Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Having enjoyed the Splinter Cell computer-game series, I looked forward to a similar experience in a book.

What a farce!

If this book had been marketed as a "young reader" novel, I would understand. But this thing is so painful to read that I just had to put myself out of my misery about ten pages in and throw it across the room!

I never kidded myself that Tom Clancy had anything to do with this masterpiece even before I picked it up, but the infantile manner with which this book was written made me feel cheap and dirty.

I ended up tossing this piece of trash in the garbage lest someone will catch me displaying it on my bookcase. How embarrasing.

Read it at your own peril.

'nough said.

Making a spy movie, show or game is definitely not easy. Books about spies, especially based on a popular franchise of sorts, are no esception either. This author, who also penned some 007 novels under other aliases, feels like he's doing the very job of an actual spy/assassin, being that its a hired gun position, nothing more. As a result, the attempt to set a consistent tone or invest time in fleshing out the popular character Sam Fisher never materializes due to the author never giving Sam a proper intro, always speaking about his back story and actions in first-person, then switching to a semi-intriguing and barely passable plot lines (something that could be better realized visually for sure in one of the games) in third-person.

Adding to the excessive yet uninvolving descriptions and you have a novel thats not even a decent time-killer. The author could've gone for simple suspense yet tries to introduce characters, some even from the games but by that point the reader's interest is null at best to even care, and overcomplicate describing it to the reader. We get that hes sneaking around, describe how without overdone paragraphs!

Truth be told, most fans of the game aren't going to be big readers and hardcore espionage readers will let it sit unread on their shelf eveb if they're fans of Tom Clancy's original best-sellers. This doesn't work as even a decent rental and the 2/5 star rating is for the few concepts briefly depicted in an otherwise unbearable read.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZikvWB48LCQ
Please people with the money, if you buy a new book, include a used one in your shopping cart. That will help the store enormously in their storage, and it can help you too. At some places the price can’t lower to lesser a penny. Take a used book for a 0.01$ anywhere.
It has many usage including, “Cash4Books.net”
Recycle it or Burn it for survival heat. Use two books as spacers to raise your monitor because it’s always better to view at eye leveled to the center of your screen. Even better, send it to donation, any library would take it, or the third world too.
Do not fear a book because it has no teeth!!
When you open your used book, wear gloves if you have to, then you’ll realize, “This book ain’t that bad after all.”
Good read and peace!!
- Ricky

American spy Sam Fisher tries to save parts of the world in David Michael's Splinter Cell.

Sam Fisher is part of the Third Echelon, a top secret spy agency. If he is caught, his existence will be denied by the U.S. government. His mission: well, we don't know yet. But whatever it is, he will be the right man for the job. He is brave, courageous, and very tough.

Sam is sent on a mission to track down the Shop, a big player on the black market. He has no leads whatsoever and starts from scratch. Along the way he runs into Namik Basaran, a terrorist expert. But Basaran is not who people think he is. Little does Sam know that they will come together in the end of this fast paced thriller. There are different chapters where you are in the head of the Shop's, Basaran and Sarah

While Sam is tracking the shop, Sarah, Sam's daughter, is going to Israel with her friend Rivka. She is going with her boyfriend Eli and Rivka's boyfriend Noel. She doesn't know yet, but she has been set up.

This is a great book for mystery fans. It will also appeal to older readers because the main character, Sam, is forty-seven years old. But older people may not like it because it contains many futuristic weapons that they might not like if they prefer more realistic books. The same reason means that it is not well suited for younger readers because it contains sex content in the chapters. But, overall, it is a good book for people eleven and up. For fast paced thriller fans, this is the book for you.

AMAZING!!!! The facts about this book are simple. It's amazing, its action packed, it's beautifully written. There is a man by the name of Sam Fisher who must stop an extremely unstable terrorist organization leader and find out who is supplying him with his amazingly powerful weapons. He must fight his hardest to achieve this. He is no average agent. He must physically enter his location stealthily and must exfiltrate the same way. This is all for the protection of our beautiful country (America). It doesnt matter the location. He will do the job. All for the red white and blue.
I loved this book. It was my most favorite book I've ever read. I loved the fact that at the end of a chapter that was all action it leaves you hanging and the next chapter was in a diferent location with people you never expected to be apart of something like this. I could read this book a millions times, over and over again

I really liked reading Splinter Cell. It was incredibly witty and it brought in a new character to the spy world: The computer. In this book, the computer took the stage and did all the work. As a character, it grew, adapted, failed and succeeded. It was a great read.

