Tom Clancy Act of Defiance (A Jack Ryan Novel)-Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson, authors; Scott Brick, narrator
Who does not love the Ryans? Jack Ryan is the benevolent leader of the United States. His son Jack Ryan Jr. works behind the scenes for The Office in order to keep America safe at great danger to himself. In this novel, when a group of Old Guard Russians try to stage a coup of their own government, beginning with an attack on America from a unique Russian submarine that housed nuclear warheads, Katie Ryan is the featured Ryan star. Will the Russians succeed? Will Katie rise to the occasion and live up to the Ryan name? Were the Old Guard better leaders or were they more radical?
Some of the previous Ryan family experiences are remembered, especially President Ryan’s previous involvement in the hunt for the Red October, when he was a younger man. The Red October was another dangerous rogue Russian ship that had to be hunted down.
In this novel, however, the hunt is on for the Belgorod. It is a Russian submarine suspected of attempting to enter and hide in the waterways of the United States. It is a submarine. designed to spy and attack.
The novel opens with Dimitri Gorov. In return for passage to America, for himself and his family, he has agreed to compromise his own country, Russia, and to provide the schematics for the Red October, the battleship haunting the seas and threatening America. It is 1984, and Dimitri is betrayed by the CIA. They renege on their agreement and abandon him in Russia. He is enraged. He wept as he told his wife what had happened. His son Konstantin overhears his anguished confession, and when Dimitri disappears that night, his son blames it all on America. He grows up harboring hate for the country that betrayed his father. When he loses his own wife and child, he blames that on America also. In some way, was America responsible for betraying Dimitri and bringing bad luck to Konstantin?
Konstantin is the Captain of the Submarine that America is searching for, the Belgorod. It is unique not only because of its nuclear torpedoes, but because it can travel in complete silence, in stealth, under the sea, and it cannot be tracked. His desire for revenge and his terminal illness propel him into the deal involving the group of Old Guard Russians who want to overthrow the government in power. He agrees to take part in their diabolical plan that will murder so many innocent victims. On the Belgorod, Konstantin is suffering with pain from his illness. He hides it from his crew, except for his trusted friend and comrade. When he is unsure of whether or not to proceed, his comrade makes the decisions and releases the nuclear warheads that head toward the United States. Can the US stop these weapons of mass destruction?
Fast forward now to the present day with Katie Ryan, an Intelligence Officer, who is a senior analyst for Russian threats and will soon be promoted to Lieutenant Commander. She is deployed on a submarine at her own request, to be engaged in the hunt for the Belgorod. She believes they may be chasing a decoy for the Belgorod. When an incident occurs, involving a possible escalation leading to war, as the Russian sub carrying a flag of a different country fires upon them, she is proven correct. However, the Belgorod has now all but disappeared. Can they find it and stop it from engaging in the diabolical plan of the traitors of the Russian government? Will the Russian government fall as millions die in America?
What could have taken place in half the number of pages is dragged on and on with extraneous dialogue and too much detail and description of things most readers will either not understand or not want to learn. This book fell far short of the Jack Ryan Jr. books of the past, and I prefer them. Katie Ryan seemed immature and unprepared for her position, even when her expertise seemed to show itself. I hope that if and when another Ryan child is featured, it will be more action and less description of unnecessary information. It was a tedious read.