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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell #5
Conviction
TRAITOR——OR HERO?
Third Echelon's Sam Fisher is one of the deadliest men in the world. Even the FBI and CIA are in the dark about the black ops that he takes on. He's known as a Splinter Cell, and sometimes he's the only force holding the country together...
Third Echelon is training new recruits who will be given a necessary but terrible mission. They must capture or kill one of their own, a man who's gone rogue and sold out his government...
Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell.
Third Echelon's Sam Fisher is one of the deadliest men in the world. Even the FBI and CIA are in the dark about the black ops that he takes on. He's known as a Splinter Cell, and sometimes he's the only force holding the country together...
Third Echelon is training new recruits who will be given a necessary but terrible mission. They must capture or kill one of their own, a man who's gone rogue and sold out his government...
Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell.
399 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 3, 2009
102 people are currently reading
1991 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
August 9, 2025
Splinter Cell: Conviction is the fifth book in the Splinter Cell series, which was mostly written by several different authors under the same house name David Michaels. Only the final three books deviate from this, and list the real authors on the covers, which were James Swallow and Peter Telep.
This one baffled me, because literally at the end of the last book in this series Irving Lambert, one of the main characters in the entire series of books and their source material video games, is alive, and Sam Fisher is a normal Splinter Cell operative. When this book starts, the bomb is dropped on you that Lambert is dead and that Sam Fisher, the main protagonist of the entire series, killed him and has now been disavowed by the U.S. Government and living overseas as a mercenary for several years.
What. The. F***.
I get that these events happened in one of the games I never played in this series, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but to not even cover it in these books and have no continuity whatsoever from one to the next like this, completely relying on the readers having played every single Splinter Cell game to understand what's going on, is insane. And terrible. Did they not think how hard that would reduce the readerbase for these books? That's a VERY small subset of just video gamers. How many video gamers also read books? Maybe it's a decent amount, but of those, how many have also played every single Splinter Cell game to the point where they can just dive into these books? That's such a small number.
To make these books appeal to a broader base they should have been written so that you could have never played one of these games and still be able to pick them up and get a coherent, full story out of them, with continuity between books. That didn't happen in this series. They just published a new one whenever a new game came out in the series, resulting in the jumbled, fragmented mess that is the Splinter Cell book series.
I must say that this one was a huge step down for the series as well. The first probably 150 pages was just a seemingly pointless cat-and-mouse chase where other Splinter Cell agents have found Fisher overseas and are trying to capture or kill him. The book doesn't even make any sense, as the author explains nothing about why any of the events are happening, until probably past the halfway point of the entire book. And by then, you simply don't care anymore.
The writing is also just BAD. There are probably a hundred pages or more at the beginning of this book with just the most bland, by-the-numbers telling of every single thing Fisher is doing, and it's just completely mind-numbing filler. Entire pages with crap like this. I made this up but it's really written like this:
"Fisher walked down the corridor. At the end he saw a door. He walked up to it and opened it. He ended up in another corridor with a door on the right and left at the midway point. He walked up to the left door and opened it. Another corridor lay beyond. He stepped through and walked forward until he saw a ladder. He grabbed the first rung and started to climb..."
For like 100 pages straight. It was insufferably bad writing. Just totally mindless. In the second half the writing improves and there's some minor action, but honestly, the story here is very dumb, and this almost read like it was part of an author's juvenilia. Just very rough, amateurish writing. Like, there's a bestselling author character in here who is also running a massive robbery ring and is a secret underworld figure. That's so terrible and bush league I don't even have words. It's almost comedic it's so unrealistic and childish.
Anyway, don't read this one. It's bad. And what's worse, the next book in the series, which is way longer than this one and almost 500 pages, is just this same story but told from the perspective of the agents chasing Sam, while Conviction was from Sam's point of view. I already own a copy of it, but at this point I'm thinking of donating it, and also thinking it may be time to take a break, perhaps a permanent one, from this series entirely.
UPDATE: After thinking it over last night and this morning, I decided I'm going to skip Endgame, as this was not a good story and I can't suffer reading it again for 500 more pages in that book, just told through a different perspective. Instead, I'm going to read the last Splinter Cell book I own, which will be the last book I read in the series and which is a new story, Splinter Cell: Blacklist Aftermath.
