Pretty disappointed. The new ghost writer doesn't understand the protagonist and never bothers to develop the villain as a character. The first 2 novels make for good junkfood reading, not this one ( )

Sam Fisher, a top secret agent for the National Security Agency with the right to steal and kill to preserve the country's freedom, goes after Middle Eastern terrorists who are building a highly destructive weapon and have kidnapped his daughter.

Fallout is an improvement on "David Michaels"'s previous effort, Checkmate. While not quite up to par with the first two Splinter Cell novels by Raymond Benson, Fallout is still an enjoyable read.

Unlike in Checkmate, the stakes as the book begin are relatively low; only as Sam Fisher digs deeper into a suspicious death is the real threat revealed. At the same time, the final stakes are higher than they've been before; where earlier Splinter Cell tales had Sam chasing after "mere" weapons of mass destruction, the biological weapon herein threatens not people, but their way of life.

If the book suffers from anything, it's that it tries to set the stakes too high. Too many people know about the Splinter Cells, about Sam, and about the events that are happening. The operations are hardly "covert" anymore. (Checkmate wasn't much better in this regard.)

Still, despite Sam's ventures away from the shadows and into the limelight, Fallout was a fun read. If Checkmate didn't put you off the series—or maybe even if it did—I'd recommend it. ( )