Debt of Honor

 

By Tom Clancy

4 stars

Action/Adventure/Suspense

Adult

This is the second Tom Clancy book I’ve had the pleasure of reading. I will eventually write up a review of Clear and Present Danger when I get a chance to do a little reviewing of the book itself. Many of the characters recur in this novel, and it made it easy for me to get into the story. Jack Ryan, John Clark, and Domingo Chavez are central characters once again, along with others.

The primary bad guy is a Japanese businessman called Razio Yamata. He is a very powerful investment leader who wields a great deal of power behind the scenes. He has a plan to make Japan great again. He maneuvers to create a conflict between Japan and the United States. That conflict loosely follows a Pearl Harbor-type script. To save the day, our three intrepid heroes have to work very hard. Don’t want to give away anything.

It is a long book in the sense that it does require a significant time commitment to read. That is the pattern I see in most of his work, so I knew what I was getting into. I do appreciate that the author takes the time to explain everything. There are a lot of short forms used, and I imagine that I’ll get less confused on that count the more of his work I read. I do have to stop for a second sometimes to make sure I understand.

I do have a couple of quibbles. Someone in the story gets stabbed with a steak knife and dies instantly. That doesn’t strike me as believable. I know he needed to be gotten rid of to advance the storyline, but I’m sure the author could’ve come up with something better than that. The other issue I have is the buildup between fleets in the Indian Ocean. The climax to that thread in the story was a bit of a letdown. 

The story, of course, is pretty intense. I enjoyed it, and when I can find the time, I’ll read another one of his books with pleasure.