I usually despise books that are based on a movie or video game, as they rarely improve upon the original medium. I also find the Tom Clancy "executive produced" books to have excellent premises, but hit or miss implementations.

However, I am a big fan of the story in the video games, so I picked up this book for some light vacation reading. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the character development and background research. The first person perspective really enhances the introspective nature of Sam's character. The portrayal of the hardships of Sam's job provides welcome contrast to the overly glamorized James Bond type of spy that so often appears in similar novels. The book also provides a unique perspective on the middle east setting.

The typical elements are present to please the fans of the video game, and are sometimes quite lengthy, but I don't think they interfere with the progression of the plot. The book is a fast and easy read and I highly recommend it to any fan of the spy novel genre.

This, along with Operation Barracuda, are easily the best of the Splinter Cell novels. I'd give the slight edge to Barracuda but both are definitely worth your time if your a fan of Splinter Cell or Tom Clancy style stories in general. These books are written by Raymond Benson (David Michaels is a pseudonym) who wrote some surprisingly good James Bond novels and his writing style fits the Splinter Cell universe perfectly. The action is intense and the story moves along at great pace and (usually) doesn't get bogged down on inane details. It's a bit predictable at times but other than that there isn't much to complain about here. Highly recommended to any fan of Splinter Cell or spy thriller fans in general.

This novel is called Splinter Cell by Tom Clancy. "And then the dropof sweat falls and hits his square,crew-cut head." That was on page 10 when Sam Fisher is undercover in a different country. The problem in this novel is a terrorist organization is trying to take over Iran. What would you do to stop the terrorists?

Splinter Cell is a story of one mans will to fight to help the world. It is a novel of a stealth operations agent in a different country. How could one man take down an entire terrorist oganization?

Splinter Cell is the most action-packed book I have ever read! There is action on every page. Tom Clancy made new military weapons that are acually being test to this day! I highly recommend this novel!

In the United States, the NSA (National Security Agency)ushers forth the new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. The

top-secret initiative is known as Third Echelon.

To the US government, Third Echelon does not exist. When Third Echelon deploys a lonefeild operative they give him the right to spy, destroy, steal, and assassinate to protect American freedom. He is entirely deadly, sharp, and invisible.

His name is Sam Fisher.

He is a Splinter Cell.

I would highly recommend this book to many people my age or older. Splinter Cell was a very realistic and accurate book.

The characters and settings were amazing. I also liked the fact that it was written in first person. This book is exciting and action-packed. It was also a very hard book to put down. This is a great book!!

I really enjoy the splinter cell video games, there the only video games I do enjoy, and so I thought I'd go out and pick up a copy of this book. The book is pretty good but I think the author might have got Sam Fisher (the main character) confused with someone else, maybe Rambo or someone. Sam is in the business of stealth espionage; his job is to get in somewhere accomplish his primary objectives as quickly as possible and get out without being seen heard or noticed in anyway. In the video game stealth is an absolute; your not even suppose to kill anyone if it can be avoided. In the book Sam seems pretty lousy when in comes to not being noticed. He's caught snooping around in just about every mission he's sent on. Then in order to get out of the jam he has to go and make these enormous blazing James Bond like escapes drawing the attention of just about everyone in the vicinity, all the while triggering alarms kicking the (...) security gaurds and shooting the place up real good. In one mission when he's caught he has to dart right through the middle of a busy casino with bullets darting past him right and left. If he really were a spy for the NSA they would probably have to fire him after something like that. Oh well, other than that it was at least an entertaining book. Not very true to Sam's professional character though.

This is an impressive first offering from David Michaels in the "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell".

Writing a book off of a video game is always tricky, but Michales does a wonderful job of divulging into Sam Fisher as a person, which is something the games do very little of.

It was good to see Sarah involved heavily in the story line as she is often just a side note in the games. I feel her presence is important as she is what keeps Sam human. She is the only thing that can bring emotion out of Sam and I think thats important to the character.

Sams interactions with his Krav Maga instructor are also a very different side of things from the Sam we are used to.

This book does a great job of fleshing out the character as a person, aside from a bad ass black ops machine. For those who want to explore Sam as a person, and pass a few hours with an excellent book, this one I would highly reccomend.

