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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Tom Clancy Terminal Velocity and Red Tide by M.P. Woodward

Tom Clancy Terminal Velocity and Red Tide by M. P. Woodward are both riveting military thrillers. Although Red Tide is not part of a Tom Clancy series, it’s very much in that style. Terminal Velocity has the Jack Ryan family, while Red Tide introduces the Cole Family. Both these books are a salute to those who have served and their families. There is plenty of action but also some family drama.

Both these books blend geographical tension within action-filled realistic plots.

Book Description – Terminal Velocity

A string of savage murders in the United States seems unrelated until the FBI makes a shocking discovery: a decade ago, all of the murder victims were involved in a raid to eliminate the Umayyad Revolutionary Council, a vicious terror group that—were it not for John Clark and the Campus—would have perpetrated the most devastating attack against critical American infrastructure in history. Now it appears they’re back, with a next-generation leader hell-bent on revenge.

Mary Pat Foley, Director of National Intelligence, greenlights an op for the Campus to cut the head off the snake. Clark taps ex-Delta commando Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski to lead a kill team deep into the mountains to snuff out the charismatic terror leader. But when the hunters become the hunted, it’s up to Jack Rayan Jr. to avert disaster amid a deadly power game of nations vying for control of the disputed region.

On a rapid covert ingress from neighboring India, he’ll traverse the Himalayan wilderness with a rifle on his back and a tough Mujahadin fighter by his side. Jack knows time is growing short—he must save his team and lead them into position to be the first to hit terminal velocity.

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Elise’s Thoughts – Terminal Velocity

Terminal Velocity begins with Jack Ryan Jr., and his fiancée, Lisanne Robertson, visiting Delhi, India, to attend the wedding of Srini Rai, the brilliant surgeon who attached Lisanne’s prosthetic left arm. But there is trouble back in the US with a string of murders of former military who were involved in a raid to eliminate the Umayyad Revolutionary Council, a vicious terror group. John Clark, who heads the Campus, has ex-Delta commando Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski leading a kill team deep into the Pakistan/Afghan mountains to snuff out the charismatic terror leader who seeks revenge against those involved. Unfortunately, when the hunters become the hunted, it’s up to Jack Ryan Jr., who happens to be in the area for the wedding, to avert disaster amid a deadly power game of nations vying for control of the disputed region of Kashmir and to stop the terrorist attack in the US.

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Book Description – Red Tide

Rear Adm. Will Cole, outgoing operations officer (N3) of the Pacific Fleet, knows this is a recipe for disaster. But after decades at sea, he is ready to pass the torch to the next generation of “fighting Coles”: his eldest, Henry, a Navy lieutenant who flies F-18s; his middle son Jaime, a merchant marine officer; and his daughter Lu back home. When the new Cold War turns hot, however, Cole must abandon his plans. Proven right when the missiles start flying, Cole’s reward is an order to do the impossible: destroy the Chinese fleet and retake Taiwan—before it’s too late.

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Elise’s Thoughts – Red Tide

Red Tide’s plot examines the US Navy’s ability to remain the world’s guarantor of a free sea. Tensions between China and the United States have never been higher as both nations compete for access to advanced semiconductor chips produced only in Taiwan. Pearl Harbor comes to mind as the Chinese launch a surprise attack, crippling the U.S. fleet with devastating missile strikes while knocking American GPS, communications, and reconnaissance satellites out of orbit. A modernized Chinese fleet blockades Taiwan and seizes control of Pacific Sea lanes, throttling global commerce. One courageous military family, the Coles, are at the center of thwarting the Chinese in this war where the US must destroy the Chinese fleet and retake Taiwan. To succeed, Will Cole decides to listen to the reserve commander and tech-savvy venture capitalist Gabe Sorkin. With ties to the DOD’s new Defense Innovation Office, Sorkin pushes Cole to think outside the bureaucratic box.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for Tom Clancy Terminal Velocity?

