Threat Vector: A Jack Ryan Novel

The book, “Threat Vector”, is a massive 835 pages, including a 15 page Prologue and a 16 page Epilogue. This is almost a 100 pages more than Clancy’s average novel. Such a big book is a challenge for bedtime readers – and a great encouragement for compact electronic readers, like Kindle and Nook. The fact that the book is divided into 79 chapters is a welcome feature, and a convenience to even the most avid reader. However, a justifiable criticism is that the structure of the chapters is jarringly inconsistent, and the subject matter is not logically divided – the subject within a chapter often jumps wildly, on a paragraph to paragraph basis, to a different subplot.“Threat Vector” is not recommended for speed-reading because of the complexity of the plot and sub-plots, even if the reader is not appreciative of the detail and realism of the technologies and weapon systems employed. A speed-reader will probably want to read the book twice to savor the richness of the situational details and to properly relate the characters and intertwined sub-plots.The basic theme of “Threat Vector” is an aggressive move by China to expand its domination of the western Pacific, especially the South China Sea and Taiwan. Their strategy for this is to use cyber-espionage to disable and otherwise thwart any effective opposition from the U.S. until the Chinese military physical expansion is firmly established. (Aside: It is astonishing that this “fictional strategy” and the use of computerized communications in espionage are so closely represented by our recent real world experiences with China and other nations. Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney have been deservedly credited with remarkable prescience in publishing such a relevant novel. Some of Clancy’s earlier work, ergo “Harpoon”, influenced serious Naval Warfare Gaming and Training, and the scenario of “Threat Vector” can be safely assumed to be just as influential. Another epilogue could well be written.)One of many underlying influences in this novel is that the time period covered by ”Threat Vector” is one that follows a fictional war with China against the U.S. and Russia, a war that ended in a humiliating defeat for China. Also, the political scene in America is one where Jack Ryan Sr. has recently re-won the presidency. These factors are brought out almost subtly in the book, leaving one to wonder why the author chose not to put them in the proper perspective in the Prologue, where it would have been better treated.Also, before further addressing a review of the novel, two minor errors need to be mentioned. On page 300, the Hellfire missile is stated as having a 500 pound warhead; whereas, the actual warhead is approximately 20 pounds, depending on configuration. And on page 478, the slick weight of the F/A-18C is given as 10 tons, versus the more accurate weight of 16 tons. These errors, though quite large numerically, are inconsequential to the story, but somewhat unsettling when the reader considers the vast amount of research and care given such detail, a trait for which Tom Clancy is famous.What is the story about? Anyone even moderately skilled in computers and software would say the story is about malicious hacking and cyber warfare, which is indeed the underlying story line of main attraction. However, there are several sub-plots which hold the attention of readers with other special or even general interests. There’s something in “Threat Vector” that appeals to almost everybody and it is all presented in the well-researched style of Tom Clancy. The authors make it easy for the readers by making them feel familiar with the concepts of various intelligence operations – like OPSEC and PERSEC and HUMINT and overhead assets, INFIL and EXFIL. Blackmail is a favorite Chinese tool to control their pawns against the U.S. There is plenty of action in hand–to- hand combat, assassinations, and special warfare operations. There is intrigue, with scenes of stealthy spy operations – some routine and some violent. There are human emotions of ambition, revenge, and greed. There is patriotism. There is bravery. And, yes, there is sex and love – enough for realism, but not enough to subvert the main story. There are military tactics with brilliant realism. The weapon system descriptions are detailed and good enough to make the reader almost feel the controls and maneuvers of an F/A-18C. This is Tom Clancy at his best for techno-thrillers.The presence and effects of public media and congressional oversight committees are absent or have only an adjunctive role in this intriguing story – which can be attributed to Clancy’s low esteem for congress.The opening chapters tell how the Campus, a plausible but special off-the-books U.S. counter espionage organization, wipes out remnants of a post-Quadafi Libyan intel group. This operation, facilitated by skilled hacking and motivated by revenge for the Libyans murder of a brother of one of the Campus operatives, revealed that the Campus had been discovered by some more sinister enemy. This enemy, later