Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell #2: Operation Barracuda Book

[SPOILER ALERT]
Like most book series the sequel always has a difficult time living up to the first book. Tom Clancy's Operation Barracuda is no different.

With the deaths of both Carly St.John and Katia Loenstern I was almost certain that Clancy would have no problem ending the series with the death of Sam Fisher, in an attempt to keep the overall story "believable."

And when you factor in the betrayal by Mason Hendricks and the clandestine placement of the nuclear warhead in international waters just outside Los Angeles, Clancy all but paves the road for a victory by the villains.

So when Sam Fisher is finally captured and placed in the cell with the the assassin Yvan Putnik, I was pretty certain that the Shop, General Tun and villains/terrorists were going to win this one, thus ending Splinter Cell and the NSA surveillance program.

What I hadn't counted on is the resistance of the Jon Ming led Lucky Dragon Triads and of course the "super-human" resilience of Mr. Sam Fisher. In the end, Fisher lives to see another day, the Shop is crushed, Mason Hendricks gets his just desserts, and General Tun's plan is thwarted.

And for me therein lies my problem with Clancy's book. The fact that Fisher is able to still prevent the terror plot against the US and still make it out alive at the same time makes it tough for a realist like myself to swallow.

I know that critics of my position will say that Fisher's ability to "always win" is what the series is ultimately about, but for me it's just difficult to accept that no matter what happens, Fisher will always survive and win.