This book begins on a positive note. There's action, some description of Sam fisher's cool gear, and a bit of a plot. But after a couple chapters it gets really bland. The author (not tom clancy) has a writing style that is pretty ordinary, with some weird perspectives thrown in. For example, the first person style takes a while to get used to, and seems confusing when the author cuts to different scenes (like the villains talking for example) that don't have a 1st person perspective.

There isn't a ton of cool action, just a lot of mediocre action. The writer's pace doesn't even change when he's describing it either, just keeps on plowing through the story. Even the sex content isn't exciting.

Overall I'd label this book a bland Clancy knock-off that is only worth reading if you are snowed in for days with nothing else to do.

Splinter Cell, written from the 2004 video game, tells a story of Sam Fisher and his involvement in the NSA's secret government initiative called Third Echelon. Sam is part of the most elite top secret sections in Third Echelon called Splinter Cell. This section is based on stealth combat, and killing only when necessary.

Fisher is assigned to investigate the death of a Splinter Cell agent in the Middle East caused from a notorious terror organization called "The Shadows". The same group was responsible for a series of terrorist attacks throughout Europe. When business becomes personal, Sam finds that completing his mission is harder than he thought.

Splinter Cell is a pretty good book and I found that it was fast paced, and an easy read. I give all the credit to David Michaels, aka Raymond Benson, for making a book based from a bestselling videogame, but you can tell that it isn't a Tom Clancy book. The writing seems unprofessional at times, and the use of first person seemed unfit. At times I did enjoy the first person view because it gave me and idea of what was in the mind of Sam Fisher. This is just nitpicking and it shouldn't change your mind to read the book. This said, I think that this action packed novel was good and held my interest all the way to the end.

I was very let down from my expectations. The story in this book is more like a narrative in a kid's video game than a Clancy novel.
On the up side there is some good killing going on, that always helps.
I would have liked for there to be more detail about what the Russians did with Sarah, mentioning pliers can conjure up images but some graphic descriptions would have been nice.
I read the entire book so it is not all that bad, just not what I expected.
I would recommend it for people aged 14 & up but the foul language is a negative for the younger readers.

This book is entertaining but there are some jarring flaws within. One that sticks out is when Sam Fisher meets with someone in the Middle East who is on the CIA payroll and he blatantly asks this contact out loud, "So how long have you been with the CIA?" or something along those lines. If Sam is the best that Third Echelon has to offer, it is hard to believe he would jeopardize this contact by audibly speaking these words even if they appear to be the only ones in the room. Were the editors sleeping through the review of this book?

There are also two or three plot points that are far too coincidental in order to advance the plot, but I won't divulge these here.

If you're looking for a nice adventure story, it is found here, but Sam Fisher's character is not constant throughout and he does not reflect the expert in tradecraft and espionage that I think he is supposed to be.

Finally, I don't understand the surprise and indignation that this book wasn't written by Tom Clancy. The cover clearly states, "Written by David Michaels." So if a reader buys this book thinking that Tom Clancy wrote it and only later learns that Tom Clancy did not write it, then the reader might want to forego reading altogether and take up another hobby.

After reading some of the reviews, I figured I need to add some justice here. I liked everything about the book. The last 30 pages were incredible! At the same time, I've been reading Dan Brown's novels. Let's take "Digital Fortress" and compare it with "Splinter Cell" - Obviously David Michaels' is far more mature writing and respects the reader. Granted, Dan Brown writes better in "Angels and Demons" than "Digital Fortress" and "Deception Point." But "DF" is about the NSA. It shows the NSA as a bunch of idiots who have no clue. Sam Fisher is a believable hero in Splinter Cell. I don't understand why one of the reviewers puts down Clancy's novels "Rainbow Six," "Red Storm Rising," "Without Remorse" and the other ones of the 1990s and 1980s. I don't understand what he said by the characters being stick figures. I conclude he has not read any of those block busters yet. I appreciate David Michaels' writing and was surprised to find a new (ahem) "Clancy" book that I enjoy. I welcome other Clancy-like writers, as long as they can make it as interesting as a Clancy epic. Micahaels demonstrates he has what it takes. I could not get into the Net Force series and wish to do so sometime. I'm not really into series books too much (except for the Jack Ryan ones).

The Splinter Cell series has been a great gaming experience; however, I can not say the same for the book. I was very excited when I found out there was a Splinter Cell book, but after I read it, I was disappointed. I expected a lot more from the book, but it was pretty boring. Some parts were interesting, but the story line was very predictable. If you are a fan of Sam Fisher, maybe this book is worth reading.