This one baffled me, because literally at the end of the last book in this series Irving Lambert, one of the main characters in the entire series of books and their source material video games, is alive, and Sam Fisher is a normal Splinter Cell operative. When this book starts, the bomb is dropped on you that Lambert is dead and that Sam Fisher, the main protagonist of the entire series, killed him and has now been disavowed by the U.S. Government and living overseas as a mercenary for several years.
What. The. F***.
I get that these events happened in one of the games I never played in this series, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but to not even cover it in these books and have no continuity whatsoever from one to the next like this, completely relying on the readers having played every single Splinter Cell game to understand what's going on, is insane. And terrible. Did they not think how hard that would reduce the readerbase for these books? That's a VERY small subset of just video gamers. How many video gamers also read books? Maybe it's a decent amount, but of those, how many have also played every single Splinter Cell game to the point where they can just dive into these books? That's such a small number.
To make these books appeal to a broader base they should have been written so that you could have never played one of these games and still be able to pick them up and get a coherent, full story out of them, with continuity between books. That didn't happen in this series. They just published a new one whenever a new game came out in the series, resulting in the jumbled, fragmented mess that is the Splinter Cell book series.
I must say that this one was a huge step down for the series as well. The first probably 150 pages was just a seemingly pointless cat-and-mouse chase where other Splinter Cell agents have found Fisher overseas and are trying to capture or kill him. The book doesn't even make any sense, as the author explains nothing about why any of the events are happening, until probably past the halfway point of the entire book. And by then, you simply don't care anymore.
The writing is also just BAD. There are probably a hundred pages or more at the beginning of this book with just the most bland, by-the-numbers telling of every single thing Fisher is doing, and it's just completely mind-numbing filler. Entire pages with crap like this. I made this up but it's really written like this:
"Fisher walked down the corridor. At the end he saw a door. He walked up to it and opened it. He ended up in another corridor with a door on the right and left at the midway point. He walked up to the left door and opened it. Another corridor lay beyond. He stepped through and walked forward until he saw a ladder. He grabbed the first rung and started to climb..."
For like 100 pages straight. It was insufferably bad writing. Just totally mindless. In the second half the writing improves and there's some minor action, but honestly, the story here is very dumb, and this almost read like it was part of an author's juvenilia. Just very rough, amateurish writing. Like, there's a bestselling author character in here who is also running a massive robbery ring and is a secret underworld figure. That's so terrible and bush league I don't even have words. It's almost comedic it's so unrealistic and childish.
Anyway, don't read this one. It's bad. And what's worse, the next book in the series, which is way longer than this one and almost 500 pages, is just this same story but told from the perspective of the agents chasing Sam, while Conviction was from Sam's point of view. I already own a copy of it, but at this point I'm thinking of donating it, and also thinking it may be time to take a break, perhaps a permanent one, from this series entirely.
UPDATE: After thinking it over last night and this morning, I decided I'm going to skip Endgame, as this was not a good story and I can't suffer reading it again for 500 more pages in that book, just told through a different perspective. Instead, I'm going to read the last Splinter Cell book I own, which will be the last book I read in the series and which is a new story, Splinter Cell: Blacklist Aftermath.
May 26, 2017
I've enjoyed all of the books in the Splinter Cell series, including this one.
This volume either was written a little differently, however, or tied deeper into the games than the other volumes because it feels like we pick up in the middle of the story. Apparently Sam has killed his boss, Lambert, and is on the run as a traitor with the rest of Third Echelon hunting him down. The murder itself, however, happens "off-camera."
Overall this has been a really good series, and if you enjoy spy novels that are deep but not so deep they become boring you should check this series out.
This volume either was written a little differently, however, or tied deeper into the games than the other volumes because it feels like we pick up in the middle of the story. Apparently Sam has killed his boss, Lambert, and is on the run as a traitor with the rest of Third Echelon hunting him down. The murder itself, however, happens "off-camera."
Overall this has been a really good series, and if you enjoy spy novels that are deep but not so deep they become boring you should check this series out.
August 28, 2022
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction By David Michaels, is a video game tie-in novel based Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell video game franchise.
Set two years before the main story of Splinter Cell: Conviction. The story covers some of Sam Fisher’s time on the run between Double Agent and Conviction.
