All the elements you have come to know in Tom Clancy's novels --- big conspiracy, spies, and lots of technical detail --- are back in RAINBOW SIX. This time the enemy conspirator is a lot closer to home.
The protagonist in RAINBOW SIX is John Clark, Clancy's favorite spook, whom we already know from WITHOUT REMORSE, DEBT OF HONOR and EXECUTIVE ORDERS. In this latest adventure, Clark is the head of a newly-formed multinational anti-terrorist group called Rainbow. He teams up again with Domingo "Ding" Chavez, his trusty sidekick from DEBT OF HONOR and EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
Forgoing his typical story backdrops --- the Cold War and international espionage --- Clancy instead employs the preeminent fear of the 90's --- the threat of a biological catastrophe. Terrorist activity is linked to a plan launched by the founder of Horizon Corporation, a large bio-medical company that takes its research into communicable diseases a little too far and decides to play God with humanity as we know it. If John Clark is not successful in deterring this outbreak, the resulting pandemic will exterminate most of mankind.
Clark and Chavez run to the rescue of banks, financiers, and theme parks being held hostage by terrorists. What is the common thread connecting these events? As usual Clancy feeds the reader a stream of seemingly unrelated tidbitsand then weaves these tidbits together later in the novel causing us to gasp "AH-HA" and flip the page, eager for the new plot twist. All the while we implore the heroes to see that to which we already have been given insight. It is like being at the movies and yelling at the screen warning the hero to "Watch out!"
As one would expect from Tom Clancy, the technical information about the inner workings of all the events is top notch. In the same way that Clancy turned his readers into amateur submariners (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER), he now now makes us privvy to the inner workings of a hostage rescue team. Everything from explosives to sniper rifles to high tech surveillance gear is now made as familiar to the reader as the chair he is sitting on. Clancy's attention to technical detail makes this story believable and allows the message to hit home.
This story is Clancy at his best --- as one TBR reader said, there is only one Tom. You will be surprised by the plot twist at the end. I closed the book shaking my head at the resolution as it was not what I expected.
--- Reviewed by Pat O'Toole
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