Pros: Gives you a little more insight on the life of Sam Fisher

Cons: Story is to predictable

Overall: If you are going to buy it, buy it used because you will probably never read it again.

I was not expecting much from this book, though with the quality of the Halo books, I was certainly hoping for an interesting read, based in the world of Sam Fisher.

What I got instead was a poorly adapted Bond-type character who acted nothing like Sam Fisher is presented in the games, running around in some sort of power fantasy in the modern-day Middle-East.

First of, I would like to note that the Splinter Cell games take place in an alternate reality from ours, as does everything else related to Clancy. In the Ryanverse, we did not invade Iraq, George W. Bush is not President, and most importantly, in the continuity of Splinter Cell, Sam's first mission in Georgia (the first game) takes place at the same time this book is supposed to. Third Echelon was just getting started, yet according to this book, it has been operating for years and years. Furthermore, Sam Fisher was a Navy SEAL during Desert Storm, not a CIA agent.

The list goes on. The FN in the FN 5.7mm pistol stands for Fabrique Nationale, a Belgian weapon manufacturer, not Five-seveN (more forgivable, since in Pandora Tomorrow they make the same mistake, but still). It is, in fact, designed to easily penetrate modern body armor (especially Type IIA vests), which is something the author clearly did not understand.

No mention is made of Grimsdotter, or of Cohen (much less Sam's first handler). The "Osprey" backpack was also worthy of a groan. The Osprey is a VTOL aircraft which ferries Sam around the world to where he needs to go, not some sort of trail pack.

Sam himself is portrayed so badly that it makes me want to cry. The character as voiced by Michael Ironside in the games is a wonderfully realized character. He is very controlled, very capable, and somewhat opinionated. He does not loosely use harsh language. The way he is depicted in this book is just awful. The S- and F- Word are bandied about like Sam were a fresh squiddie on his first tour at sea. Additionally, his operating procedures (and in fact, those of Third Echelon as a whole) are abominable for any agency claiming to work in any form of intelligence.

Clearly the author has done no research into the following:

-Military Technology

-Espionage Techniques

-Tom Clancy's own Universe

-The Splinter Cell series as a whole

-How to write a compelling story

I was honestly hoping to get a little more insight into the world of Splinter Cell with this book. Extrapolation on Douglas Shetland, ARGUS, SHADOWNET, the aftermath of the Georgian Information Crisis and Sudahi Sadono, and perhaps a peek in what would be coming this March with Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory. Instead I got a poorly-written Bond knockoff yarn haphazardly disguised as a story I might actually be interested in. Perhaps the only saving grace of this book is that the third-person segments are at least reasonably well-written and interesting, but that only makes up roughly half the book, if that.

If you really want to read a story where a man takes things into his own hands, go and read "Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy. It's easily twice as long as this book, and infinitely better on just about every aspect.

I was not expecting much from this book, though with the quality of the Halo books, I was certainly hoping for an interesting read, based in the world of Sam Fisher.

What I got instead was a poorly adapted Bond-type character who acted nothing like Sam Fisher is presented in the games, running around in some sort of power fantasy in the modern-day Middle-East.

First of, I would like to note that the Splinter Cell games take place in an alternate reality from ours, as does everything else related to Clancy. In the Ryanverse, we did not invade Iraq, George W. Bush is not President, and most importantly, in the continuity of Splinter Cell, Sam's first mission in Georgia (the first game) takes place at the same time this book is supposed to. Third Echelon was just getting started, yet according to this book, it has been operating for years and years. Furthermore, Sam Fisher was a Navy SEAL during Desert Storm, not a CIA agent.

The list goes on. The FN in the FN 5.7mm pistol stands for Fabrique Nationale, a Belgian weapon manufacturer, not Five-seveN (more forgivable, since in Pandora Tomorrow they make the same mistake, but still). It is, in fact, designed to easily penetrate modern body armor (especially Type IIA vests), which is something the author clearly did not understand.

No mention is made of Grimsdotter, or of Cohen (much less Sam's first handler). The "Osprey" backpack was also worthy of a groan. The Osprey is a VTOL aircraft which ferries Sam around the world to where he needs to go, not some sort of trail pack.

