Sea of Fire

Tom Clancy's Op-Center #10

by Jeff Rovin, Tom Clancy (Series Creator), Steve Pieczenik (Series Creator)

A half-dead Singapore pirate is plucked from the Celebes Sea in the Western Pacific, setting off alarms halfway around the world in Washington, D.C. Traces of radiation are found on the man, causing Australian officials to call in Op-Center for a top-secret investigation of nuclear disposal sites. When an empty drum from a recent drop-off is discovered near where the priate's ship was destroyed, the Op-Center team comes to a terrifying conclusion: a multi-national corporation hired to dispose of nuclear waste is selling it instead --- to a most unlikely terrorist ...

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Military Fiction, Adventure, Spy Thriller, Espionage, Action

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 24, 2003

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pirate attack on what appears to tourist yacht is derailed by a firefight and ends with an explosion, but the lone pirate survivor washes up on shore with traces of radiation. Sea of Fire is the tenth book of the Op-Center series written by Jeff Rovin follows Lowell Coffey and Bob Herbert teaming up with Australian and Singaporean investigators to find out who is smuggling nuclear waste and for what purpose.

Lee Tong leads his pirate crew on a raid on a yacht, but the yacht security shoots up his boat and a bullet hit an explosive destroying his boat. Tong is found by an Australian naval vessel with radiation detectors and quarantined in a hospital, his discovery results in a high-level Australian official getting Op-Center’s international law expert Lowell Coffey from Sydney to help deal with the situation. After interviewing Tong with Australians and a Singaporean female naval officer, Coffey gets in contact with Paul Hood and Bob Herbert about suspicion of the pirates attacking a boat smuggling nuclear waste which makes Herbert head Down Under to be on site. On the yacht the captain, Kannady, and the security chief, Hawke, have a confrontation in regards to tell their employer, Australian billionaire Jervis Darling, which the captain loses starting a chain reaction that leads to Hawke basically leading a one man mutiny that succeeds due to Kannady being predictable. The Singaporeans and Australians go to a nearest nuclear waste dumpsite to where the Tong was found and find the radiation levels lower than they should be, which leads to them tracking the last boat scheduled to dispose of material then the owner and his business associates that include Darling. On the flight to Australian Herbert takes the Darling lead and focus’ on it even though the Australians are hesitant to get close to him. However once Herbert arrives, he takes over the investigation and forces a confrontation with Darling at his home but messes up, but Darling orders the yacht sunk to have Kannady go down with the ship. However, Kannady escapes his flooding cabin, grabs flares, and gets to the deck of the yacht where to shots them off at the dinghies and in the sky before getting pulled down by the sinking yacht to drown. The investigators searching for the ship see the flares and save Hawke who claims to by Kannady but is found out. Having the ship and crew survivors allows Herbert to confront Darling at an airport and prevents him from leaving Australia in his jet and getting arrest for assault.

This installment of the series was a step down from the previous installment, which was one of if not the best of whole series. While the book focus’ on two of Op-Centers management team, one that had been focused on before (Herbert) and the first for the other (Coffey), Paul Hood is in the background and Mike Rodgers is only briefly seen thus changing the dynamic for the first time in the series. The change means that the HUMINT from the last book is put in the backseat, but given it was just starting and the ending of the previous book indicated this installment would be happening right after it which meant they could not have moved personnel around that wasn’t an issue. However, the book’s turned away from the previous installment’s implied direction was on top of the lack of reasons why Jervis Darling decided to smuggle nuclear waste in the first place and why Herbert decided to focus on him a la Captain Ahab with Moby Dick. While the action sequences and the conflict connected with Kannady and Hawke were interesting, plus the point-of-view time there was with Singaporean Female Naval Officer Monica Loh was a nice bonus but none of these can make up for the narrative stumbles.

While Sea of Fire is a stepdown in quality but is still okay which given Jeff Rovin’s track record in this series is a positive. This is the last Op-Center book I ready during the original run, so how the last two books are going to interesting and hopefully are built upon the foundations of the last few books.

[Raymond Gettins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Series and interesting characters and storyline.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a REAL Clancy, but enough "Clancy Elements" to sate one's desire for geopolitical thrills...The Op-Center group faces down the threat of an Aussie megalomaniac willing to use repurposed nuclear waste to end the multiple hegemonies of both the US and China...Got my Fix!!!

