Act of Defiance is a genuinely worthy follow-up to the classic and revered submarine thriller that cemented Tom Clancy as one of the greatest thriller writers. To follow up such a tale 40 years later with an equally impressive and grand thriller is a task that may have been uneasy to think about, but falls perfectly within the wheelhouse of Andrews and Wilson’s dynamic duo.
When Russia’s deadliest submarine, the Belgorod, sneakily launches for a mission that isn’t gleaned cleanly from US intelligence reports, there’s a disturbance in the thinly held peace between the two nations. What makes for an even more disturbing situation is that this intelligence failure harkens back memories of an event where it all started, when a Soviet submarine codenamed, Red October embarked on a dangerous mission and caused a crisis which gave rise to the OG Clancy hero, a much younger Jack Ryan. Years later, Jack Ryan as the president of the United States must contemplate this new development, while making peace with the fact that his daughter, Lieutenant Katie Ryan, now faces the legacy of Red October.
One of the many captivating aspects of a Tom Clancy thriller is the grand scale with multiple events unfolding parallelly on various battlefronts. There was never any doubt with respect to the writing prowess of Andrews and Wilson to tackle this challenging aspect of keeping multiple plot points synchronized and entertaining at the same time, and as expected, they nail the high-tension high-caliber storytelling we’ve come to love in Clancyverse. Whether it’s operatives of The Campus leading their clandestine mission into Russia for intelligence, or Katie Ryan thrust into dangerous naval combat, the authors drum up a lot of intensity and enthusiasm for the narrative to keep readers buckled in for the whole narrative and before you know it, you’re already knee deep in the storyline.
Lieutenant Katie Ryan however takes the prize for me. Her character is superbly written with a strong foundation to her developments aided by astute and compelling characterization where she earns not only the respect of her superiors but also the admiration of readers with her straight-shooting attitude and inquisitive demeanor, much like her father’s character in the earlier books as an analyst. The authors made the right call with establishing Katie Ryan in a story that’s all about the legacy of Red October, not only in terms of the story, but also in terms of the history as Red October launched Jack Ryan as a household name, much like Act of Defiance will win over readers and compel you to want more of Katie Ryan in future stories.
Act of Defiance is a terrific entry for Andrews and Wilson into the Clancyverse with their style of narrative and storytelling coming across as a natural fit for thrillers that are worthy of the Clancy estate.
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