Sam himself is portrayed so badly that it makes me want to cry. The character as voiced by Michael Ironside in the games is a wonderfully realized character. He is very controlled, very capable, and somewhat opinionated. He does not loosely use harsh language. The way he is depicted in this book is just awful. The S- and F- Word are bandied about like Sam were a fresh squiddie on his first tour at sea. Additionally, his operating procedures (and in fact, those of Third Echelon as a whole) are abominable for any agency claiming to work in any form of intelligence.

Clearly the author has done no research into the following:

-Military Technology

-Espionage Techniques

-Tom Clancy's own Universe

-The Splinter Cell series as a whole

-How to write a compelling story

I was honestly hoping to get a little more insight into the world of Splinter Cell with this book. Extrapolation on Douglas Shetland, ARGUS, SHADOWNET, the aftermath of the Georgian Information Crisis and Sudahi Sadono, and perhaps a peek in what would be coming this March with Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory. Instead I got a poorly-written Bond knockoff yarn haphazardly disguised as a story I might actually be interested in. Perhaps the only saving grace of this book is that the third-person segments are at least reasonably well-written and interesting, but that only makes up roughly half the book, if that.

If you really want to read a story where a man takes things into his own hands, go and read "Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy. It's easily twice as long as this book, and infinitely better on just about every aspect.

I consider myself a "Splinter-Cell"-aholic. I loved the games and I am curious about everything "Sam Fisher". Due to that, I wasn't open to the bad reviews that this book got. But they turned to be right in the end.

The book puts Sam in what would be his job in the real world. In the games, some situations would be very difficult, almost impossible to get by, so it is interesting to see this vision on the book. But...

The good: - details about Sam Fisher life, his relationship with Sarah and his ex-wife, his past and how he got into Third Echelon, his gadgets and their operation. Details about the Third Echelon operates. Nice.

The bad: the Sam portrayed here is very different from what you would expect based on the games. Lack of support by allied armed forces, sometimes Sam has do to a LOT by himself.

In the game it is imperative not to be detected, and there is many creative ways to accomplish that. In the book, Sam gets detected, fired upon or ends up with a gun pointed to his head ALL the times. It is not the top-notch spy attitude I would expect.

He nevers grab a guard to interrogate and he almost never hide the bodies. The only time the does so, the body is dicovered. Very disapointing...

I heard that the author, Raymond Benson, wrote some James Bond novels. Sometimes, this book has many "James Bond"-esque situations, like Sam having dinner with a misterious character, the bad guy telling the plan before traying to kill the hero...c'mon...

i never really got hooked on the splinter cell games, even though im a huge clancy fan. But when i saw this on the shelves i was kind of hoping for clancy's redition of the popular game. it wasn't till i got home and realized that it was written by david michaels. but as i read through it, i got more and more curious if this was how the games are, because its very well written. I've read enough clancy to know when it's not his writing, but this is the closest of any of the wannabes ive ever read. Michaels really does a good job of the creating the same tension in the action and stringing together random events and people into a complex and thrilling plot, just as clancy does. I think that's what impresses me most about this was the authenticity of a clancy thriller while adding his own uniqueness to it. I like the way he writes the first person, i think its clever and very noir like, like Sam Fisher is in the games from what ive seen. Over all, its nothing worth being published in hardback in my opinion, but a great book to read for fun and i definatly want to try the games if they are anything like the book

A great novel on spy and action things. The plot is quite straightforward, but not-that-simple. Sam is the main spy agent of the Splinter Cell, who has the luxury to travel all over the world.

The main protagonist was depicted not only as an effective killing machine, but also a human. It is quite a good story without too much "impossible" actions. A recommended light read for any spy/ action/ thriller fans.

I began reading the novel Splinter Cell and became very interested in the character Sam Fisher. Also of interest was the reverse direction of first the video game Fisher and then

the novel Sam Fisher. I began playing the games as well.

The novel's change in perspective narrative made sense when you take into account that the video games Splinter Cell and Pandora Tomorrow are first person shooters. Sam's POV in the novel works. This is a guy who is never alone, see the introduction in the first game and detail's within the book. Government implants have turned this guy's inner dialog into the number one rated program in a Situation Room at the NSA.

The 3rd person narrative in the book is the video game equivalent of a cut scene, usually woefully lacking in detail in a game, but rich in detail and back story here.

Some of the comment's made of the novel are interesting, trouble with Sam's age, some language usage and his "jump her bone's" statement come to mind. I'm roughly Sam's age and almost 30 years ago if you had seen any of the Burt Reynolds's comedy/action movies you would remember the phrase.