[Paul Botterill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and enjoyable read that really picked up significant pace towards the end. It has encouraged me to try another in the Tom Clancy’s Ops Centre series.

[Tuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thinking maybe somewhere around 4.25 or 4.5 stars.

A half-dead pirate is plucked from the Celebes Sea in the Western Pacific with traces of radiation. Australian officials engage Op-Center while also working with the Singaporean navy to investigate.

Even though I've watched some Clancy's movies and Prime series, this is the second thriller I've read in many many years and the first of Clancy's probably ever, so my opinion probably has something to do with me not getting used to this genre. And no, I am not planning on reading The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, or Patriot Games.

Like the other book, this book throws a lot of names at the beginning. I have no idea who is going to be important in the story. Since this is book 10, I am guessing that most of the Op-Center characters have been introduced before. For someone who didn't start with book 1, I suppose it could get overwhelming, except I have started writing down character names for a while now.

With some many names thrown around, it wasn't clear to me who were meant to the the main protagonists and antagonists. On the protagonist side, I assumed the book was American-centric, so Jelbart or Loh was out. I thought it was going to be Hood or most likely Coffey, considering how much time the book spends on Coffey at the beginning. Unfortunately, they settled with Bob Herbert, who is my least favorite of all the protagonists. Herbert is a bit too emotional and impetuous for me, and frankly I dreaded reading when I got to page 250, because I feared that Herbert would do something really, really stupid. And I still cannot believe that I prefer the attorney (Coffey) to him.

It's interesting how Loh's insecurity and roles are being described in this book. She is generally uncomfortable working with males as they seem to look down their noses at her, but here she doesn't feel the same coming from Jelbart and Coffey. Herbert who, like everybody else, starts off not trusting her ends up admiring her.

On the antagonist side, I totally loathe John Hawke, because he always seems to get away with things for no good reason. After a while I even start to feel sorry for Kannaday, even though he's participating in a really bad stuff. Darling just doesn't seem to be as interesting as he could've been. I guess his motivation just doesn't feel very convincing, plus it gets muddled with the situation with his family. Of all the three, Kannaday is probably the only one that I felt anything more than contempt.

The story itself is fairly interesting, except for a few manufactured bumps when someone did something stupid (or unprepared) to drive the plot. Actually, even the bumps are no more than speed bumps, but they're still a bit irritating.

[Drew Keim · Rating 3 out of 5]

__________________________________________
1 star = Did not finish / did not like
2 stars = Had trouble keeping attention to finish
3 stars = Good enjoyable book. A great way to spend my time.
4 stars = Couldn't set the book down. Engaging. Great Book.
Will likely reread when more of the series is released.
5 stars = (4 stars) plus such a good book I will re-read it periodically.
___________________________________________

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fell for same PR money grubbing stunt once again of seeing an iconic author's name in letters writ large on the cover thinking the real article was at hand when in fact a shallow wannabe penned this. It is readable but grows tiresome quickly as this author prefers to mire himself in the grind of reflection and vacuous backstory and inner conflict rather than detection and action, the latter of which there is surprisingly little in ratio to the length.

[Ian McGaffey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good look at the world of international intelligence and the challenges in facing global threats. I felt it resonated well with our current problems in the world today. I'm looking forward to the next novel in the series.

[carl clause · Rating 5 out of 5]

CC1

This was a very great read. The plot and characters were all up to the greatest standards of the Op -center story. As always 5 stars isn't enough. I just love this series!!!! Thanks Carl Clause

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one on Kindle (and listened to it on Audible). Again, the Hood's team does a great thing saving the world. Story takes place in Australia for this one. Great story and really enjoyed this book.

[Stan Strecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read, good story line and written with the reader in mind. Would recommend to serious mystery readers.

Well written, my favorite author, recommended to all mystery readers, of all ages. Good story line and excellent final ending.

[Marty Acks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Op-Center books are very formulaic in a good way. This one follows suit. The book had the normal sort of interesting good guys and bad guys. It was pleasurable read an hard to put down. I like the short chapters in the book. They seem to keep the pace going quickly

[Robert Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

exciting and fun

A deep delicious dive into a complex world of international intrigue and a fascinating interplay between various cultures. Great characters and a plot that will surprise you and nourish your curiosity.

