Retrophisch

When Jack told me that he and fellow author Ward Larsen had each been selected to write in the Tom Clancy universe, I was over the moon for both of them. I can’t speak for Ward, but I know this was an author dream come true for Jack. The dream is now a reality, with the publication of Pressure Depth.

A writer does not simply walk in to the Ryanverse. One has to be invited, and one has to have demonstrated they have the chops to handle the job. With his own Battle Born series, the Silent Horizons series with Chad Robichaux, and the latest installment in W.E.B. Griffin’s Presidential Agent series, Stewart has shown he clearly has the chops. Now it was time to deliver the next great Jack Ryan Jr. story. And he delivers in spades.

In something of an homage to the book that launched Clancy’s career, Stewart takes us back beneath the waves. Jack Jr. is working a legitimate, “white side” job for his employer, following up on a $150 million insurance claim by a ship’s captain. Jack is to investigate the claim, but in the course of those duties, bumps up against the discovery of an underwater installation, placed by the Soviets during the Cold War. An installation which yields no immediate clue as to its purpose, but given the lengths the USSR went through to conceal it, everyone begins to suspect the worst. Jack Jr.’s employer activates The Campus, the “dark side” of its activities, and the usual cast of characters gets to work.

An F-18 fighter pilot and Topgun graduate in his Navy career, Stewart could write all day on adventures in the sky. (See the aforementioned Battle Born series.) So taking the plot not just underwater, but deep underwater, was a challenge both to his knowledge base and real-world skill set.

That said, Jack does a fantastic job immersing the reader (no pun intended) in the world of underwater operations, from the advanced ROV that discovers the Soviet installation, to the mechanics of saturation diving involving a pressure chamber and a diving bell. Jack doesn’t bog down in the details, though. The technical information is explained in an easy-to-understand manner that helps move the action along. The title of the book is well chosen, as Stewart’s prose makes you feel the pressure of being under water that deep, and the claustrophobic tendencies that come with it.

Stewart has firmly established himself within the Ryanverse with Pressure Depth, to the point of writing the next two Jack Ryan Jr. novels we can expect. This is a thoroughly researched, action-packed thriller worthy of the Tom Clancy lineage, and deserves a spot on the shelves of readers who love these characters.

5/5 phins

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I hope the fact that I read this book in about 26 hours, when I was working for 8 hours of it, staying up way too late on a Friday night (Saturday morning?) to finish, tells you how good it is.

We’re told to “write what you know,” and having been a street cop for 25 years, Adam Plantinga certainly brings that depth of knowledge and experience to bear with his main character, former Detroit cop Kurt Argento. The way he weaves Kurt’s life lessons as a police officer into the narrative is seamless, enlightening, and entertaining.

On the run from the Sinaloa drug cartel, as well as various law enforcement agencies for crimes he has both committed and been framed for, Argento finds himself in Barton, South Dakota, living in a church basement and paying his way as the church’s handyman. Through his interactions with the congregation, and an encounter while tending to the church grounds, Argento befriends Majed, a Syrian teenager living in the town with his mother. Political refugees, Majed and his mother saw his father spirited away by the Syrian secret police five year earlier.

But the encounter on the church grounds is a serious one, as two men pursue Majed, a runner on the high school track team. Argento talks them out of further pursuit, but they are not dissuaded so easily. Kurt’s cop instincts kick in, and after one horrific incident, he finds himself on the road with Majed, traveling to California to reunite the boy with the only family he has left.

It’s not often that villains in the novels I read scare me, or creep me out, but the two in Dark Country are up there. They may not be in Anton Chigurh territory, but they’re definitely knocking on that door. The scene where Argento is finally face to face with the pair is….well, intense is not a strong enough word. It is certainly that. It’s also incredibly disturbing.

The relationship with Argento and Majed is wonderful, and shows wonderful growth in both characters. I hope Kurt gets to visit the young man at some point in the future.

This is the first of Adam Plantinga’s Kurt Argento books that I’ve read, and it certainly will not be the last. (Ended up purchasing the first one at a local used bookstore!) Dark Country certainly sets a high standard for the other books, as well as the thriller genre in general.

All in all, a terrific novel. I don’t know if I should say Plantinga is really hitting his stride, having not read the first two Argento books, but with Dark Country alone, he’s definitely cementing himself amongst the elite of thriller authors.

5/5 phins
Amazon: Hardcover, Kindle
Bookshop: Hardcover, eBook