Small criticism's, Sarah starving herself, I felt like the daughter of such a field operative would know to keep her strength up for a rescue, but she had been estranged from Sam for awhile. Sam also encountered this with US service men in one of the games who where to weak to help, much less escape with him. She's also vague about his work,perhaps the novel takes place before Sam and Sarah's vacation was interrupted by a stealth ship, it seems she would have a pretty good idea of what he does after that.

I would have liked an air OSPREY deployment/extraction as well seeing as how Coalition forces control air space in the region and recon missions are being conducted in Iran anyway. Traveling by vehicle in country was fine. Please no kick's

above the waist in a combat situation Krav Maga or not. Great in a movie, but bad news loaded out, closing with the enemy.

The Clancy esq. detail's are all there and the pacing quick. The ending also reflects a silent boots on the ground op. with some life experience both in war and at home.

All in all the entire Splinter Cell franchise is very well done and the most fun I've had in awhile. Read the book while listening to "Chaos Theory" CD, for a complete experience. The book did enhance my game play, and the back story of the novel

Added depth to the Sam Fisher in the games.

With Jack Ryan's future up in the air, bring on Sam Fisher!

This an exciting first pearson read! Even though this is my first "first person" noval, I felt I was drawn into Sam's on-going thoughts as he goes about his mission.

Sadly I have not the opertunity to play the video game, to have a compared opinion.

The penned author "David Michaels" includes quite a fast paced story line. He also uses much detail in Fisher's brilliant equipment he carries; and in the characters Sam works with & against. The author also describes quite a bit on the fascinating locals Fisher travels. These writing styles are much like the very enjoyable styles of 007's Fleming & Benson!

Many of the reviewers below appear to have great difficulty connecting the noval directly to the video game. I agree whole heartidly with reviewer Tim Blake-Portland, and that the transitions from novals to films & video games to novals will naturaly be quite different. Yet the author still somehow with the first person had me feel a bit that I was enjoying a video game.

I've played through Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, and half-way through Chaos Theory. When I learned this book had been published, I was very skeptical. However, when the very first chapter alone perfectly captured the feel of the games, I was hooked. While most gamers see Sam as a very calm, unemotional, over-all badass character, he's portrayed in the book as all that, but with a decent splash of intro-spective humanity. I'm glad to finally see something that gives us some good insight into the mind of our favorite Splinter Cell without damaging the image created by the games.

The only thing that would really prevent this from being placed into the storyline right after Chaos Theory is the change from Grimm to Carly St. John. However, one could easily assume that Grimm left Third Echelon for one of many reasons.

To sum it up, if you are a fan of any of the three games or a die-hard of the series, I HIGHLY reccomend you grab this book.

I don't understand the negative reviews below. This book had me biting nails. I couldn't put it down. Frankly, I found it better written than ANY of Tom Clancy's real novels and I liked it better than the two or three Clancy spin-off novels I've read. I'm a fan of the video game and I think David Michaels has brought Sam Fisher to life in ways that a gameplayer can't imagine. We get inside his head and discover who he is as a person, what he thinks, what he feels. We find out more about his background. The book's plot is in the same style as the videogames, with Fisher assigned to infiltrate enemy lines and gather intelligence--but in the process he bites off (nearly) more than he can chew. Great action sequences and seat-clutching suspense. This is great stuff. Pay no attention to those reviewers who say it's not "well-written." Since the action is written in first person, it's a little difficult to NOT write "I <action>." Pick up any book written in first person and you'll find the same thing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! I hope Mr. Michaels continues and turns Splinter Cell into a series of novels.

This book was unimaginative and unrealistic but if you are looking for a quick read to pass time or break the monotany on an airplane then it serves a purpose. For a top notch "splinter cell" spy guy, Sam Fisher sure ended up with a gun pressed to the back of his head a lot.

Example of bad writing: One dinner with mystery guy scene described the entire meal from salad to main course and then said so and so started the conversation by saying bla bla bla. I'm thinking "Not a single word was said before or during dinner?"

This novel is called Splinter Cell by Tom Clancy. "And then the dropof sweat falls and hits his square, crew-cut head." That was on page 10 when Sam Fisher is undercover in a different country. The problem in this novel is a terrorist organization is trying to take over Iran. What would you do to stop the terrorists?

Splinter Cell is a story of one mans will to fight to help the world. It is a novel of a stealth operations agent in a different country. How could one man take down an entire terrorist oganization?