After saving America from the JSA terror group. The famous Splinter Cell Agent Sam Fisher is now considered a rouge agent by his own government. Living a life on the run Sam Fisher is now in the mercenary game and is doing dirty work all the while secretly working with his long time friend NSA agent Anna Grímsdóttir. To uncover rouge elements within Third Echelon. Meanwhile he is being ruthlessly hunted by a new team of Third Echelon Sprinter cell agents who have been tasked to eliminate him. All the while trying to untangle a conspiracy involving the a high-ranking Third Echelon official and cache stolen high tech weapons.
Conviction is a book based on a video game, the fact it carries the Tom Clancy name helps but doesn't give it a free pass. The book itself it well written if a bit cliche and predictable. But this book was created for entertainment, not to teach or impart knowledge, it is totally a guilty pleasure. And there is nothing wrong with that in the least. It feels a bit more fast paced than the previous Splinter Cell books and you must suspends a good deal of disbelief in order to enjoy it. But if you can do that what you get is a good read.
This is a Same Fisher you will recognize but he has changed and you can see it in the little bit of character development present in the book. The story is a bit far fetched but its easy enough to suspend reality and just enjoy. If you are a Splinter Cell fan already its worth picking up, if you are on the fence, or just a fan of military non fiction its worth a look through. If you've read any of the previous novels and enjoyed them you won't be disappointed with this iteration.
Set two years before the main story of Splinter Cell: Conviction. The story covers some of Sam Fisher’s time on the run between Double Agent and Conviction.
After saving America from the JSA terror group. The famous Splinter Cell Agent Sam Fisher is now considered a rouge agent by his own government. Living a life on the run Sam Fisher is now in the mercenary game and is doing dirty work all the while secretly working with his long time friend NSA agent Anna Grímsdóttir. To uncover rouge elements within Third Echelon. Meanwhile he is being ruthlessly hunted by a new team of Third Echelon Sprinter cell agents who have been tasked to eliminate him. All the while trying to untangle a conspiracy involving the a high-ranking Third Echelon official and cache stolen high tech weapons.
Conviction is a book based on a video game, the fact it carries the Tom Clancy name helps but doesn't give it a free pass. The book itself it well written if a bit cliche and predictable. But this book was created for entertainment, not to teach or impart knowledge, it is totally a guilty pleasure. And there is nothing wrong with that in the least. It feels a bit more fast paced than the previous Splinter Cell books and you must suspends a good deal of disbelief in order to enjoy it. But if you can do that what you get is a good read.
This is a Same Fisher you will recognize but he has changed and you can see it in the little bit of character development present in the book. The story is a bit far fetched but its easy enough to suspend reality and just enjoy. If you are a Splinter Cell fan already its worth picking up, if you are on the fence, or just a fan of military non fiction its worth a look through. If you've read any of the previous novels and enjoyed them you won't be disappointed with this iteration.
October 7, 2013
Sam Fisher is a splinter cell. One of the deadliest men in the world. He travels the world doing peoples dirty work for them. In this book Sam is mostly in France and Luxembourg. At the beginning of the book his friend in France makes him fake passports and fake credit cards that Sam had stole from men he has taken out.
While Sam is in Luxembourg there is third echelon training activities and they are hunting down Sam.
While Sam is in Luxembourg there is third echelon training activities and they are hunting down Sam.
August 23, 2018
The ending felt a bit anticlimactic, but this was largely an intense page turner. Maintaining my comparison of Splinter Cell novels with Rainbow Six, this was better in terms of plot, subplot, villains, and characters. This felt more like a spy novel than it's predecessor given the circumstances surrounding Fisher at this point in time.
March 10, 2011
I love this book. This book is so cool. It is so full of action and suspense. I love how Colonel Irving Lambert tells Sam Fisher that his daughter Sarah is dead. But, what Sam doesn’t know is that Lambert is a person working undercover for the Russian government. Also, Lambert tells Sarah that Sam is dead so now they are both looking for each other. When Sam finds out that Sarah is alive and Lambert was lying to him he went after Lambert and tried looking for her even harder.
The characters in this book are very good. Sam fisher is a Third Echelon Assassin known as the “Splinter Cell.” Third Echelon is a group that is the second Black Ops but is better. He is probably the deadliest man in the world. Some say he is the reason the U.S. is pulled together as a country.
Irving Lambert- The Third Echelon Coordinator. He is the source between field agents, computer analysts, and hackers. He is an undercover Russian trying to kill Sam Fisher. He has been working with Sam for 19 years and never got a chance to kill him.
