‘Op Center’ Lacks Good Hero

Sun., Jan. 29, 1995

Bobbie Hess San Francisco Examiner

“Tom Clancy’s Op Center” By Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

Billed as “a powerful profile of America’s defense, intelligence and crisis management technology,” “Op Center” is typical Clancy - fast-paced, with a lot of techno jargon as righteous and likable American patriots sniff out a devious plot to put the world at war once again.

It begins with a bombing during an outdoor ceremony in South Korea. Shortly after the news is relayed to Op Center in Washington, all the computers in the U.S. defense and intelligence agencies briefly go down and the overhead spy satellites stop working. Everything points to a plot by the highest levels of North Korea’s government.

What “Op Center” lacks is a dynamic main character such as Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for Red October” and the recent “Debt of Honor.” The Ryan character made the wide plot turns in those books work. And it also made you yearn for the next book.

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