Shattered Trident (Jerry Mitchell #4)
Larry Bond
Larry Bond tries to avert World War III in this fourth installment of his series centered on Jerry Mitchell, naval aviator turned submariner. The Mitchell series in general is hit and miss for me, especially compared to Bond’s magnificent war thrillers of the ‘80s and ‘90s; and this is more miss than hit.
His strengths are still strong. Bond is excellent at siting tactical military maneuvers in realistic geopolitical contexts. In this case, he brings to life the challenge of China’s assertive claims to the South China Sea in a way that media articles just can’t do. Bond is also helpful as a Cliff’s Notes to transnational frictions, partly due to lifelong connections in the U.S. military complex. For example, his ear is so firmly to the ground that his novel anticipates by a full year Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s reinterpretation of Article 9 in favor of Japanese rearmament.
I’m also intrigued by his favorable opinion of Vietnam, both in this novel and in his previous “Red Dragon Rising” series. I’ve heard arguments that in any conflict with China, Vietnam will be a critical partner for the United States despite the deep historical divide between our two nations. Bond clearly believes the same thing, and writes accordingly and convincingly. I was pleased as well by a subplot dramatizing the power of the Internet and globally crowd-sourced data to alter the fortunes of war. This seems obvious today in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is being fought on Twitter as much as it is on the ground. The fact that Bond called this out a decade in advance deserves a hat-tip.
Less impressive to me is the plot and its resolution. I can buy a secret alliance of Western Pacific nations preemptively taking the fight to China because they’ve lost confidence in U.S. security guarantees, but I think the premise was too sprawling for a single volume of this length. Either a book the size of “Red Storm Rising” or a series like “Red Dragon Rising” might’ve lent itself to a better treatment. As it is, the space constraints of an average-size book force Bond to rush toward an “America ex machina” that is too tidy and just-so for my taste.
This pairs unfavorably with Bond’s limitations in writing realistic dialogue and characters. His depiction of military culture seems spot on (as near as I can tell, anyway); but it’s always hard for me to connect with his characters or their conversations. I like Bond for his skill at dramatizing tactical maneuvers, and here he hits near enough those marks that I didn’t hate the read. But I also found myself skimming and drifting, which is not what you want in a military thriller. It doesn’t bother me that I invested time in this book, but I’m also not sorry it’s done.
Author: Larry Bond
Series: Jerry Mitchell
Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Military Fiction