[Bill Yarbrough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story line. I would recommend getting the series and reading them 1-10 to understand events that have caused changes.

[Anthony Messina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok but was missing some of the characters. definitely felt like a hole in the series

[Peter Kowalczyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slowest read so far of this series

[Bente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average Tom Clancy reading

Book was average. Totally get the character development and trying to grow the story to include minor characters, but it didn't work as well as intended

[John Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Op-Center Good

[John M. Harbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book. Not a cliff hanger but I will read more from this author.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well done thriller.

[Stephen Devoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting international law thriller. Focuses quite a bit on the bad guys and the tension within their team.

[Tom Geelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom says

Fulling read and entertaining story with a few twists and turns a lot of suspicious twists leaveing suspicions turns that kept me interested.

[Patrick M Regan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected from a Tom Clancy book. While most have different characters and settting that cumunate in a wild finish, I found this book tedious. First Op Center book that I have read, it will be the last. Others may find it entertaining.

[Randy Grossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a real good read. Quite a chess match between Op Center character Bob Herbert and bad billionaire Jervis Darling (Darling was revealed pretty early-so this is no real spoiler alert). It was like a Monk episode where the bad guy is revealed early, but figuring how to prove the misdeeds is where it gets suspenseful. Read it through rather quickly compared to some other books I've read this year.

[Larry Corn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Open-Center story lines oftentimes weave a very tangled web, but as

always paints a believable conclusion. I enjoyed Jeff Robin's writing and his adaptation of Tom Clancy's idea of a powerful and secret division of the U.S. government that takes on unusual and desperate situations.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Australian Ultra-nationalist?

The first two-thirds of the books were very believable: a man fished from the seas setting off radiation alarms. Could he be a survivor of an accident or incident onboard a nuclear submarine? Could he be affiliated with a terrorist group that now has access to nuclear materials - enough to make a dirty bomb? Or something even more sinister and terrifying?

It all goes back to an Australian business mogul with a very long reach and fingers in multiple pies. When confronted, his rationale: Make Australia Great. After all, Australia as a "white" nation is surrounded by "non-white' nations who are just as prosperous, have economic and political clout, and most importantly, with China to the north, military rivalry. Australia has been a staunch ally of the United States for the last 70 years since World War 2.

All this raises an interesting question: should Australia remain just another "junior partner" to the US in regional affairs? Why shouldn't Australia dictate its own policies? That's a fair question.

Having visited Australia and seeing how proud people are of their history, however controversial and dark at times, for me, this novel is somewhat in the middle. Yes, I can see it happen if something happens with China and the Aussies can't wait for the US, and if they elect an ultra-nationalist but at the same time, there are plenty of Australians who are cognitive of their own racially motived immigration policies to halt such a politician.

[Arnaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ca faisait bien longtemps que je n'avais pas lu un géo-politique. Pas déçu, les personnages sont toujours aussi bon et le rythme toujours soutenu. Par contre on trouve un virement net depuis le tome 8 la partie militaire est beaucoup moins importante que précédement, et les US ne s'en sortent plus tout seul comme des grands. La fin de la Pax Americana ?



It's been a long time since I took a geo political novel. Characters are still good and a fine rythme. We can find a change of style since chapter 8, the military part is way less important than before. Does that mean that the mighty US army is not as good as they were. Might be the end of Pax Americana ?

[Juan Navarro · Rating 2 out of 5]

it puts one of the secondary characters as the main in this one, investigating something that still i don't understand. it doesn't explain anything only that some Australian guy bought some radiactive materials. is not too deep in the story and the side stories are also not very compelling. Paul Hood and Mike Rodgers doesn't do much of anything asides of talking and explaining some facts. a only a little better book that Mirror Image

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book off the free shelf at the library. This one is probably more of a man's book with all the pirating, blowing things up and fighting going on in the book. I read it quickly and it was okay, but not a book I'll keep or remember for very long. I knew towards the end that Hawke had switched himself with Captain Kannady so it was no surprise when I learned the truth.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 of 5 stars for the audio book Sea of Fire by Tom Clancy/Jeff Rovin. An interesting story but not quite as good as other books in the series. The abridged version is very choppy. Short book but barely worth the time.