Splinter Cell is the most action-packed book I have ever read! There is action on every page. Tom Clancy made new military weapons that are acually being test to this day! I highly recommend this novel!

I really don't understand the negative reviews that have been posted here.

First of all, I play the Splinter Cell games. I like them.

Yes, this novel is a little different from the games, but in my opinion that is a good thing. There is no way anyone could write an interesting NOVEL that captures the feeling of the game because it would be an action-less, boring novel. When you're playing a game and you're stealthily sneaking around, trying to find little objects that improve your score, solving puzzles, and attempting to avoid traps and getting caught--that makes good *gameplay* because it involves your skill at manipulating the controls of a Playstation 2! If a writer tried to capture all that in prose, it would be deadly dull.

I believe I understand what David Michaels has done with this book. He has taken the concept of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and re-invented it to work as a terrific action-suspense novel.

Some reviewer below said that in the novel Sam Fisher's character is lifeless and not anything like the game's Sam Fisher. I say that's a good thing! Sam Fisher in the game IS totally lifeless, has no personality, and speaks in monosyllables and monophrases. He's like an automaton. By writing Sam Fisher's actions in first person, Mr. Michaels has put us inside Sam Fisher's head. We finally get a fully fleshed out character. We know what he's thinking and how he feels about what he's doing. You don't get that playing the game. As for his language, I've heard plenty of 40-something men use words like "stuff," "jump her bones," and other phrases that reviewers here have nitpicked on. In fact, *I* am a forty-something and I've used those phrases myself. And I believe Sam Fisher would curse to himself when things go wrong. Who doesn't??

As for the writing, I totally disagree with the comments that it seems to have been written by a middle-school writer. The prose here is fluid, clean, and moves quickly. This is action fiction at its best. Pick up any best-selling action novel of the same ilk and you're going to find the same thing. It's not *literary genius* but it's not meant to be.

The book is well-researched. The descriptions of Iraq, Iran, and other places in the Middle East are dead on.

Oh, and an "Osprey" IS a backpack. Yes, an Osprey is a plane, but it's also the brand name of a backpack. See [...] It IS the pack Sam Fisher uses. The Five-seveN IS the pistol that Sam Fisher uses in the games, so I don't know what the reviewer(s) below are griping about.

I am sure that if and when a Splinter Cell MOVIE is released, it's going to be different from the games, too. That's the way these things work, folks. How many movies have been made based on video games that are exactly like the games? Not many. The same goes for books based on other mediums. Or movies based on books. The authors/directors/creators have to do something different. David Michaels has done something here that in my opinion is different but STILL FAITHFUL TO THE SPIRIT of the Splinter Cell games!

Read it with an open mind. It's a great ride and I for one can't wait for the next book.

Well, thanks to the review below mine, I now know why I enjoyed this book so much! If Raymond Benson is "David Michaels" then Tom Clancy should be happy he's got him doing the Splinter Cell series. I, along with many others, loved Benson's James Bond novels. Don't these reviewers realize that Clancy invented several series that have his name plastered all over the covers, but other writers write the books? The "Op Center" and "Net Force" and "Power Plays" series? Clancy didn't write those either! Anyway, I don't understand the comments below about the writing being "high school level". Hogwash. This is a well-researched and captivating yarn that takes place in a contemporary setting-- Iraq and the Middle East. It's not Pulitzer Prize material but it's not meant to be. It's fun and it's suspenseful. It kept me glued to the pages for a couple of days and that's all I ask for.

After forcing myself, I finished the book with disgust and disappointment. The plot could be called interesting, but that would be stretching the truth. The action is boring, the description of locations is colorless and the characters are bland and lifeless. Is it because they will end up dead sooner or later, there's no reason to bring them to life in the first place?

Mr. Michael's writing style is just of the worst kind and does nothing but ruin the good name of Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy. During the entire book, I'm sure that "I [action]." was used nearly 90% of the time to describe something that Sam [Fisher] did while you are in Sam's head. I did this. I did that. I looked here. I went there. I. I. I. I [Sam] talks to the reader like this the whole book.

The book uses the "I [action]." to such a point, it becomes a serious distraction. I just could not take this book seriously or enjoy it. And when Mr. Michael's wasn't abusing us to twenty "I [action]." sentences in a row, the rest of the book read like it had been put thru an English to German to Russian to Spanish and finally back to English translation with the help of Babblefish.com.

