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A review by snowcrash
Red Cell by Mark E. Henshaw
4.0
I found _Red Cell_ very good, especially for a first novel. The author is a former CIA analyst and brings his background with the real Red Cell for the fictionalized version here.
As someone who likes the old Larry Bond and Tom Clancy techno-thrillers, _Red Cell_ harkens back to those days. On the ground tradecraft along with fighters in the air, plus political maneuvering, its all there. Here it felt a bit more like Larry Bond. The core characters are interesting and have sufficient depth. The minor players all play up a particular personality trait to the hilt.
I have two faults for the plot and details, plus a minor quibble. If China went hot and invaded the Kinmen islands, the world economy would notice. Here, that aspect isn't brought up. The focus is on what the US and China will do militarily and diplomatically, but economic repercussions drive both. Also, don't attempt to explain computer technical things. It doesn't work. Partly because it comes out crude to those who design them and partly it dates the book quickly. Macs & Cocoa frameworks do not mix well with Linux applications! (The whole vi vs. emacs spat was annoying). My quibble is with the F-35 load out. AMRAAMs at close range wouldn't work very well.
But that aside, I like it. I will look for the next three books in the series. I think it'll be fun to read more tradecraft and analysis written by someone who was on the inside. It gives us civilians a small overview of what the intelligence community does for us (i.e. their daily successes are never known and their single blunder is the end of the world).
As someone who likes the old Larry Bond and Tom Clancy techno-thrillers, _Red Cell_ harkens back to those days. On the ground tradecraft along with fighters in the air, plus political maneuvering, its all there. Here it felt a bit more like Larry Bond. The core characters are interesting and have sufficient depth. The minor players all play up a particular personality trait to the hilt.
I have two faults for the plot and details, plus a minor quibble. If China went hot and invaded the Kinmen islands, the world economy would notice. Here, that aspect isn't brought up. The focus is on what the US and China will do militarily and diplomatically, but economic repercussions drive both. Also, don't attempt to explain computer technical things. It doesn't work. Partly because it comes out crude to those who design them and partly it dates the book quickly. Macs & Cocoa frameworks do not mix well with Linux applications! (The whole vi vs. emacs spat was annoying). My quibble is with the F-35 load out. AMRAAMs at close range wouldn't work very well.
But that aside, I like it. I will look for the next three books in the series. I think it'll be fun to read more tradecraft and analysis written by someone who was on the inside. It gives us civilians a small overview of what the intelligence community does for us (i.e. their daily successes are never known and their single blunder is the end of the world).