'Legendary agent Sam Fischer teams up with a new NSA recruit – his own daughter – to save the world in this gripping new thriller from the renowned Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® videogame universe.
'Veteran Fourth Echelon agent Sam Fisher has a new mission recruiting and training the next generation of Splinter Cell operatives for the NSA’s covert action division, including his own daughter Sarah. But when a lethal assassin from Fisher’s past returns from the dead on a mission of murder, father and daughter are thrust into a race against time as a sinister threat to global security is revealed.
'A dangerous cyberwarfare technology known as Gordian Sword – capable of crashing airliners, destroying computer networks and plunging entire cities into darkness – is being auctioned off to whichever rogue state makes the highest bid. Sam and Sarah must call on their very singular set of skills to neutralise Gordian Sword and stop the weapon falling into the wrong hands – at any cost...'
Splinter Cell has been a franchise for as long back as I can remember, a staple of stealth action gaming that has become an iconic part of gaming. I remember the first time I played the original game, stepping into the shoes of Sam Fisher and his glowing green goggles to sneak my way through enemy strongholds. Taking a more realistic approach than other big name stealth espionage games (no giant robots here), Splinter Cell would force players to take their time, peek into rooms with cameras, disable alarm systems, and avoid combat at all costs. With that in mind, I was left wondering if this kind of experience could translate into a novel.
Splinter Cell: Firewall is my first time reading a Splinter Cell book, and as such I wasn't sure what to expect. Spending hours sneaking through enemy filled complexes can be fun from a game-play point of view, but would it be enjoyable to read? Well, it became pretty clear fairly quickly for me when I started reading the book that this is less of the steal sneaking experience I'd come to expect from the game, and more of an action espionage story that you'd find on the big screen. In short, it was a pretty damn exciting ride.
The story begins with three trainees being tasked wit finding and neutralising a target in an abandoned building in Germany. Drawn from different backgrounds, their identities hidden behind code-names, the three are being tested by a shadowy government organisation to see if they have what it takes to join them. Whilst two of the candidates are taken down by their target, their field evaluator Sam Fisher, the third manages to impress him enough to get a passing grade. This is where Sam gets his first big shock of the book, when he finds out he's just given a passing grade to his daughter, Sarah.
Whilst Sam is still dealing with the fact that he's given the green light for his own daughter to become a field agent (one of the last things he wanted), he and the rest of his team get sent on an important mission as a new threat has emerged on the global stage. A tech giant has been secretly developing a digital super weapon decades beyond anything else in existence; one that could change the face of the world. Not only that, but a deadly Russian assassin from Sam's past has returned. Now Sam has to face a ghost from his past, a deadly new threat to global security, and his own feelings around Sarah being out in the field.
Splinter Cell: Firewall was not the book that I was expecting. Instead of playing out like the slow, methodical games it read more like a big screen adventure, more in line with movies like the Mission Impossible series. Sam isn't alone in this adventure, he has a team with him, they get to travel the world, infiltrate multiple locations, get into shootout and chases, and there's a big global threat to deal with. It doesn't feel like James Swallow is trying to translate the games into a book, but to just tell a decent story within this universe; which is absolutely the best approach.
The book never once feels like it needs you to have played any of the games that have come before, even when dealing with returning characters or referencing things from the game. Swallow manages to make it all feel incredibly accessible, giving you the right amount of background when needed so that you understand character motivations and their pasts but not overwhelming you with stuff. Whilst I have played a few of the games I'm by no means an expert in the lore of this universe, but I never felt like I was missing out on anything, and there was never a moment where I felt the need to go and look anything up online to find out what I was missing.
Not only does Swallow do a great job at making the book accessible for new readers, but he manages to introduce some great new lore throughout the book too; and it was only after finishing and looking into it was I able to discover what was new to this book and what was from the games as he does that good a job. One of the best new additions to the Splinter Cell mythos is Aslanov, the Russian killer from Sam's past who has returned from the dead. Aslanov is an almost perfect villain for someone like Sam Fisher. Their pasts are tied together, they come from opposite sides, have similar skill sets, yet are so morally opposed. Sam fights to preserve life, and will kill is he really has to but doesn't take any pleasure in it, whilst Aslanov likes to get up close and personal, to kill people in the worst ways possible. He's one of those characters who you can actually call evil and it to apply to; and it makes his scenes in this book delightful to read.
It's not just the action and world travel that gets a focus in Splinter Cell: Firewall, however, as Sam and Sarah also get a decent amount of focus, especially in regards to their relationship and Sarah's decision to become a field agent. Sam is, as one would expect, a protective father, and he absolutely hates the idea of Sarah being put into dangerous situations. Of course, he's being a bit of a hypocrite as these are the exact kind of things he does on a regular basis. This brings the two of them into some conflict, and it makes for some of the more interesting moments in the book. These moments even made me kind of hate Sam at times too, especially when he'd go behind Sarah's back to try and get her off the team, treating her like a child instead of the competent adult she is. Its a side to the character I'd not seen before, and something that I'd love to see more of in the future.
This being my first forray into the Splinter Cell books, it was a really enjoyable read, one that brought back some fond memories of the game and made me want to go back and play some of them again. But even if you've not got any experience in this franchise, or even gaming in general, there's a lot to like here.
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