Book review: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda

I've finished reading Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda again. I figured I might as well do a review about it, since I have nothing else to do.

Plot:

Operation Barracuda, book two of four in the Splinter Cell series, takes place in Hong Kong through the eyes of the National Security Agency's Third Echelon Splinter Cell unit, Sam Fisher, former U.S. Navy SEAL, and former U.S. Army Ranger. Sam Fisher's current mission: Find and eliminate the lead operatives of a terrorist weapon dealing organization known as The Shop, run by former Russian millionaire, Andrei Zdrok. In the past year, The Shop has been responsible for the death of three Splinter Cells, one of which located in the Middle East, where Fisher destroyed one of the organization's private facilities as it was about to fire a payload on Iran.

Fisher's mission begins in a small Ukranian province known as Kyiv, where he encounters two of the Shop's operatives, Russian General Prokofiev and accountant Oskar Herzog, both of whom accompanied by a throng of soldiers with heavy demolition gear, and Russian assassin, Yvan Putnik. They're ordered to destroy the last private hangar to completely destroy any evidence of there ever being any private assault jets in the Shop's possession.

Soon after, Third Echelon computer genius, and Fisher's main source of contact, Carly St. John, is assassinated while working towards the answer of how the Shop killed three Splinter Cells. Her killer, Third Echelon's Mike Chan, escapes to L.A., where he resumes the name Mike Wu, a triad member.

Meanwhile, Fisher heads to Hong Kong for one of many adventures in China, and it all leads up to a "war" between America, Taiwan, and China, started by Chinese General Tun, who threatens to destroy a large portion of America with a nuclear missile, should they interfere.

Recommendations:

For advanced reading and knowledge of warfare:

Book Recommended. Tom Clancy's insight of military actions is a testament to behold, and his own experiences with war further add to the action in this story, giving readers both a positive and negative view on combat and espionage.

For young readers and aspiring authors:

Book Recommended. Although young readers may find that the book may be too mature for them, aspiring authors could learn much from Clancy's works by reading his books and studying them closely.

For a general audience:

Book Recommended. Keep in mind, I mean a MATURE general audience. Anybody without a correct frame of mind who reads this story may find that they don't like it for its detail, characters, and action, but purely for the fact that, yes, there is sex scenes in the book, at least twice, though they go into no major detail.

Overall score:

Based on the action in the book and the realistic points of view, added to the mental imagery painted in readers' minds, I give this book a four out of five stars. Yes, it is a good book, but as with all books, improvements can be made.

This also marks my first review of the year.

Thanks for reading.