M. P. Woodward: In all the Clancy books I write I want there to be an echo back to an original Clancy book. Tom Clancy wrote a book Dead or Alive before he died, published in 2010. It featured a terrorist network, the Umayyard Council. They had great designs to do something terrible to the American infrastructure. In this book even though the Umayyard Council was knocked out, the American operators who participated in achieving that goal are now dying, effectively murdered. The former terrorists have reconstituted themselves in Kashmir. I used the idea of the original Clancy book but modernized it.

EC: How would you describe one of the terrorists, Fahim?

MPW: Intelligent, charismatic, ambitious, and lecherous. He represents how a Muslim can be pushed into becoming a terrorist. I wanted to show the rift between East and West. His half-brother is a strict terrorist who manipulated him into it.

EC: How would you describe Rafa, Fahim’s half-brother?

MPW: A terrorist, unbalanced, thinks he is God’s messenger, and thinks he is a descendant of Mohammad. He feels he has a great score to settle against the US.

EC: You seem to be able to spot the hot geographical areas of the world. Is that why you had the setting in Northern Pakistan?

MPW: Yes. The clash between India and Pakistan is very real. Just a few months ago there was a terrorist incident in Kashmir, because it is so politically unsettled.

EC: Why the characters of Gavin, Midas, and Mandy in this book?

MPW: The Campus has about ten people with cross-functional skills. Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski has never really been featured except in the book Dead or Alive. The same with Mandy so I wanted to give both characters more page time. Gavin has been a constant character. Midas is a retired Lt-Col ex Delta operator, a commando. Mandy was an FBI-counter-terror investigator. Gavin is a computer nerd and hacker.

EC: There are some scenes with AI in this book. What would you like to say about it?

MPW: I did put in my book how Gavin has AI, Princess, his homegrown AI that can analyze data. AI is just another technical tool to make that easier. It makes sense for Gavin to build his own agent. AI will go into plots but that is different than using it to steal intellectual property.

Copyright protection is a real problem. When it becomes easier to imitate other people’s work, copyright protection should apply. Just as I cannot rebroadcast an NFL game without paying the NFL, permission should be asked, or else it is stealing author’s characters. AI is just another technical tool to make that easier. AI is the next extension of computing power.

EC: The idea for the story of Red Tide?

MPW: There is great power competition happening between China and the US. China is building up its naval power, trying to shut the US out of the South China Sea. I thought about how the US has a dependence on the Taiwanese semi-conductor production. I wondered since China is also dependent on that semi-conductor production, what if they just took it? This is a scenario of how a trade war can lead to a real war.

EC: Do you think this story has points about China?

MPW: China wants to regain Taiwan as a lost province and wants to project power across the South Pacific, calling it the defense of the first Island chain. It goes from Japan down to Indonesia. This is why they built up illegal reefs all over the China Sea, and have territorial disputes with the Philippines and other countries.

EC: Why call it “The Hide and Seek War”?

MPW: It is a fictional name I developed. As the fighting begins, each side will blame the other and try to take out the satellites. Once that happens it becomes a contest of fleets, a la WWII when there was not long-range intelligence. I put in the beginning of the book the President Reagan quote because it speaks of needing American naval power to maintain a free sea. It is something that is an obligation. We are still the number one naval power in the world but are stretched too thin versus China that is trying to control the South China Sea. The US naval power is the one since WWII to enforce that the oceans are open to all. There are other countries that want to close off oceans.

EC: What is the importance of the semiconductors?

MPW: Everything in our world is based on semiconductors. All the AI that is powering the economy is based on semiconductors. I think 70% of that production comes out of Taiwan. The design comes out of the US, but the physical manufacturer all happens in Taiwan. It is a major threat to the global economy.

EC: In this story there is an implication that Japan is not a true ally of the US. Agree?

MPW: When there are challenges national alliances will shift. At some point nations do not have friends, but interests. In this story, I wrote a fictional scenario how China was in a conflict, and the livelihood of Japan was threatened, so Japan wanted to stay out of it.

