This is not your father's Tom Clancy novel. But it is.

It's not, in that we have brand-new characters here for the most part and they're dealing with a whole new set of circumstances. It's the same in that we have the same long expositions about details other authors would just skim. It's the same can't-put-it-down action that drives you to keep turning pages. And it has the same conservative political worldview that wraps up Clancy's commentary on contemporary US and world affairs in a military/espionage thriller.

The main character is complex and cool with motivations that are hinted at throughout the book until the big reveal at the end. Clancy also manages to elicit from the reader sympathy or affinity for some of the bad guys, who are among the most interesting characters in the book. I just wish more of the supporting cast of good guys got similar time on the stage before they shuffled off.

I don't know where Clancy intends to go with this book, whether it's a one-off or the beginning of a new series, although he hints at it in the end. But I hope he does more like this. It feels like the old Tom Clancy is back.