Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image chapter 6

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.

So we took a week off, and it’s not like we ended on a major cliffhanger in the previous two chapters. The shorter one ended with our James Bond wanna-be sliding a fake coin under the door that’s really an eavesdropping device. That’s where we’re coming in. This chapter is short, but just long enough to make the minimum page count, which given my time is fine with me.

Despite my grumblings thus far I am trying to go into this with an open mind. While our recurring characters are already showing to be the same putzes from last time, the timing of this as the second novel is off, and the same chapter breaking issues remain, though now with numbers for marking the in the headline, It’s still too early to tell if the writer learned any lessons from the previous book. The chapter thing is only an improvement when it comes to this review format. The rest of the issues I had from the first novel were the cast issues, with the recurring ones not people I’m interested in and the one-shots far more interesting, and that was how they tried to sell the franchise to readers. Apparently enough people liked it that this is only the second book in the series and not the last one.

So what did they see in it? Let’s crack open the book for this week’s chapter and find out.

Sunday, 12:50 PM, St. Petersburg

This chapter appears to be using Fields-Hutton’s coin/listening device to show off the security of Commie Op-Center. The previous chapter started at Noon sharp in St. Petersburg, and this takes place just after he slid the fake peso under the door, so while not prepared for this particular attempt, they are ready for something that might set up a door alarm that Fields-Hutton didn’t plan for. One of the guys at the workstation didn’t pick up the eavesdropper but did sense the coin going under the door. They alerted General Rossky, who found the coin and did some tests to find out that there was a coin there without letting the agent know it had been spotted and not written off as a coin that ended up there by a Mexican tourist somehow.

Through this, the tech’s walk through the building, and Rossky’s own trek to find the alarm source, we learn about the various security measures. Rossky himself is a former member of the spetsnaz, and apparently rubs others the wrong way. He also caused the accident that started this story because that same tech learned one of the people in the car stole some equipment and everyone knew Rossky was the one who caused the hit. Nice to know Commie Op-Center is trying to keep up with regular Op-Center in having unlikable people–but we’re supposed to be rooting against the communist version trying to restore the Soviet Union.

Now that our spy has been found out, will he be found? Sadly we’re back to Washington, DC and regular Op-Center, and frankly I’m not sure which one we’re better off with. We’ll get a hint next time.