revealed to be called the Center, has formidable computer hacking skill that baffles the Campus IT manager, Gavin Biery. The story later develops that the Campus was actually being exploited by Center to eliminate the rogue Libyan intel agents. This Libyan campaign introduces key operatives of the Campus, including 27 year old Jack Ryan, JR., who is the principal hero adventurer of “Threat Vector”. It is convenient that Jack is the President’s son, and once the reader swallows that ridiculous characterization, the rest of the book seems quite reasonable.After those opening chapters, the story becomes very complex, and succeeding chapters switch rapidly between nearly simultaneous actions in China, Campus operations, Russia, and the U.S. hacker and malware industry.The President of China, a moderate, is controlled by a warmongering General Su, who is head of the Chinese military. China has established a “deniable” cyber warfare unit in out-of-country Hong Kong. At Su’s behest, the on-going cyber hacking escalates to deadly cyber espionage, and the Chinese cause havoc by successfully commanding U.S. drones to attack American targets – both military targets abroad and industrial facilities in the mainland, as well. While the U.S. and Campus try to cope with this terrible situation, China begins several aggressive moves of military forces to occupy and control regions of the South China Sea and Taiwan.To ensure their success, the master of the Chinese “Center” uses clandestine forces within the U.S. to assassinate several high tech hackers, who might find a way to thwart the effectiveness of Chinese cyber warfare. Therein comes one of the main subplot characters, Valentine Kovalenko, who is an ex-SVR Russian Foreign operative, and is used by Center to perform various acts of espionage.This reveals yet another subplot, because Kovalenko , in a previous conflict (not covered in the Prologue), had a serious run-in with one of our Campus heroes, John Clark. Would Clark find revenge against Kovalenko? That makes for a good subplot.The evil Chinese Center seems to be omnipotent and even invades the Campus in both cyberspace and meatspace. Things look grim. The Campus is bewildered. The U.S. drone and satellite communication systems are almost useless under the concentrated Chinese cyber attack.The romantic involvement of Jack Ryan, JR with Melanie Kraft (a CIA and DNI agent) comes to a head, when Jack discovers that his lover had bugged his cell phone. Has love succumbed to the pressures of blackmail?Meanwhile, Adam Yao, a lone clandestine CIA agent in Hong Kong, had accidentally discovered the Chinese cyber warfare facility, known as the Ghost Ship. Yao becomes a key character. Although Yao’s efforts are ignored by the beaurocratic CIA at Langley, he becomes an ally to the Campus. Yao joins Jack Ryan, and other Campus operatives, to aid a covert attack in Hong Kong by Seal Team 6 to capture one of the key Chinese hackers, known as Fastbyte 22. After this action-filled foray, the Chinese relocate the Ghost Ship away from Hong Kong to Guangshou, a safer city within China. However, Yao is persistent and cleverly follows Ghost Ship to its new location.At this point, Clancy has to do two things: eliminate the troublesome Ghost Ship, and avoid all-out war between China and the U.S. He eliminates Ghost Ship by a surprise attack by U.S. Marine F/A-18C‘s in a thrilling story. The U.S. President Ryan boldly announces this limited strike on national media.All-out war is further avoided by eliminating the warmongering Chinese General Su in an ambush by Campus and Chinese dissidents. To avoid the U.S. being blamed for this internal ambush, John Clarke, plants the bodies of 2 captured Chinese hit-team members by smuggling them through Russia and leaving them at the scene of the ambush. This seems to be an unnecessarily elaborate move, but it gets John Clark in the scene to aid the ambush of General Su. (It is almost unbelievably laughable that Clark’s success depends on his making a phone call to his opposite in the Russian Intel community – and Clark’s jet, with its human cargo, are already enroute to Moscow before the enabling phone call is made.)The book ends well and the Epilogue puts many of the loose ends in perspective. A problem common to several Clancy novels is that the “rush to finish” results in over-crowding the last few chapters to close off the numerous subplots. There is uneven treatment of Clancy’s “savorous” detail. For example, page 14 has a detailed description of an old mansion in Turkey, which gives the reader a feel for the atmosphere. Later in the book, as the author rushes to a finish, a hotel in Beijing is only described as being bugged. So, will “Threat Vector” be remembered as literary milestone or model for English teachers? The answer is probably not: however, it is historically timely, it appeals to the extant readership of techno-thrillers, and it sells. Reader acceptance is what counts.Tom Clancy will be missed. His death is certainly misfortunate; however, Clancy leaves an indelible influence on techno-thriller novels.

