Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image chapter 52

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.

In our last installment we checked in with the Op-Center crew as they tried to figure out how Striker can save the world without causing an international incident.

Speaking of Striker, we’re checking in with the undercover pair. We know the bad guys know they’re there but our heroes don’t know their cover is already blown. That tends to be a problem for the good guy agents in this story. I would question whether or not the bad guys are responsible, but they’re killing people instead of capturing them and deporting them back to whatever country they’re spying for, and Fields-Hutton wasn’t there to kill anyone. He was just investigating Commie Op-Center, so they could have sent him home. I don’t even think they sent the body home as a “warning to others” or something. So they’re evil at any rate.

As for George and Peggy, will they go home and how? Will Peggy get payback for Fields-Hutton? Probably not in this chapter, but let’s check in with them and see how they’re doing.

Chapter 52: Tuesday, 2:52 PM, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peggy and George actually do notice a Russian agent watching them. While she calls an agent via the payphone (remember those?), she also comes up with a plan to capture the agent. They know they’re made, but they want to find out what’s going on at the Hermitage that got a man killed. There’s not much more to summarize than that, really. They didn’t hurt the dog, who clearly isn’t spy trained. That’s a plus.

What’s interesting he is thinking about how this scene would have played out in a modern story not inspired by Tom Clancy and ghostwritten by Jeff Rovin. We know Peggy is a highly trained British agent, but she doesn’t girlboss her way to capture the Russian agent watching them. We’re shown how she and George picked out the suspect partly because the dog wasn’t playing along. George is annoyed that she took point on this when the agreement was he was in charge, but he respects the talent she showed in getting the agent and his car, taking care of the booby trap, and getting them where they need to go.

Compare that to how the scene would have gone in a “modern” adaptation, especially anyone actually reading along. (Let me know in the comments if you’re reading along, because it seems like every book I cover in this series doesn’t have anyone reading along and commenting. Is my library that obscure?) She would have immediately kicked the agent’s butt with no problem instead of having to use her wits to get him in a compromising position. George would have been made to look like a complete idiot upset that the girl took charge or fawning over how so much better than him she really is, rather than respecting her skills but still annoyed she seems to be taking charge against what their bosses agreed to. Her only real advantage here is speaking full Russian compared to George, and whatever Fields-Hutton had told her about his own investigation either directly or through the files British Intelligence provided her about his investigation. She’d be the awesomest person ever, he’d be treated as a total twat (as the British say), and critics would call the scene “woke” because someone didn’t think they could raise up the female hero without lowering every man in the story. Instead, Peggy looks good without George necessarily looking bad as a result. It’s only because of a modern lens that I have any concerns about the scene, not because of how it’s written here but how I know it would be done by today’s writers.

Next time we check in with the main Striker team as they try to catch a train without causing World War 3. Actually, they’re trying to stop a war. Hope Nikita is smart enough to realize this.