Vernon Wilkes Jr.- Field runner. He is in charge of coordinating transportation and equipment for all of the field agents. He is working for Lambert, but is not aware that Lambert is working undercover.
Anna Grimsdottir- Anna is the communications lead. She is the lead of a small team that is in charge of technological data to help the field operative.
I love the way Tom Clancy writes books. Almost all of his books are full of action and suspense. He is the author of the Splinter Cell series, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six series, and many more. He is so good at writing books. He is the kind of author that is a future type of guy. He likes to write books about types of FBI type things in the future. The style of Tom Clancy is so creative. The way he can come up with names that might be used in the future for the FBI like Third Echelon.
The characters in this book are very good. Sam fisher is a Third Echelon Assassin known as the “Splinter Cell.” Third Echelon is a group that is the second Black Ops but is better. He is probably the deadliest man in the world. Some say he is the reason the U.S. is pulled together as a country.
Irving Lambert- The Third Echelon Coordinator. He is the source between field agents, computer analysts, and hackers. He is an undercover Russian trying to kill Sam Fisher. He has been working with Sam for 19 years and never got a chance to kill him.
Vernon Wilkes Jr.- Field runner. He is in charge of coordinating transportation and equipment for all of the field agents. He is working for Lambert, but is not aware that Lambert is working undercover.
Anna Grimsdottir- Anna is the communications lead. She is the lead of a small team that is in charge of technological data to help the field operative.
I love the way Tom Clancy writes books. Almost all of his books are full of action and suspense. He is the author of the Splinter Cell series, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six series, and many more. He is so good at writing books. He is the kind of author that is a future type of guy. He likes to write books about types of FBI type things in the future. The style of Tom Clancy is so creative. The way he can come up with names that might be used in the future for the FBI like Third Echelon.
January 26, 2010
The book is about third ex-third elecheon Sam fisher is hunted down for killing his freind lambert. now the worlds hero becomes a public enemy. relying on only his wits, and his only third elecheon friend Grimsdottir gives him his weapons without anybody knowing. then when a terrorist threat occurs, he has to team up with therookies that were sent to kill him are know on his team. then one of the rookies betray the whole team and tries to kill them. then sam saves all of them plus he survives.
i can connect this book to the game Batman Arkham asylum. because batman can takedown enemies in the game without others knowing and that is basically what splinter cell is.
i would give this book 5 stars because its outstanding. itwas mind blowing and it was action packed to the very end. i would want people who like books like this book read the whole series.
i can connect this book to the game Batman Arkham asylum. because batman can takedown enemies in the game without others knowing and that is basically what splinter cell is.
i would give this book 5 stars because its outstanding. itwas mind blowing and it was action packed to the very end. i would want people who like books like this book read the whole series.
July 16, 2020
This book turn the series around, and just in time I was about done with the series. What made this book better was the spy element added into this story plus the plot was laid out in a suspenseful manner. It is too bad that now the whole family plot line of the series that used to give Sam a more human element is guy one. Now it's just gadgets, bad guys, and action.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2009
This was a great book! It was action packed and kept me on the edge of my seat. I can guaruntee if you are a Splinter Cell fan, this will blow your mind. I could'nt stop reading; David Michaels has done it again.
Read
December 17, 2009Sam Fisher is an ex black-ops agent being prosude by his own government for unknown reasons. The Presedent was even in the dark of his missions but now he hs to find out who and why he was set up and still stay alive at the same time.
June 6, 2025
it's a good fun book! definitely a page turner!
I was playing through the game for like the 10th time at the same time as reading this and the novel is completely different and fresh and does fill in some of the blanks that take place between Double Agent and Conviction!
Sam here feels like he does in the games and that's awesome, same as Grim.
I liked the on the run aspect here it was cool and going all around Europe while trying to escape from Third Echelon was a nice little ride!
something I did not fully get along with unfortunately is the level of detail with directions and describing terrain here, I know that's a very strange thing to sort of complain about but there were multiple times here where I was confused about where Sam actually was, what street or place he is driving to or where he is actually turning or what he is seeing. This might almost definitely be my fault but some of the slang used for terrain and such sort of confused me sometimes :(
other than that though I just think it was a fun time and I enjoyed playing through the game again and reading this for the first time! I would say this and the game are about on the level and I would give both of them a 7/10 I would say :)
thanks for reading! :)
I was playing through the game for like the 10th time at the same time as reading this and the novel is completely different and fresh and does fill in some of the blanks that take place between Double Agent and Conviction!