Anybody who is a true fan of Tom Clancy and his style of writing and telling of stories won't find any of that here. I knew Tom did not write this book, but with his name on it I figured it would the next best thing. I guessed wrong.

In short, unless you love bad writing (and you'll find your hearts content worth) treat this novel as it was Sam himself, silent and hidden from view.

My little brother picked up this book, considering the game has such potential for an excellent story line. The problem is, the cover is intentionally deceptive, to make those susceptible consumers purchase it. It reads, as you can see above, 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell', and while this may be an idea borne unto the mind of Mr. Clancy, it is most certainly not his work, and he should feel ashamed to have his name on the cover.

The first thing that threw me off was the first chapter, and its peculiar writing style. It's written from a first person perspective, which is definetely not an inherently bad thing, but is implemented poorly, leaving the reader feeling like, "Ok, that was cool, but what the hell was with that writing style?" The book's plot isn't in and of itself bad, but as a student of writing, I can't help but shudder at the way this is written, and that's pretty much what makes me loathe it so.

The Splinter Cell concept has such potential behind it; Sam Fisher is quite cool, but the book isn't terribly 'realistic'. It's more Bond realistic, which would be fun...but, well, read the first paragraph for why it's not. I'd love to see Clancy actually get his hands on this and write a story with it, because he's a competent author, although I may not care for all of his work, I have certainly enjoyed such novels as 'Red Rabbit'. Don't be deceived by the bold 'Tom Clancy' on the cover, and stay away from this book.

If you enjoyed playing the video game, this book (first in its series) is a great read. It doesn't follow any missions of the games, but is a very good read, with everything you'll want from Sam Fisher. He actually has more of a personality in here than in the game, so you get to know Sam better, which helps a bit when playing the latest game. So check it out; for this price, you cannot go wrong!

I thought the book was great but kinda supprised on the cussing and stuff. Other than that, its a great mystery thriller. The action and stealth is awesome. I played the game, didnt really like it. The book, however, was much better. Dont listen to the bad reviews. Its great in every way.

THis is basically s well-done book with much attention to detail and a plot that is credible, even if the main character is a bit too much. He's a 47-old man who has the strength and agility of Spiderman. Nevertheless, the book has a well-thought out story line with some suspense and reasonable character development. The style of writing is very much like Andy McNab's (Firewall, etc.), and the use of first-person narrative is particularly apt in this book. I'm waiting for the next one in the series, which is actually based on a computer game.

I bought this book in an airport bookstore. I was duped as I thought it was a Tom Clancy book. After reading the first page I figured it out.

I have never played the game, just saw a commmercial on TV some time ago. The game looked interesting. The book was not.

First off, you have to get over the first-person narrative style. The guy is talking about himself as if he is recounting it to someone, though he would never really recount it if he was so deep undercover. A third-person narrative would've made more sense.

The characters were hollow and very predictable and I never felt engaged with the story. It kept hinting at something big that never came.

Splinter Cell by...oh, yeah. David "Possibly the Worst Writer EVER" Michaels. Whoever published this guy needs to get his head reexamined and then needs a swift kick in the behind, possibly the frontal regions, for subjecting those of us who fell in love with Mr. Clancy's vision of the video game to a truly acidic roller coaster ride through the firey pits of hell.

Okay, so maybe that's some WEE exaggeration, but seriously. The book sucked more than anything in the entire world. For me, Splinter Cell represented everything that would never happen to me ever in my entire life. I enjoyed pretending I was a smart alecky spy who....just *happened* to be of the opposite sex I was. That being beside the point, I think I speak for us all when I say Sam Fisher is DA MAN!

The book is written strangely in a first person, present tense. In other words, instead of, "I walked to the door. It was locked," the author has 'creatively'? decided to state it, "I walk to the door. It is locked." As if this isn't annoying enough, out of NOWHERE Sam will have these almost Tourrettic spasms in which he'll blurt profanities. It's quite out of character. Plus, uh, since when did Sarah turn twenty? Never that I was aware.

While *I* will certainly spit in Mr. Michael's general direction for ruining such a GOOD vision if I ever come across him again, you MIGHT, MIGHT, MIGHT enjoy this book if a.)annoying tenses don't bother you, b.)you are such a diehard fan of Splinter Cell that nothing will get in your way of the written version, or c.)you are mentally challenged in at least eight different ways.

~Emily~ (Will's the 'rent's name)