Threat Vector is the fourth book in the Campus books starring Jack Ryan Junior. For those unfamiliar with the series, the series takes place in the same universe as the majority of Tom Clancy's work, starring the son of his CIA-analyst-turned-President hero, Jack Ryan (Senior). Masquerading as a member of an innocuous brokerage firm, Jack Ryan (Junior) conducts assassinations of terrorists and other off-the-books missions with his cousins as well as several friends of his dad. This is all made legal by the power of a number of blank pardons issued by his father before he left office during his first term as President. *pause* Remember when Tom Clancy's books were paragons of accuracy and realism? Yeah. All kidding aside, I enjoy the Campus series as a delightfully off-kilter spy series about a bunch of heroic do-gooers against EVIL terrorists. It's a series you can turn your brain off for and still enjoy the lengthy descriptions of actions, locals, and likable protagonists. Tom Clancy novels are an acquired taste of jingoistic movie action fiction which don't attempt to aspire to anything higher than being really fun contemporary spy fantasies--and I'm okay with that. The right-wing preaching is actually considerably toned down from Dead or Alive and Locked Down, perhaps because Jack Ryan is now President of the United States and all is well in the world. The premise is the Chinese government is going bankrupt. Decades of expansion are about to lead to a devastating retraction and its current President is desperate to avoid a coup by his enemies using trumped-up charges. Allying with the military, he discovers they intend to force him to go to war in order to secure Tawain. Meanwhile, the Campus is under surveillance by a new and powerful enemy in Center. Possessing computer hacks into much of the United States' infrastructure, Center is capable of inflicting devastating damage and have a network of coerced operatives across the globe. Faced with a foe able to uncover their true identities and operations, the Campus' leadership must decide whether or not it will proceed given the risks to its operational security. Jack Ryan Junior is unaware his girlfriend Melanie is spying for the FBI while all this goes down, the young woman being blackmailed into serving as an operative for an unscrupulous agent. The treatment of China is of an oppressive communist dictatorship seething with resentment against America as well as possessing a personal desire to destroy President Ryan. This is not unexpected given past treatment of them in The Bear and the Dragon but may put off some readers. Tom Clancy makes notes to include dissidents, Asian heroes, and Asian American agents to show he's not racist but his anti-People's Republic of China slant is on every page. Computer hacking is handled in a manner which is both amusing as well as informative. The authors clearly want to use the right kind of lingo and technical jargon but it comes off as a somewhat silly at times. Still, A for effort. I was reminded of the original Splinter Cell game due to Georgia (the nation, not the state) crippling the United States with the use of computer hacking techniques but if a plot is good, it shouldn't be shied away from. The villains, as always, are mwah-ha-ha evil with the Chinese antagonists including a warmongering psychopath as well as his sociopathic computer hacker terrorist leader subordinate. They have the man who tortured John Clark in Locked On and a child-pornography-loving creepy FBI agent assisting them as well. That's in addition to their henchmen in the form of Libyan secret police, Russian mafia toughs, and a Hong Kong Triad. If you're looking for moral ambiguity or villains with convictions, this is not the place to find it. I disliked the treatment of character Melanie Kraft this time around as I was quite pleased to have another strong female character in the books. Here, she's reduced to a weak puppet of her FBI handler and a horrifying secret is introduced to make her more pliable to the villains. I was hoping she'd find some way to extirpate herself from the problem by the end but, sadly, that falls to Jack Ryan Junior. The action in the book is, as always, highly entertaining and I enjoyed the various twists and turns throughout the book. As much as I disliked the retcon to Melanie Kraft's character, I enjoyed her dealing with the shame and unease she has about her father's treason. It's just a shame this is a quality that's unforgivable for her but would have been overlooked for any of Tom's male heroes. After all, they've all done things which are highly illegal and threatening to national security. I like Center and his henchmen as a set of villains even if I find the idea of a computer terrorist organization working for the PRC hiding with the Triads ludicrous (even if they lampshade how ludicrous it is--it's still ludicrous). There's also a well-written subplot about John Clark struggling with his decision to retire despite the fact, it turns out, it's not as fun as he'd imagined. In conclusion, Threat Vector is a fun spy fiction adventure weighed down by the portrayal of the Chinese government as well as its outdated techno-jargon. I also disliked the treatment of Melanie Kraft, a character I really came to like in Locked On. The book is still enjoyable, though, mostly for the action and entertaining characters.7/10