EC: There are some relevant parts of the story that is happening today. Agree?

MPW: The US Navy must make sure it works at innovating and not be bounded by procurement policies. Recently created was something I came up with in this book, working more with tech innovators. As I put in the book, China’s naval industrial capacity far outweighs the US. This has been a developing problem for many years.

EC: How would you describe the Cole family, the featured characters of the book?

MPW: I wanted them to be like families I have meant that are dedicated to service. The father, Will, is a naval officer, and one of his sons, Henry, also a naval officer, flies F-18s. The daughter, Lucy, works for the defense industry. The other son, Jamie, is a Merchant Marine. Henry’s wife, Sarah, works in DC as a lobbyist. I wanted to show how great this mindset is and hope there will be many more who are out there. We should all admire families like the Coles.

EC: How would you describe Gabe Sorkin?

MPW: I wanted a character who represented reservists. He came from the tech business; someone committed to defense and the military. His point is be prepared to fight each war differently.

EC: Next books?

MPW: I will be writing another Tom Clancy book, coming out in 2026. Red Tide is a standalone, but I am working on another military thriller that should be out in 2026 and is not a Red Tide sequel but is based around the Navy.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Tom Clancy: Line of Demarcation by M.P. Woodward, Tom Clancy

Book Description

It starts with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her entire crew. But the USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The destruction of the ship, tragic as it is, won’t stop that mission from continuing.

So who would sacrifice twenty-two men and women just to slow down the plan? That’s the question plaguing Jack Ryan Jr. He’s in Guyana to work a deal to get his company, Hendley Associates, in on the ground floor of this new discovery, but Russia’s Wagner Group and a pack of Venezuelan narco-terrorists have other ideas—and will risk war with the United States to see them through. It’s up to Jack to identify the killers before they draw a bead on him, but how can he do that when the line of demarcation between friend and foe is constantly shifting?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Tom Clancy Line of Demarcation by M. P. Woodward brings back Jack Ryan Jr. There is not just one plot, but three subplots that come together making for a riveting storyline.

The book opens with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her 22-member crew. The USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The question is who was responsible for the killings?

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan Jr. is in Guyana trying to get his export license for his oil company Hendley Associates, working undercover as the CEO of Athena Global Shipping Lines. That area of the world is already plagued with corruption and deceit, which proves to increase the burden on those conducting above board business. Jack is lunching with Guyana’s minister of the interior and attorney general when he’s caught in a sudden crossfire. He escapes, but the two officials are killed. The other plotlines are triggered after the attack where separate teams of the Campus, a covert government organization, is now tasked with fighting a Russia-backed Guyanese coup and rescuing Campus operator Domingo “Ding” Chavez, who’s deep undercover with a drug gang.

Per usual, in a Clancy novel, the action and ending are explosive. A bonus is that in the beginning of the book there was a list of characters broken up by American, Russian, Guyanese and Venezuelan along with a 1-to-2-line description.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?

M. P. Woodward: In looking around the world at global flash points Russia uses energy as a source to yield power, leverage, and geopolitical tensions. I also saw that there is a real-world territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana with a region very rich in oil. I then thought of a plot line where the Russians and Venezuelans team up to snatch this area away much like the Russians did in Ukraine.

EC: I was wondering how you came to write about that scene early in the book where readers will root for characters, they know very little about?

MPW: It was a prologue which I consider mini novels. Readers are usually left with something that is going to happen. I visited a Coast Guard station and have a son in it where I realized they are the unsung heroes. I wanted to give a shout out to those who maintain waterways. I brought a crew like that into real danger and let it be the spark that lit the fire.

EC: What about crossover with Andrews and Wilson who write the other Clancy series?

MPW: The very nature of both series means they crossover. We have the same editor who makes sure we are on the same page. We do not really collaborate on the plots, but we are aware of each other’s storylines.

EC: What is real in the book?