Sam here feels like he does in the games and that's awesome, same as Grim.
I liked the on the run aspect here it was cool and going all around Europe while trying to escape from Third Echelon was a nice little ride!
something I did not fully get along with unfortunately is the level of detail with directions and describing terrain here, I know that's a very strange thing to sort of complain about but there were multiple times here where I was confused about where Sam actually was, what street or place he is driving to or where he is actually turning or what he is seeing. This might almost definitely be my fault but some of the slang used for terrain and such sort of confused me sometimes :(
other than that though I just think it was a fun time and I enjoyed playing through the game again and reading this for the first time! I would say this and the game are about on the level and I would give both of them a 7/10 I would say :)
thanks for reading! :)
February 8, 2024
I'm so lost in this one, It's hard to get invested in the plot because all you really know is that Fisher is being chased because of the fallout from the events of Double Agent. Beyond that I have no idea what his goals are, who all the people he's talking to are, what's going on beyond that.
And so much of the story so far is just describing Sam driving...he turned left onto this street and drove some more on this other street while other cars were driving and different cars were chasing him...it's so dry an uninteresting. In real life I cannot focus on driving stories, if you're telling me a story about driving I hear a high pitch hum until you finish telling me about driving, a lot of this book has been a high pitch hum.
On the plus side I think they got the character right. On the negative side Fisher is the only interesting character in the whole book. There's never really a bonafide antagonist and any villain is barely in the story at all. This story structure works a lot better as a video game than a book.
Maybe I'm not a fan of the genre as much as I am a fan of the games.
And so much of the story so far is just describing Sam driving...he turned left onto this street and drove some more on this other street while other cars were driving and different cars were chasing him...it's so dry an uninteresting. In real life I cannot focus on driving stories, if you're telling me a story about driving I hear a high pitch hum until you finish telling me about driving, a lot of this book has been a high pitch hum.
On the plus side I think they got the character right. On the negative side Fisher is the only interesting character in the whole book. There's never really a bonafide antagonist and any villain is barely in the story at all. This story structure works a lot better as a video game than a book.
Maybe I'm not a fan of the genre as much as I am a fan of the games.
November 11, 2017
I picked this up a good 5+ years ago but never finished it. Despite just *adoring* the splinter cell series of pc games I found this unreadable. I "finished" the book today, the product of skim reading a few pages at a time while in between rounds of online shooters.
In a recent piece at "The Week," Matthew Walther describes the Dan Brown style of writing as something akin to that of a bad tour book & wikipedia entries. Unfortunately this "novel" falls under the same category. The scenes are either paint by number sight-seeing or boring action pieces with an even more boring "wiki" type description of various bits of gear, equipment, food, or location. Even worse, the titular character is a barely human automaton. Perhaps it is hard to translate the character voiced by Michael Ironsides' distinctive growl to a work of fiction but that's a sorry excuse for the general unreadable mess this pile of pages is.
In a recent piece at "The Week," Matthew Walther describes the Dan Brown style of writing as something akin to that of a bad tour book & wikipedia entries. Unfortunately this "novel" falls under the same category. The scenes are either paint by number sight-seeing or boring action pieces with an even more boring "wiki" type description of various bits of gear, equipment, food, or location. Even worse, the titular character is a barely human automaton. Perhaps it is hard to translate the character voiced by Michael Ironsides' distinctive growl to a work of fiction but that's a sorry excuse for the general unreadable mess this pile of pages is.
October 23, 2019
Splinter Cell: Conviction is a book based on a game. It is also the fifth (I think) book in this series. Author David Michaels has written a story of non-stop action!
Aside from the action, this book has some great locations, from Luxembourg to Siberia, with some decent descriptions. There are also some twists and turns that should keep you guessing a little bit.
On the negative side, the character did not get as much description as the scenery. Perhaps this is because I have not read the previous stories, or played the game. Another small peave, the book does not go into why the main character is on the run from his own people. Note: Sam Fisher is apparently one of the top government/spy killers in the world. You will be introduced to plenty of soon to be dead characters thanks to Sam, but he is a good guy!
If you enjoy a super-fast action thriller (I do) this is a great read. Just don't expect much else!
Aside from the action, this book has some great locations, from Luxembourg to Siberia, with some decent descriptions. There are also some twists and turns that should keep you guessing a little bit.
