let me clarify. The depressing part came near the end, when facts not previously in evidence were revealed (let's just say that O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" came to mind). The unsettling part came in the middle, when details of the World War II military life of Pete Banning, one of the main characters, was outlined in all-too-vivid detail. If there's anything in this world I'd rather not read about, see, or listen to, it's the horrors of war. And the entire middle section of this book, Titled "The Boneyard," lays it all out. Yes, it's a very important part of the story - but had I known it was coming I'd have left sneaker tracks on the sidewalk running the other way.

That said, what a story it is. Set in small-town Clanton, Mississippi, after World War II has ended and Pete, thought to have been killed, returns home to his extensive cotton farm as a decorated hero. His wife, Liza, is in a mental institution - at Pete's orders - and their son and daughter are grown. In 1946, at the age of 43, Pete is about to do something virtually unthinkable, especially for a man of his stature; commit a cold-blooded murder. He freely admits to his guilt; what he refuses to admit, though, is his motive. He will, he insists, go to his death - a very real possibility if he's convicted by a jury - with his secret intact. His long-time family lawyer, nor his sister Flora, who lives on the farm, nor his children will ever hear the reason behind his action - at least never from his lips.

From that point on, much of the narrative focuses on Pete's family background and what and how his children are doing, all of which takes place in a deep-South setting in which "coloreds" handle menial tasks and are not allowed to sit on the front porch of any home nor anywhere in a courtroom except the balcony. And of course, let's not forget the section that details what happened to him in the war when he was part of the historic Bataan Death March in the Philippines. Even though I didn't want to read it, I can't imagine the research it took to pull all that together. In the final section, "The Betrayal," readers, along with Pete's two children - find out what really happened.  

The Reckoning by John Grisham (Doubleday, October 2018); 417 pp.

TESTIMONY

5 stars out of 5

Warning: If you're bothered by settings in war-torn countries, or refuse to believe (even when it's mostly fiction) that the U.S. Government is capable of wrongdoing, or don't like endings that may not bring total closure, this probably isn't the book for you. On top of that, I dare anybody to speed read through this one; it took me the better part of five days to finish, although in fairness, we were enjoying the company of a house guest for two of those days and I barely was able to finish half a dozen chapters then. And that brings up another point: Don't even think about zipping through this one. It's as close to tedious reading as I've seen in a while although, as evidenced by my 5-star rating, well worth the effort.

Although he's written a number of best-sellers, this is my first Scott Turow novel. And based on other reviews, it sounds as if it deviates from the courtroom-focused work (almost none of the action takes place there) - so I suppose some who are more familiar with his past work than I might disagree with my very positive opinion. To be sure, there's a court involved - the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where lead character, former prosecutor Bill Ten Boom, has been chosen to take on prosecution of whoever is responsible for the massacre of some 400 men, women and children in a Roma Refugee camp in Bosnia in 2004. That prosecution, however, depends on first determining not only who did the dirty deed, but whether or not the deed actually happened.

"Boom," as he's called, arrives with some baggage of his own; Now 2015, at age 50, he's without a wife, has two grown sons with whom he has a somewhat shaky relationship, and in many ways, he's looking for some direction in his life and hoping to find it here. A survivor of the massacre, himself a bit on the shady side, claims that heavily armed men showed up in the middle of the night and forced the Gypsy residents - refugees from Bosnia - into trucks that dropped them off in a nearby cave with instructions to stay put. After the trucks took off for parts unknown, the cave suddenly exploded - burying all the refugees. The survivor, a man named Ferko Rincic, reluctantly agrees to provide testimony before the court as to what happened.

Ferko is assisted by a drop-dead gorgeous attorney named Esme Czarni, who claims to have come from Gypsy stock. As Boom and his team of experts begin to gather evidence, they begin to suspect there's much more going on than anyone - including top muckity-mucks in the U.S. government - is willing to admit. The investigation takes Boom far from the courtroom, including to Bosnia and Washington, D.C., and puts him directly in the sights of the very dangerous and elusive Laza Kajevic, a Bin Laden-type character who once led the Bosnian Serbs and remains in hiding as a most-wanted war criminal.

I'd say the whole thing is a merry chase, except that there's not much merry about it (well, I'm overlooking a couple of Boom's fairly graphic but seemingly mutually enjoyable liaisons with a couple of lovely ladies). In the end, all the details are pretty well sorted out - none of which I can reveal, of course, leaving me no option besides referring you to my first-paragraph caveats and saying that I'm really glad I read it. 

Testimony by Scott Turow (Grand Central Publishing, May 2017); 497 pp.