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.
Last time we saw that our crew seem to finally have their stuff together. Maybe they did learn from the events of the last book.
The timing of my choosing this book has been odd. We have a book with a potential war starting at the Russian/Ukrainian border as part of a plot to restore the USSR to communist rule, and we have a full-fledged war going on right now at that location. I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin isn’t sharing Dogin’s mission and plan. How did this book do in Russia? I’m also doing this as we inaugurate a new President of the US on Martin Luther King Day. It’s politics all around. Plus this book the last few months of last year and will probably be going in this feature until sometime in Spring. The next book is just as long so I’m going to hold off on that for a while and do a nice short one for the next book.
Of course that makes the problem of coming up with intros when we’re still not even at the halfway mark of the novel more difficult. So let’s leave the two Operation Centers alone for a moment and travel someplace else.
Chapter 24: Tuesday, 5:51 AM, Sakhalin Island
Orlov contacts his son, Nikita, on an island Russian “appropriated” from Japan, though Japan still considers all their island theirs. On the one hand, that was during World War II, when the Russians were part of the Allies and Japan the Axis and it would serve them right to lose one of their islands trying to take over the “Oriental/Asian” area of the world. On the other hand, this is 1995 when this book came out, and that government no longer rules Japan, while “Nikki” is clearly pro-Soviet to the core, so I’m more inclined to take Japan’s side at this point in 2025. After some back and forth establishing their relationship, Nikita is given orders to prepare a unit to go to Vladivostok, and he’s happy to do it, partly because he won’t be serving under his father.
Nikita Orlov’s actions with going arsonist on a church we were already aware of. Now we learn that another General got his record cleaned while Sergi lectured him for his actions. Orlov is working from a soldier’s mentality. He believes he’s here to protect his family name and his famous father, that his father abandoned him in a sense, and is most likely more than happy with Dogin’s plan even if he isn’t currently aware of it. I don’t like this kid. He’s the polar opposite of his father, wants to go to war with Japan for Salahkan Island but more importantly wants to fight the United States. He’s upset the Soviet Union crumbled and is just a total jerk. Hoping to see him get what’s coming to him. Sorry, Sergi. This is the majority of the chapter and handled well. On the review side, that’s really all I have to say about it.
Next time we’re going to Madrid to check in with Striker. They aren’t going there for vacation, especially since they’re ditching that infiltration strategy.
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