On the negative side, the character did not get as much description as the scenery. Perhaps this is because I have not read the previous stories, or played the game. Another small peave, the book does not go into why the main character is on the run from his own people. Note: Sam Fisher is apparently one of the top government/spy killers in the world. You will be introduced to plenty of soon to be dead characters thanks to Sam, but he is a good guy!
If you enjoy a super-fast action thriller (I do) this is a great read. Just don't expect much else!
August 22, 2021
Being the first Splinter Cell book to share a name with one of the games, you may expect this to be a novelization. It isn’t, and it’s better for it.
Conviction is an alternative sequel to Double Agent, and begins with Sam on the run from Third Echelon, just as he is in the game. But the novel’s relation to the game is only as deep as some minor thematic parallels. The cover is misleading; despite the presence of the game’s Washington DC architecture, Fisher never leaves Europe in this one.
This is likely the best book in the series; the focus on the sneaky, methodical bits of being on the run makes it a better read than the generic military tales of the previous books.
Conviction is an alternative sequel to Double Agent, and begins with Sam on the run from Third Echelon, just as he is in the game. But the novel’s relation to the game is only as deep as some minor thematic parallels. The cover is misleading; despite the presence of the game’s Washington DC architecture, Fisher never leaves Europe in this one.
This is likely the best book in the series; the focus on the sneaky, methodical bits of being on the run makes it a better read than the generic military tales of the previous books.
October 15, 2023
High 3 for now. I'm still not sold by the main narrative itself, though I might reconsider given that Endgame seems to be a companion novel to this. The narrative choice is also questionable to me, but it's still okay. The action is there, albeit of the ubermensch / superman variety so again not my cup of tea.
April 17, 2020
Fun story, continuing from Sam's perspective. Endgame is a neat write told from the chasing team's perspective. I enjoyed both; they're not particularly brain-challenging, but was cool hearing about the backstory of Gottweiler and Horatio. Thanks David Michaels.
July 28, 2025
La ricordo come una storia mediocre, un pò trascinata ma, tutto sommato, piacevole.
Si può leggere come standalone, ma non aiuta estrapolarla dalla saga.
Classico volume di azione/spionaggio, banale ma giustamente dettagliato.
Si può leggere come standalone, ma non aiuta estrapolarla dalla saga.
Classico volume di azione/spionaggio, banale ma giustamente dettagliato.
June 6, 2020
great read
April 28, 2022
Enjoyed reading "Splinter Cell." Lots of action and great mental imagery. Really enjoyable.
May 12, 2025
Not for me
The story seemed to drag on forever. Mistakes were many I'm sure Tom Clancy would be rolling over and over in his grave.
The story seemed to drag on forever. Mistakes were many I'm sure Tom Clancy would be rolling over and over in his grave.
January 24, 2015
I found this book to be fairly mediocre. This is really a "guilty pleasure" sort of novel, but not all of those are all that bad. At least, not as bad as this one. It definitely makes the reasonable assumption that the reader has played the Splinter Cell games, and I would have been much less confused if I had. Because of this assumption, much of what happened prior to the novel is unexplained, and that includes why the main character has been declared a traitor and is being hunted by his own agency. Again, that was covered in the games, but that still seems like important information. Most of the book is a dull mess, with the protagonist, Sam Fisher, going all over Europe in search of... something? It is unclear what information he wants until a good deal through the novel,when he hd it. It does improve a lot towards the end, once Fisher gets a team and a clear objective,but it really is too little,too late. Another problem is the characters. While some of the team hunting him are interesting, Fisher is a generic grizzled American badass with no real backstory, life, or character depth. The villain also is a disappointment, with almost no dialogue, a ridiculous list of accomplishments and occupations, and a motive that just falls flat. Splinter Cell books have many dull villains, but the Islamic terrorist with North Korean backing from Fallout was better than this. To conclude, if you want to kill time in the airport with a video game adaptation, you're better off with Halo or Ghost Recon.
February 7, 2012
Being a gamer myself, reading this book was just as a thrill as playing it. The plot was relatively similar to each version but i felt there could be more poetic phrases that could be added in the novel. Yes this is a book based off of a game and maybe it was the author's choice to right it like this, but I wanted the book to feel different. I wanted it too feel more like real life than a video game. Also parts almost seemed technical and boring. (feeling like I'm reading a video game play-through a bit) That could just be me though.
