Publisher's Weekly Review
In this superior franchise entry, Cameron (Field of Fire) delivers plenty of action along with the spycraft and weapons details that Tom Clancy fans have always loved. President Jack Ryan is dealing with confrontations with China over maritime claims in the South China Seas; his son, Jack Jr., is working with FBI special agent Kelsey Callahan to destroy a child sex slavery operation; and John Clark, Jack Jr.'s boss at the Campus, a covert antiterrorism organization, is searching for Magdalena Rojas, a 13-year-old girl who's been trafficked. Cameron successfully juggles the three separate plot lines, each engrossing on its own, and seamlessly stitches them together by novel's end. The original Clancy characters often get short shrift in these series continuations, but not here: both Ryans receive an impressive amount of page time, and the highly competent and often ruthless Clark gets to show why he is "a legend in the intelligence community." All the writers who have contributed to this series since Clancy's death have been good, but Cameron's formidable performance puts him at the head of the pack. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
As Cameron grabs the Clancyworld helm (True Faith and Allegiance, 2016, etc. ), Jack Ryan Jr., hero version 2.0, hunts bad guys while his father, Jack Ryan Sr., president of the United States, copes with spillover from nefarious elements within the Chinese government.Junior's an analyst for the Campus, a privatized CIA under the umbrella of the financial arbitrage group Hendley Associates. Operations chief John Clark has led his Campus A-teamincluding Junior, Ding Chavez, and Midas Jankowskito Dallas to surveil controversial Taiwanese blogger Eddie Feng. Feng has inside dope on Chinese mainland activities, which makes it surprising he's found in the company of killers from the Sun Ye On triad and Tres Equis cell of the Sinaloa Cartel who are now running a child sex-slavery ring. Concurrently, Ryan Senior is dealing with Chinese president Zhao Chengzhi without realizing Zhao has deadly enemies within his government. Ryans young and old remain commendably heroic, spurred on by new characters like Kelsey Callahan, the female FBI agent in charge of crimes against children, who "sometimes [feels] like a typist with a Glock"; Monzaki Yukiko, a female Japanese covert agent; and Magdalena Rojas, an indomitable Costa Rican teen sold into prostitution by her mother. The book has a hard-charging, straight-as-a-desert-road plot sans twists or turns, with minimal character development to obscure 500 pages of action ranging from pirates targeting yachts to armed smack downs of pimp hideaways from Texas to Argentina to Tokyo, among other locales. Cameron, a former SWAT officer and U.S. marshal specializing in "dignitary protection," enters Clancyworld with the chops to allow the formidable Clark and the president-we-wish-we-had Ryan to save the world once again.Another turbocharged, take-no-prisoners Ryan yarn. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
From the frantic opening involving the sinking of a Chinese oil tanker near Seattle to the developing story of a possible push to war by China against the U.S., Cameron's first novel employing the characters created by Tom Clancy is a definite winner. President Jack Ryan and his team must walk the fine line between law and lawlessness if they are to save innocent lives and avoid an all-out war. Complicating matters and tying into the Chinese plot are stolen secrets on a thumb drive and a teen sex ring. Cameron somehow compacts what could easily have been three novels into one compelling package. The Jack Ryan franchise is in good hands.--Jeff Ayers Copyright 2018 Booklist
