Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image chapters 62-63

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.

Two chapters again. One is short and while the other is technically long enough to review on its own it’s not so long that the three page chapter before it can’t be lumped in. So it’s another double chapter review for this book.

Last time it looked like our heroes were making a mistake. Unlike the first book, though, it doesn’t give the appearance of incompetence. That was one of my problems with the first novel. The main cast looked like fools, while the guest cast were far more interesting and I would have rather followed them. Somewhere between books, this technically being their third assignment and the first mission was supposedly a disaster according to backstory, our team actually learned to work together and not be morons. I can respect that. If the book wasn’t filled with useless trivia and odd chapter choices based on location and time it might be a better book. Instead, they only solved one problem.

Still, let’s see if they can at least solve their current dilemma, stopping a war and a coup, which oddly are not tied together the normal way.

Chapter 62: Tuesday, 10:56 PM, Khabarovsk

We see most of the train capture from the perspective of Sergeant Chick Grey as he takes advantage of the distraction to get into the cab, kick out the driver, and take over the train. As they head off, Nikita I think is still on the train somewhere ready to shoot him, upset that these are the guys his father was talking to, not aware they aren’t aware that they had a working alliance in the works. I can see this ending poorly, but maybe something will happen to solve this problem. Unless it’s too late. Nikita still isn’t informed about the coup attempt by his hero and already doesn’t like his dad. Like I said, this could end badly for somebody. I hope they aren’t going to kill a Striker member off in every book. I’ve only got one more from this series (I think) and I don’t want a pattern forming here. Not this one, anyway.

Chapter 63: Tuesday, 4:02 PM, Moscow

It’s been some time since we checked in with Dogin. While the book was focusing on his operation, the man behind it has had little appearance in the story. Now he’s here thinking everything is going great for his plan…until he calls Orlov Sr. Orlov pretty much informed him that the plan was falling apart, that he was working with the Americans despite the rest of the shenanigans (Orlov sadly not aware of what’s happening with the train and Nikita), and the Operations Center is now in lockdown so Rossky and his goons (except for any still left in the Center) aren’t going to be able to get in until the plan completely fails. Dogin is no longer celebrating, but I don’t see him giving up that easily. 15 chapters remain, many of them short, so I don’t know what he can do, and a lot still depends on what Nikita and the Striker team do next. Do they fight each other, or will they manage to compare notes in time to save the day?

This is finally getting really good…which was also the problem in the previous book. It took too long for the story to really get interesting thanks to the pacing, and any improvements here are slight because they no longer have to fully introduce the main characters, except sometimes they do anyway thanks to the backstory. If I want backstory I’ll read the bios and worldbuilding guide. If I want Russian military history I’ll look up a reference book. We should only have one chapter next week, and it’s back to the train, so hopefully we’ll see the good guys get together before someone gets killed.