MPW: Hydrocarbon reserves are what the Russians wanted and what makes Guyan strategically important. The Zircon missile is the Russian hypersonic missile. The SUDS Machine is based on service drones. There are initiatives out there for hydrogen service drones. In this book I had them as a hybrid with actual warriors on them, but they can also be remote control like a loyal dog and return to where they are supposed to be. They are a lot like a jet ski.

EC: What about Lisanne Robetson?

MPW: When I took over the series she had been recruited into the Campus. Jack Ryan Jr. and her fell in love and is now his fiancé. She has a job within the Campus as its logistic coordinator and manages some intelligence feeds, so there is a bridge between the emotions of the couple and the realities of the mission. She has quiet strength.

EC: What about Master Chief Kendrick Moore?

MPW: He was introduced in Shadow State. His backstory is still developing but he is damaged goods after getting a dishonorable discharge. He was angry and on a wayward path. Clark brought him into the Campus as a protege and is now formalized there. He is the foot in the door for Clark with the Naval Special Warfare Community. In this story he is a great part of it because much of the action takes place in the water.

EC: The next books?

MPW: The Clancy book is out in September, and it titled Terminal Velocity. It does not focus on the Russians. CRINK make up many bad guys, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea with less formal enemies like drug cartels and terrorists. I enjoy writing where a national enemy uses more of a shadow enemy.

EC: Rumor has it that you had a crystal ball while writing Terminal Velocity?

MPW: The plot is about the flash point of India and Kashmir which has been in the news lately. The scenario is almost exactly what happened now. A terrorist unit hits the Indians who accuse Pakistan of sheltering them. Tensions climb.

EC: Any other books besides Clancy?

MPW: Another book coming out in September titled Red Tide. It is a military fiction where China blockades Taiwan with tensions on the high seas. There is a battle like Midway with real naval tactics.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Handler by M.P. Woodward

Book Description

A disgraced former CIA operative must go back in the field with only his ex-wife as his handler in this electrifying thriller from a former intelligence officer.

Meredith Morris-Dale is a CIA agent and a damn good one…even if this last mission did go terribly wrong. Now she has been summoned back to Langley where she expects to be fired. Instead, she is met by the Deputy Director with stunning news.

A single well-placed CIA mole in Iran’s uranium enrichment program has kept the terrorist nation from building a bomb by sabotaging their centrifuge’s performance. But after losing his daughter in an airliner shootdown, the mole wants out–leaving the world on the brink. His one demand: a reunion with the only handler he ever trusted, John Dale–Meredith’s disgraced, fired, wayward ex-husband. As Meredith and John struggle through their fraught relationship, a craven CIA political hierarchy, Russian interference, and the rogue spy’s manipulation, they must reach deep within their shared connection to maintain, recover, or kill the asset.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Handler by M. P. Woodward allows readers to gain knowledge of the intelligence world with a story all too real, delving into the return of the Cold War days. If readers are looking for a Vince Flynn like author that has the same action, characters to root for, and national security concerns, Woodward is the author to read.

In this debut story disgraced CIA operative John Dale is coaxed out of retirement by his ex-wife Meredith, the head of the CIA’s Counterproliferation Division. John is asked to extract Iranian asset Cerberus, a scientist working on the Iranian nuclear program. The CIA mole has kept this terrorist nation from building a bomb through sabotage. But now the mole wants out and will only deal with his trusted former handler, Dale.

Both John, and his handler, Meredith, must work together to bring the scientist to safety. Together they face very dangerous obstacles including the CIA’s political hierarchy, Iran’s military, and Russian spies. There are Russian agents leading an SVR team anxious to take out John and Meredith, a lieutenant colonel with the Quds branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who wants Cerberus just as badly as the CIA, and Meredith’s corrupt supervisor, Rance.

Woodward, a former naval intelligence officer, uses his experience to write a very believable story full of suspense and twists. There is plenty of drama, tension, and conflict. Readers will not want to put this book down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?