But at the end of the day, I absolutely love the book. It was filled with action, suspense, and even plot twists that have just as powerful of an effect as other books I read. Not having played the game in over a year, the memories of Sam, Grim, and Sarah all flood back. It was a nice experience rediscovering these characters through words. The interaction between characters were always full of suspense even if they were friendly towards each other.
So yeah. Tom Clancy fans should defiantly read this! People interested in stealthy spy type books or reads should defiantly take a look at this. Some gamers regardless of experience in this specific game should take a look also.
But at the end of the day, I absolutely love the book. It was filled with action, suspense, and even plot twists that have just as powerful of an effect as other books I read. Not having played the game in over a year, the memories of Sam, Grim, and Sarah all flood back. It was a nice experience rediscovering these characters through words. The interaction between characters were always full of suspense even if they were friendly towards each other.
So yeah. Tom Clancy fans should defiantly read this! People interested in stealthy spy type books or reads should defiantly take a look at this. Some gamers regardless of experience in this specific game should take a look also.
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September 28, 2010to start off once you see that david michaels wrote this book it means that you are in for some "on-the-edge-of-your-seat action and suspense". the biggest problem with writting a book that was made into a ideo game is the fact that you cant use the storyline from the game itself, becvause itll spoil what happens in the game for the people who have not played it yet. another reason is that if you follow the stroyline of the video game itself then you will lose the intrest of the people who have already played the game...and they will end up knowing whats going to happen next in the book, which defeats the whole point of reading it. overall, david michaels did a very good job for creating a completely new storyline. and im not at all suprised that he did since the book ghost recon(based on the video game also) came out really good. all i have to say is that if youre the kind of person that likes action and suspense novels you will be srewing yourself if you dont read this book.....................I mean it you will.
January 3, 2011
I imagine it didn't help that this book is actually part of a series -- the tail end of a multi-book series. I was able to follow it OK despite that, but I wouldn't recommend reading this book first. Clancy fans will probably enjoy it. Personally, I thought it read like a video game. Souped-up hero (Sam Fisher)goes on assignment, picks up needed equipment, avoids various bad guys and the members of the Third Echelon (his former teammates essentially), he completes his mission with the help of a Spliter Cell member/manager who knows of his innocence (well, his motives) involving a murder. Then, on to the next assignment. All the while, Fisher is trying to piece together the clues for an overall conspiracy. The plot is rather thin, but the equipment detail is interesting and there are a couple of laugh out loud moments. Still, it wasn't my cup of tea.
September 10, 2010
The plot was even more convoluted than usual. I like Tom Clancy's books because after a couple you feel like you know most of the characters. This book had too many new or temporary characters and (it's a man thing) using last names makes it hard to keep them straight. Thank goodness for Fisher & Grim!
The next book in the series brought out the significance of the characters introduced in this book. Must continue to the very end of this series. Wish it could go on longer.
The next book in the series brought out the significance of the characters introduced in this book. Must continue to the very end of this series. Wish it could go on longer.
July 31, 2011
A great read although it can be boring at times. Most of the time it is fast paced and the story is fantastic. From what I've heard Operation Barracuda is the best of the books. I plan on reading it next. This book is great, I can't believe all the novels are based on a simple video game. Tom Clancy did NOT write this book. David Michaels does all of the video game and idea adaptions for Tom CLancy.
February 19, 2016
Splinter Cell: Conviction, authored by David Michaels, is NOT a read for those who prefer that each story they read be of the "stand-alone" style, even when part of a larger series of books about the same character. It was difficult to gain much of an appreciation for the main character, Sam Fisher, in this novel. The style of writing would have benefited from more background information about Sam Fisher, as well as the agency from which he is made to appear as a rogue.
May 15, 2012
I gave this book 5 stars because it had a lot of action and shooting. The moment i picked this book up i loved it i have played one of his games so i kind of expected it to be good but the book was really good too. It has alot of spy gagets in it and i kind of know about them so i understood it better. I also liked it because it keept me into it until the end.
January 27, 2013
This is actually the "prequel" to the game in my opinion. I read this before the game I played the game and it made it that much more of an experience. Sam on the run, the crosshairs on him at every turn. It never got old. This series never proves to fail. if you get a chance read the sequel to this one 'Splinter Cell: Checkmate' to see the otherside, the people chasing Fisher.
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