James Swallow brings back the legendary spy and assassin Sam Fisher with every bit of charisma and awesomeness of the Splinter Cell video games and books. As a huge fan of both, I was enthralled beyond words to see such exquisite rendition of the clandestine world of Splinter Cell universe with cool gadgets, cinematic-smooth action, and an audacious plot of a villain reminiscent of Bond baddies with a new take on weapon of mass destruction.
Set two years after the events of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Sam Fisher is training and evaluating the next potential group of Splinter Cell operatives when he finds his next trainee is none other than his daughter, Sarah Fisher. He has to put his reservations on hold when his supposedly dead nemesis is found working for an evil mastermind with a plan to plunge the whole world into panic and carnage using state of the art quantum computing to breach any firewalls in all sorts of essential infrastructure around the world. Sam Fisher must face his demons while guiding his daughter to embrace her own demons that come with the dangerous job of a Splinter Cell agent.
Splinter Cell games have some of the finest combat sequences and truly deserve just as fantastic action on paper. Luckily, James Swallow is well-versed in writing pulse-pounding action sequences and he brings his craft to Splinter Cell: Firewall with authentic and exquisitely creative shootouts and hand-to-hand combat with a multitude of fascinating gadgets and weapons from the games. Even James Bond would be jealous of Fisher’s toolbox.
The grand scope of the narrative is augmented by a personal stake for Sam Fisher to see this mission through. Even though Fisher has been around for a while, his foundation as a protagonist is explored and built upon even further to highlight his unique personality that makes him stand out between so many other action heroes. Avoiding cliche pitfalls, James Swallow writes emotionally satisfying moments between father and daughter in such an unorthodox situation. Sarah Fisher as a Splinter Cell trainee has a wonderfully developed character arc that aptly sets her up for future stories without taking away any focus from Sam Fisher. The deeply personal rivalry between Fisher and his nemesis adds a gritty edge to the story, resulting in a fulfilling and spectacular finale.
Splinter Cell: Firewall was one of my most awaited books for the upcoming year and even with such high expectations I was mesmerized with the stellar storytelling. It’s everything a top-notch action-packed novel should be.
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