Tom Clancy: Line of Demarcation: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel, Book 13, M. P. Woodward, author; Scott Brick, narrator.
If not for Scott Brick, the audio’s narrator, this book would get a rating of one star. He was an amazing reader whose interpretation of the dialogue held my interest even when the narrative went off the rails in too many bizarre directions. It became hard to follow without suspending disbelief and hoping it would somehow become more comprehensible when the novel concluded. Even after all the guilty parties were punished and held to account in ways few readers will want to believe could be plausible for the American CIA, clandestinely or openly, I was not sure of exactly what this novel was about. Suffice it to say, it was confusing and hard to believe with too many conspiracies and diabolical plans to follow comfortably. One such theme was the overuse of the Quintero family, Amancia, Tallulah and Gustavo, in order it would seem, to create further interest and additional pages. Their emergencies became overwhelming with their frequency. That said, the story was full of adventure and tension leaving me with nothing else to do but read on hoping to eventually understand this political nightmare that was playing out on the pages before me.
Basically, Jack Ryan had bought a business for the campus called The Athena Global Shipping Lines. Using their shallow draft boats, they would be able to dock at the recently completed Marlin oil platform in the Orinoco Basin, without dredging. Jack had been working on getting an export license from the Guyanese government and was promised one by the Interior Minister, Professor Alberto Quintero. Meanwhile, the American Coast Guard Cutter, Harry Claiborne, was busy mapping the shallow Orinoco Basin hydrocarbon field in preparation for Athena’s ships. The Orinoco Basin with its shoals and shallow waters was difficult for some ships to navigate safely. Athena was the only company that possessed shallow draft vessels that could safely traverse the waters without harming the environment. It sounded like a good business plan until Jack was suddenly unable to obtain the necessary export license. While the President of Guyana was away, the license had to be signed by the opposition’s Socialist Prime Minister, Augustus Castillo, and he had refused. Jack was facing a tremendous loss of money and prestige if the deal went south.
Unbeknownst to Jack, however, this same Guyanese Prime Minister was actively plotting a coup with the help of the Russians. The Russians were using the Venezuelan Gangster Tiburon, to accomplish this. Venezuela was claiming ownership of the area. The Tiburonistas were being used as puppets by the Russians to conceal their real purpose which was the violent take over of the oil fields and Guyana so they could install the puppet Prime Minister, Castillo, in place of President Khasif.
When the cutter, the Harry Claiborne, got too close to the Marlin oil platform, they were attacked and murdered by the Tiburonistas. The reader then learns that Ding Chavez was working undercover in the Tiburonista gang, impersonating Luis Diaz, as he investigated Venezuela’s interest in Guyana. At this same time, the Guyanese Minister Quintero was secretly investigating the Prime Minister of Guyana. He suspected that he was planning a coup and he warned Jack. Then, the President, Augustus Khasif, who was completely unaware of all this while it is going on, was kidnapped by the Russians in Abu Dhabi. They were planning to murder him and put Castillo in his place. These disparate pieces did not knit together well, especially at first.
It seemed that the head of the snake was the Russian government working with Venezuela; they were using the Tiburonistas and the crooked Guyanese government officials, Romero and Castillo, to take control of Guyana and install a friendlier Socialist regime. The obvious rub is that they were all pawns wanting to advance their own cause. Would these criminal minds succeed at the game they were playing? Would they be brought to justice? It was really hard to figure it out, not because of misdirection, but because the story was so convoluted it was hard to follow. I am not even sure I did follow it. I was further flummoxed when I researched the geography and discovered that the Orinoco Basin does not belong to Guyana. It belongs to Venezuela and Columbia. Good luck and happy reading.