This book started out a little slow but as I kept on reading the more it got interesting. To many foreign names to sometimes remember who was who. All in all a good book.

Threat Vector is a bit different from past Clancy books; over the series the story of the Ryan family went from a terrorist attack on his family; to over the course of several books multiple terrorist attacks on his Country. From small battles through Biological War to Ultrawar; and the last two  The Bear and the Dragon  and  The Teeth of the Tiger  portrayed a warfare and battlefield that was different to what we were seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Along the way; despite the vast lead character count, the books lost their soul - ceased being about a spy doing small things and became descriptions of how the USA could overpower anyway with its technological prowess.With the reboot bringing Jack Ryan's Son as a new analyst / operations officer at the blacker than black Hendley Associates; Threat Vector takes us back to spies treading softly; to risks behind every door and to characters living with paranoia. The old faces are there; to the point that the book has a 3 page character list before you get to page 1. At 700 pages I had planned to read 100 a day for a week and make it to the end. I finished in 3 days. The changing scenary; and fast moving situations lead me to chasing down the last 300 pages on the third day. As with all Clancy books there is a lot of setup and a snap finish; but with threat vector he provides a denouement settling the characters down and handing over the baton from Ryan Sr to Jnr.Threat vector is a vast improvement on the two books above; and provides a great story and look at how a war between technological superpowers might look today. If you like the Clancy of old the combined story with Mark Greaney has much to appreciate here. The Bear and the DragonThe Teeth of the Tiger

Underneath the constant use of abbreviations (too many to remember throughout the story) a spy story with a twist was told. For me spoilt by these abbreviations and too many technical terms for a ‘innocent’ member of the public.

Hmmmm, having read 99% of Clancy's novels I find the resurrected Ryanverse novels with Jack junior are sometimes missing that zing, kick or plot within a plot, within a plot trademark style missing.Read all the earlier Ryanverse novels and it is not until the last twenty or so pages before all the pieces of the jigsaw start falling into place. In the two later ones, these are not a strong. I suppose its Mark Greaney's influence as 848 pages feel like an awful lot of padding.I for one am glad the Ryanverse novels are back and would buy them as they come out. I just wish they had the kick, zing and style of the earlier ones. I don't expect Jack Ryan (snr) or John Clarke to be running around doing their thing, but they can think with their heads and let junior go out with his mates from the campus and sort the physical stuff out.Mark Greaney's influence for me has just made what was a light read, even more lighter.I will still buy further books in the series if they continue to make them.

I have been a Clancy fan since Red October, and found his style consistantly well researched if tempered with the oddly disconcerting "USA is the best and will always win" attitude. He writes about concerns with international terrorism at the forefront of his mind (quite rightly so). and has quite a knack of choosing subjects that are either current or will be next week.This new novel is the latest in the `Jack Jr` series, and while highly improbable that the Presidents son would be actively involved in `wet` operations in hostile countries, it all seem to make sense at the time of reading - and this is another page turner.The premise this time is that the next war will be a cyberwar (note the current concerns by various govenments - including our own - in the news feeds) and it has the potential to bring even the mighty USofA to its knees.Without spoiling the novel, I would simply say, just read this - and find your own paranoia and comparisons matching his. . . If you like the Broccoli style of James Bomd, this is definately for you. Recommended.

I am a fan of Mark Greaney (who wrote this book) and this doesn’t disappoint. Great plot, lots of twists and you don’t need to have read the other books in the series for this to be an immersive read.