Duty and Honor

Jack Ryan Jr. is taken by surprise when an unknown attacker tries to kill him. Soon he discovers that the attempt on his life might not have been random but, rather, part of a concerted effort to get rid of not only Jack, but also his girlfriend, Ysabel Kashini. Equally shocking is the fact that a globally famous philanthropist, who is also the founder of an elite security company, may be the man who is gunning for them. On leave from the Campus, the highly secret intelligence organization founded by President Jack Ryan (our hero's father), Jack Jr. must rely on his own contacts and resources to save himself and Ysabel. This by-the-numbers actioner should appeal to fans of the series, which was spun off from Clancy's popular Jack Ryan series. The provenance gets a little tricky (as it does in other continuations of deceased authors' series), since the words Tom Clancy (without an apostrophe) appear as part of the title, but the novel was written by Blackwood. Workmanlike prose and familiar action set pieces make this a typical entry in the extended Clancy canon: there's nothing memorable about the book, but it will satisfying the craving of the audience for more Ryan family adventures.--Pitt, David Copyright 2016 Booklist

Blackwood's fast-moving second thriller featuring Jack Ryan Jr. (after 2015's Tom Clancy: Under Fire) finds Jack on leave from his secret organization, the Campus. Even though Jack is hampered by the lack of backup and expert assistants, he shows determination and serious spymaster skills as he contends with a mysterious group of Germans who are trying to kill him. After a second attempt on his life, Jack acquires a sidekick, journalist Effrem Likkel, who has been researching a story about René Allemand, a French soldier who disappeared from his post in Port-Bouët, Ivory Coast, where he was part of a peacekeeping mission. Jack and Effrem engage in plenty of fighting and sleuthing as they race around the U.S., Europe, and Africa one step ahead of their pursuers. Blackwood, like Mark Greaney (who has also contributed to the Clancy franchise), is adept at hewing to Clancy's overall vision while producing books that are better written than the Clancy originals. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

If you're Jack Ryan Jr., the U.S. president's son, you shouldn't waive Secret Service protection, especially if your job at Hendley Associates, a private CIA clone known as "The Campus," makes for double threat exposure.Jack's on forced sabbatical from Hendley, having overstepped his brief. With the downtime, his tradecraft's sloppy, and he nearly succumbs to a knife attack in a supermarket parking lot. Jack later discerns the attack was an assassination attempt, not a mugging. A Hendley investigation into a corporate money laundering case put the bullseye on his back. The assassins have been dispatched by Rostock Security Group. RSG's namesake chief wants to collect a blood debt from Islamic terrorists. He intends a private covert war to be financed by murder, kidnapping, and extortion. Sending Jack in pursuit of bad guys from Virginia to New England to Munich and Namibia, Blackwood's (Tom Clancy Under Fire, 2015, etc.) newest contribution to Clancy's oeuvre turns into 500 pages of firefight. There's bromance here, with Jack being assisted by the nicely sketched Effrem Likkel, son of European "journalist royalty." A newbie searching for a headline, Likkel's fecklessness mirrors Jack's impetuousness. Blackwood's pacing is intense, action-oriented, and mostly bereft of Clancy's paeans to weapons, though technogeeks will get brief appreciations of the assassin's friends: frangible .22 caliber Glaser Safety Slugs and the Eickhorn Solingen Secutor combat knife. Jack isn't afraid to pull his Glock, but his major weapon is a smartphone, employed for everything from Yelp to Google to GPS tracking. Rapid action makes the settings a blur, but intrigue, clear snapshots of peripheral bit players, and snappy dialogue pass the readability and believability tests. Clancy regulars Clark and Cruz remain desk-bound at the Campus, but young Jack finds a balance between his tendency toward lone cowboy recklessness and "spiraling into paralysis by analysis" to thwart the RSG scheme. Action-adventure addicts will get their fixes. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Jack Ryan Jr. is taken by surprise when an unknown attacker tries to kill him. Soon he discovers that the attempt on his life might not have been random but, rather, part of a concerted effort to get rid of not only Jack, but also his girlfriend, Ysabel Kashini. Equally shocking is the fact that a globally famous philanthropist, who is also the founder of an elite security company, may be the man who is gunning for them. On leave from the Campus, the highly secret intelligence organization founded by President Jack Ryan (our hero's father), Jack Jr. must rely on his own contacts and resources to save himself and Ysabel. This by-the-numbers actioner should appeal to fans of the series, which was spun off from Clancy's popular Jack Ryan series. The provenance gets a little tricky (as it does in other continuations of deceased authors' series), since the words Tom Clancy (without an apostrophe) appear as part of the title, but the novel was written by Blackwood. Workmanlike prose and familiar action set pieces make this a typical entry in the extended Clancy canon: there's nothing memorable about the book, but it will satisfying the craving of the audience for more Ryan family adventures. Copyright 2016 Booklist Reviews.

Blackwood's fast-moving second thriller featuring Jack Ryan Jr. (after 2015's Tom Clancy: Under Fire) finds Jack on leave from his secret organization, the Campus. Even though Jack is hampered by the lack of backup and expert assistants, he shows determination and serious spymaster skills as he contends with a mysterious group of Germans who are trying to kill him. After a second attempt on his life, Jack acquires a sidekick, journalist Effrem Likkel, who has been researching a story about René Allemand, a French soldier who disappeared from his post in Port-Bouët, Ivory Coast, where he was part of a peacekeeping mission. Jack and Effrem engage in plenty of fighting and sleuthing as they race around the U.S., Europe, and Africa one step ahead of their pursuers. Blackwood, like Mark Greaney (who has also contributed to the Clancy franchise), is adept at hewing to Clancy's overall vision while producing books that are better written than the Clancy originals. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME. (June)