Target Acquired by Don Bentley
What's It About?
It’s a big deal for an author to join the “Tom Clancy Universe” as one of the keepers of the legacy that Clancy left behind when he died in 2013.In Target Acquired (G.P. Putnam’s Sons), Don Bentley delivers in an action-packed debut as the author of books featuring Jack Ryan Jr., the son of none other than Jack Ryan, the CIA operative who reluctantly became president of the United States.
It all started with The Hunt for Red October, the 1984 submarine thriller that established Clancy as a major force in popular fiction and a wonder to military experts who kept asking, “How the heck does this guy know all this stuff?” Those in charge of the brand have carefully chosen the authors to write the novels in the expanding universe of Clancy characters, books and movie spin-offs.
Enter Bentley, a former Army Apache helicopter pilot, FBI agent and author of two top-tier entries in the genre, Without Sanction and The Outside Man. Bentley is at his best with witty inner dialogue and edge-of-your-seat action scenes that feel creative and authentic, and he brings those skills to Target Acquired while keeping Jack Ryan Jr. familiar to readers of earlier adventures.
Wait until you see what a courageous F-35 pilot has to do to try to prevent a rocket attack on Tel Aviv. The battles that unfold in the final chapters, and what happens to Jack, will leave you tired in a good way; the way you feel when you stay up too late reading instead of sleeping.
WHAT’S GOING DOWN NOW?
As the story opens, Jack is doing a favor for Ding Chavez, another name familiar to Clancy fans. It seems like an easy mission: Go to an open-air market in Israel to observe and help a CIA friend of Ding’s. Something else catches Jack’s attention when he assists a woman whose young son reminds him of an autistic friend he had as a child. Suddenly the woman becomes a target of assassins, and Jack strives to help, saving her twice in the early chapters.
From there, it’s a labyrinth of a journey through the undercurrents of Israeli and U.S. intelligence as Jack tries to unpack why this seemingly unassuming woman and her child are targets. There are lots of interesting questions the story must answer. What exactly has she discovered in her work? Why would terrorists hunt her? Which groups are after her and why? How much support will Jack get as he is forced to take solo risks to get the answers? Can he trust the hard-ass Israeli operatives who like it not at all when other intelligence services are operating off the books in their country?
One of Bentley’s challenges was to keep Matt Drake, the hero of his two other novels, distinct from Jack Ryan Jr. They’re both warriors with deeply felt patriotism and little patience for bureaucrats and politicians who don’t appreciate what they do. But Drake is more haunted and prone to second-guessing himself; he’s maybe more scarred and damaged.
A HEARTBEAT AWAY FROM HEROISM
Jack is a classic and familiar hero despite his lack of formal military service. He’s smart with Boy Scout values but impetuous in his role as an off-the-books operative for The Campus, a group familiar to Clancy readers. If he has a choice on whether to dive head-first into something or turn away, he only needs about a heartbeat to choose the most dangerous choice, no matter the odds. For Clancy followers, he might remind you more of John Clark, President Ryan’s long-time sidekick (and the recent star character of a Netflix movie), than Jack Ryan Sr. himself.
Some Clancy stalwarts such as Clark and Chavez make brief appearances. This tale, though, seems all about establishing Jack Ryan Jr. as an action hero without a lot of distraction, including some of the backstories about Washington political intrigue and related mischief that populate other Clancy books.
Still, Bentley plants some intriguing seeds that should make you look forward to what’s in store for young Jack in future stories. As good as Target Acquired is, I’ll bet that Jack’s next adventure will be even richer.
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