Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapter for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

Yes, for those of you who missed last week’s reveal post, our next Chapter By Chapter book is the second in the Tom Clancy’s Op-Center series. Co-created with Steve Pieczenik and allegedly written by Jeff Rovin (whose only credit in the book is in the “thanks for the help” section, but ghostwriters aren’t exactly a new concept), I really didn’t care for the half of the first book that introduced the series regulars because most of them were pretty much jerks, with the real interest coming from the one-shot cast investigating a bombing during a Korean “Unification” rally. You can track that review down if you want to see what I thought of the first book, but here’s the summary from The Clutter Reports. It links back to the full Chapter By Chapter review of that book.

So here we are, back with the National Crisis Management Center, an organization within the US Government that is supposed to deal with international crises before it escalates into war. The second book still seems a bit early to introduce an opposite number, especially considering even in-universe this still new group doesn’t have the best track record. Wait a few books, after the team finally starts getting good at their job through further missions before introducing an “evil” version. Still, they did it now and now we’re going to look at it.

The chapters are better defined here so it should be easier for me on the reviewing end, but I’ll still play it by ear to see if the chapters last a full chapter length or if I’m going to be combining chapters. At seventy-eight chapters I’m expecting some short ones in the mix. But enough stalling, let’s get the prologue going and start this novel.

Prologue

Friday, 5:50 PM, St. Petersburg

Yes, we’re still doing the time stamp thing. At least the chapters are numbered.

So the story begins with four guys in a van who work for the press discussing politics. The conversation actually starts because one of the men things the French are less evil than the Germans and expects them to attack again. Apparently one of the presidential candidates, some guy named Dogin, promises to arm up at the first sign of the Germans preparing to attack again. The man also likes some of his other policies, and I’m sure before this book is over I’ll be discussing politics then versus now whether I want to or not. I’ll hold off as long as I can. I’m here to review the book, not geopolitical situations.

They end up in a vie for position on the road with some woman in a Volkswagen before a trucker knocks them off the road and into the river, where we can presume they drowned. So I hope you weren’t attached to these characters. I’m hoping the reason for this whole thing will be clear later. It’s not even the first chapter. What we do know is that the truck driver drops some box into the water. In my usual ventures this would turn the men into water monsters or something but this isn’t my usual venture. The only science fiction here is the exaggerated tech that will get used that they may or may not have had then in the slightly past 1995 (if memory serves the book takes place slightly in the future) and we may or may not have today in 2024. So what is the purpose of the box? It’s too early to be a dashcam.

We can already see the level to detail is still well in place for this book. References to the various cars, locations, and other such references pop up quite often in the prologue, and yet there’s still time to discuss why the guy hates the Germans, that’s he’s going to miss St. Petersburg because he’s apparently planning to go away, and he thinks this Dogin guy is going to fix all the problems. Good luck with that. I’m not that invested in knowing the make and model of every motorized vehicle on the city streets, but if you are then you’re going to love this “chapter”. I found myself skimming past those kinds of details.

Next time we begin the first official chapter and see if anything in this prologue mattered.