M. P. Woodward: I have been a naval intelligence officer and like to keep up with what is happening in the world. In January 2020 on the airport TV was the coverage of a civilian Ukrainian airliner shot down by Iran. I started to think about how and why it happened. The people on that plane were largely Iranian students going back to school in Canada. I thought it could be a plot for a novel. I wanted to write a story with authenticity and realism.

EC: How did your professional experience help in writing the book?

MPW: I divide it into two halves. The first is being in the military for several years. The other is working at Amazon doing distribution deals. With the former, I used to write war game scenarios. I knew a lot about how various agencies on both sides would react to certain escalations. This helped with some character development, setting, and timing. The business side helped me to capture working at a bureaucracy that has inertia and people with political motivations.

EC: You talk about the countries of evil toward the US which seems to be the same ones as of today?

MPW: We were in a period of history, post-Cold War that had a rule based on international order. Now we are in Cold War 2.0 with three imperialist powers who challenge the status quo to expand their sphere of influence. As I discuss in the book, China is the senior partner with Russia and Iran the junior partners, all working together. Russia is helping the Iranians with a nuclear reactor in exchange for oil drilling rights. The Chinese try to build client satellite states. Whereas the western democracies are a little slow to this threat. I am worried because they have failed to deter.

EC: The Iran nuclear threat?

MPW: Many countries in that area have nuclear weapons. A lot of them are modern societies, while Iran has different ideas. There are those in Iran who believe that the 12^th Iman will come back once Armageddon is achieved. A facility was built, spending 500 million dollars, to welcome back the 12^th Iman. These are the people in power. The idea they will have nuclear weapons is very scary. The Iranians are hiding their secret nuclear facilities which for me shows they do not want a deal with the US.

EC: Besides writing about the geo-political threat, you have well developed characters. How would you describe John?

MPW: He believes in honor, duty, and commitment, but lacks the patience of working within large organizations. He would rather work alone to get the mission accomplished. His heart is in the right place. He is frustrated with working within the system. He and I are landscape painters, a loner profession. The cabin he lives in is like the one I have, up on a mountain. He can be charming and unpredictable.

EC: How would you describe Meredith?

MPW: She is the opposite of John. She accepts the rules and works within the organization. She also has a sense of honor, duty, and mission. She goes about doing things in different ways than John and becomes frustrated with him. She can read people and at times is intense. Meredith is attracted to someone like John but has a hard time in making peace with his actions. She and John have a bond.

EC: You show how intelligence works?

MPW: Yes. I wanted to show how a lot of times the handler and the operative sometimes have incomplete information. Since they were married with an adult child, she feels her first duty is to John. Meredith is an advocate for him. I put in this quote, “Good assets are in it for ideology, or even better, their vision of morality.” They want to do the right thing because they want change.

EC: How would you describe Rance, Meredith’s CIA boss who is a political animal?

MPW: He is fallible and cautious. He is not decisive versus Meredith who thinks quickly. He does put his career first. He is arrogant, selfish, calculating, uncaring, and tries to throw Meredith and John under the bus. He thinks he can get away with things, which is his undoing.

EC: Please explain this book quote, “Intelligence failures were infamous for overlooked, seemingly innocuous assumptions.”

MPW: I worked with Special Forces who must know the smallest details. Remember during the raid on OBL when the helicopter crashed. It did so because the rehearsals during the mission had a chain linked fence. But the actual fence was a masonry wall. People like John in this story must know does the door open in or out, are the hinges on the left or right side of the door.

EC: The next book?

MPW: It will come out this time next year, titled Scorched Earth. The plot is the shadow war between Israel and Iran. The question should the Americans appease Iran and get a deal done, angering Israel. The overriding arguments, containment versus appeasement of Iran? Meredith and John are on Israel’s side. I used many real-world references. I wanted to portray the existential threat to Israel if Iran gets a nuclear weapon and highlight Israel’s military.

THANK YOU!!

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