Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image chapter 59

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapters 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.

Slight change in plans. Due to my current situation I only have time to review the one chapter, just barely making the length count. Not sure how this will screw this up scheduling wise but the next one will definitely be two chapter.

In last time’s two chapters, our only Russian hero thus far tried to get Striker to the train on time while the undercover Strikers tried to get out of Dodge…or rather St. Petersburg. We’re apparently back to the train this chapter.

I’m low on time and lower on ways to pad out the intros for this really long book, so we’re just going to jump back into this.

Chapter 59: Tuesday, 10:51 PM, Khabarovsk

There’s not much to summarize in this one, so forgive how short this article is going to be. If you’ve been following my updates you know right now things are a bit chaotic and I could use the easy article. For those of you reading this later on in the archives, my apologies. It seems this book came up in the line-up at a bad time not only for me but because of the whole Russia/Ukraine situation. At least it’s a better read than the last book, but still suffers some of the same flaws.

Usually this includes how it uses trivia, padding out an already too-long book with useless information. If that weren’t the case, the brief glimpse into Squires’ training and how it fits into his plan to hide under the train using the Russians’ own methods (digging a hole under the wood slats between the train tracks that keep them in position) wouldn’t have worried me at first. Going over how Squires trained in various other countries’ methods, including the Russian spetsnaz, actually works in this chapter because it’s important flavor to the story and not just the creators showing off their knowledge.

On the downside, not for the narrative but for the characters, this is Squires rigging the train with C4 and timers, while the train stoppage actually is working against our heroes. Recall that when the train forcibly stopped, Orlov Sr. was telling Orlov Jr to stop the train so Striker could get the evidence of the coup attempt. Right now, nobody tied to this train–defender and attacker alike–know that their respective commanders are working together and ultimately Striker’s plan isn’t as necessary as it appears–so long as Orlov Jr isn’t going to join the coup the moment he hears about it and that his “idol” is on the commie side. There’s no reason both the train guards and Striker should know what’s going on, so this makes perfect sense, and sets up a bit of drama. While Sr get to talk to Nikita in time, and what will he choose when he hears what’s really going on?

Unfortunately we’ll have to wait until next time, and it will be a two chapter review because they’re both short. I just hope that means that with everything going on I still have time to read and review both.