04/12/2021
Rovin’s lackluster eighth entry in the series created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik (after 2020’s God of War) pits the covert Black Wasp team headed by Adm. Chase Williams against an unimpressive cabal of villains. When a retired Navy captain working as a consultant for the Office of Naval Intelligence is murdered, his killers have a message for his wife to relay to her husband’s employers: “The war has begun.” A mysterious organization known as the Black Order has broken into the ONI’s security system, and Williams and his team set out to identify and neutralize its members. Burton Stroud, a former Army Ranger, emerges as the Black Order’s mastermind. Stroud is angry about the rise of the Occupy movement, antifa, illegal immigration, left-wing violence, and now the recent election of a new progressive president. The seven Black Order members are all proficient terrorists, and their attacks on civilians are bloody, but because of their small number, overly familiar right-wing goals, and clichéd motivations, they never come into focus as a credible threat. This one’s for series fans only. Agent, Mel Berger, WME. (June)
