David Michaels (1)

HAWX is awful.

I'd read David Michaels' (A.K.A. Grant Blackwood) Ghost Recon and liked it enough to try more. It wasn't great, but for a book based on a game franchise, it did what I wanted. It was fast moving and the combat was very well done. When I heard Blackwood wrote novelizations of HAWX and EndWar, I picked them up. I decided to try HAWX first because, well, because I liked the cover better.

HAWX sounds promising: Former hot shot Air Force fighter pilot Troy Leonsch (I know, I couldn't show more pronounce it either. I called him 'Troy Lunch') signs up with private military contractor Firehawk and gets the action he misses and a hefty paycheck. But are PMCs a good idea? Troy isn't so sure. When the CIA asks Troy to help investigate Firehawk, he does.

Sounds great! But the book is full of problems. HAWX is very slow moving and even though it has a promising set-up, the book that was written feels padded and dull. For one thing, Firehawk doesn't appear until around page 150. The CIA? They don't show up until half way through the book. The action that carried Ghost Recon is here as well, but there is very little of it and it isn't really tied in to the story.

The rest of the book is made up of cheesy soap opera elements in Troy's romantic life. I mentioned that I enjoyed Ghost Recon. One thing that I had problems with was the characterizations, which were poor. I accepted them in that book because they came in small doses. In HAWX, about half of the book is made up of Troy's personal life.

Also, even though Blackwood writes in a very easy to read style which works for the books he is writing, here he tended to over-explain even simple things. I felt like he was talking down to me. At one point, he quotes Buzz Aldrin, and then explains who Buzz Aldrin is. Buzz Aldrin!

Finally, the third act is hare-brained and absurd. The idea of a PMC pulling off a coup against the U.S. is interesting, but here it is handled in such a half-baked manner I wondered if the author understood the way the government works. The plot point used to remove the President never takes into account that there is a Vice President or the Speaker of the House. I'm willing to accept some ridiculous stuff in my fiction, but please make it plausible.

As I read through the book I realized I didn't care about any of the characters or where the story was going. I finished the book only due to stupid, grim determination. Towards the end, I was angry at myself for sticking with the book, but I did.

Please understand that I'm not expecting Tolstoy when I read a book based on a Tom Clancy video game. I do expect a book that is fast paced, pulpy fun. The author of this book has proved he's up to the task in previous books. I will give EndWar a chance. Ghost Recon was enjoyable enough for me to give him a third try. But HAWX is a failure of a book in every way. show less

I’ve never read a Tom Clancy novel, or even a Tom Clancy’s novel. They just didn’t look like my thing. I did enjoy the Ghost Recon game though. Enough to take a gamble on a novel based on the franchise.

Though the book is based on Mr. Clancy’s Ghost Recon game franchise, the story is entirely new. We begin with a long prologue following our hero Scott Mitchell prior to joining the Ghosts. On a covert joint operation in the jungles of the Philippines, American forces are ambushed. The show more heroism of one man saves the day and that man is recruited for the most special of the Special Forces, The Ghosts.

This leads to a secret mission into mainland China to prevent something referred to as Pouncing Dragon, which could trigger world war III.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It is quite well done for the most part. I was glued to the pages. One of those books where I would be annoyed when I had to quit reading, telling myself ‘just one more chapter’. The combat scenes are very well written. Tense and gripping and they will keep you turning the pages.

The non-combat, personal time stuff and characterization is not nearly as well written. Some of it is even clumsy. Diaz, the female sniper, joined the military to prove she could do anything as well as a man. Really? It came off as sexist and insulting to the writer’s own character.

The other characters were also pretty two dimensional. I appreciate the token attempt to flesh out the Ghosts I guess, though perhaps summing up their background as dossiers would have worked just as well and maybe been less clumsy.

Luckily, the bulk of the novel is made up of that well written tension, action and combat and as such it was a thrilling read.

I have to say, even though the action was very well written, towards the end it felt like the writer was really piling it on. All sorts of stuff that was never mentioned before shows up and the last fifty pages or so become an extended battle. Since the main plot points have been wrapped up by this time, the last slog really felt tacked on to me.

I’ll keep picking up the series (I’m assuming it will be one) so long as they keep them to this caliber. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun. show less

I ended up liking the book, but I can't bump it up to 4 stars because, in the beginning, Sam just felt a bit out of character. Also, some of the earlier info dumps were far more tedious than they could have been. It certainly picked up, though, and the book hit its stride at about the 1/3 mark. Once it did, any awkwardness receded and it just took off.

Tom Clancy created the Splinter Cell series and David Michaels wrote the book. I had thought I was buying a book written by Tom Clancy. I was in the Cosmopolitan Bookstore, seller of used books. Unfortunately, the Cosmopolitan will be closing. Paperbacks were reduced to a couple of dollars. I had never read a Tom Clancy book, saw his name big on the cover and grabbed it, not realizing he wasn't the author. The book is based on the Ubisoft game "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell."

Not a bad mistake show more because the book was entertaining, the lead character a tough government agent with the job of saving us from a nuclear strike on Los Angeles.

I'm still curious about reading a Tom Clancy book, so I'll be getting one which he had written, one that hasn't been made into a film. show less