This book was a struggle to finish. The overuse of technical jargon and overdetailing of weapon descriptions slowed the pace and pulled me out of the story. The pace was too slow for the genre.

Marc Cameron is a damned good writer in his own right but going into the Ryanverse you have to be a cut above and Cameron certainly is just that, This is a real barnburner of a book and is very difficult to put down. The president is planning on going to a meeting in Venezuela when he gets a call from his friend, the Panamanian President Botero asking for him to come to Panama to stave off undue Russian interference there. Ryan wants to help so over the objections of his staff, goes to Panama. The Campus operatives are on the scene as a group known as Camarilla plan to overthrow the government and since he is there, kill Jack Ryan. This is a fast moving plot and the action never stops, so grab your snacks and unplug the phone.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Ryan family are no strangers to danger and risky situations, but President Jack Ryan has a job to do. There’s some inherent risk when you lead a country – something President Bolero of Panama has faced, too. Bolero has faced assassination plots and knows he needs to regain the trust of his people to quell the opposition. When Bolero invites Ryan to join him for a photo opportunity in Panama before the upcoming summit of world leaders, Ryan is compelled to help his friend. Cathy, still nervous after her own kidnapping by the Camarilla, asks Jack not to go, but the value of this opportunity to both the US and Panama is too great. Once Ryan arrives in the country, the opposition plan to take out Bolero reaches a whole new level with the support of both the Camarilla and the Russian Navy. Will they succeed…or will Ryan escape the threat?

Tom Clancy Command and Control is Marc Cameron’s latest addition to the Ryanverse, and Cameron’s last behind the wheel of the Jack Ryan novels. This book is set during the Ryan presidency, decades after we first meet Jack’s family in London. Tackling big issues like guerilla groups, narcotrafficking, and international coups, this novel is relevant to the current political climate in the Americas. After the 2021 fiasco in the Suez Canal that blocked commerce and river traffic for weeks, it is easy to understand the plot’s secondary focus on the Panama Canal.

I give Command and Control 4 out of 5 stars. I am always a fan of Cameron’s work, but this book starts slow and it was difficult to stay focused. Where most of the Ryanverse novels and Cameron’s other works could be read as standalone books, this novel needs the backstory of previous books in the timeline to make sense of some of the details. Cameron includes great details of the Panamanian locations and his law enforcement and weapons knowledge bring depth to the story, but slows down the action in several scenes.

I would recommend this book to readers who love the Jack Ryan and Jack Ryan, Jr., series – Jack Jr.’s team makes an appearance here as well. I would also recommend this book to readers interested in Panama and the canal – this topic has been controversial for many years and the novel plays to that controversy well. With references to several methods of murder and military coups, this novel may be best directed to more mature audiences of the age of 13.

I have been reading through the Ryanverse for the past year and enjoy seeing the new books available on Netgalley for review! Marc Cameron is one of my favorite authors as well, so when he joined the Ryanverse, I was very excited. While I’m disappointed his time writing for Jack Ryan has come to an end, I am interested to see is next for Cameron with his other series. Tom Clancy Command and Control is a great finale to his time with the Ryans.

Command and Control will release on November 21st - preorder your copy today!

A classic Clancy novel. A definite page-turner that leaves you wanting for the next book in the series.

This is a story in the Jack Ryan universe that doesn’t focus much on Jack Ryan, but instead on the other people who work with him. You learn about ships in the Panama Canal and protective custody by the secret service. This was a really interesting book!

This is the first Jack Ryan book I've ever read. I thought it'd be like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series but it wasn't. There was a lot of weapon/technical jargon that I didn't think was necessary to the story and really slowed it down and I couldn't get into it. There'd be a part where they're packing up, ready to go on a mission, you just got the debrief of what's happening, and now you read whole paragraphs about what equipment each team member had, down to which knife/gun each person prefers.

As much as it pains me to say this, COMMAND AND CONTROL was a real disappointment.

Cameron's last Tom Clancy, RED WINTER, was one of the best Tom Clancy novels since... well, Tom Clancy, so I was really looking forward to this one. Sadly, however, this entry in the series was a long way below the standard Cameron set in RED WINTER.

Oddly paced with a frequently muddled narrative line and a remarkable amount of clunky prose, the book simply isn't up to the overall quality of either the series or Cameron's otherwise generally excellent work. It felt rushed, as if Cameron had been pressured to get it out to meet an unrealistic deadline and didn't have time to give it the attention it deserved.

The core premise of COMMAND AND CONTROL sounded better in the book's pitch than it turned out to be in novel form. It was simply too thin and lacked the nuances and subplots necessary to flesh out a full novel. The limited premise was a decent beginning, but the book needed far, far more than it provided to become a real Tom Clancy novel.

Reading the new Tom Clancy novel Command and Control, written beautifully bu Marc Cameron, was like being among old friends as they went about their business of defending the country. Two new Campus operatives were added to the team and it was interesting watching them react to their new duties. A coup in Panama puts the President's life at risk, so no holds are barred in this exciting new addition to the series.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.