Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Author	Raymond Benson (as David Michaels)
Publisher	Penguin Group
Publication date	December 7, 2004
Followed by	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a 2004 novel by author Raymond Benson, writing under the pseudonym David Michaels. The novel is based on the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell video game series. The book is told both from the first (Sam Fisher chapters) and third person (all other chapters). After the book was published in 2004, Raymond Benson announced that he had written it, using the pseudonym David Michaels. Benson is best known for being the official author of the James Bond series of novels from 1997 to 2002. In 2005, a second book by Benson was released entitled Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda. After the completion of that book, a new author was hired to continue the series under the same pseudonym.

IntroductionEdit

Sam Fisher, a special agent, or Splinter Cell, is called upon to investigate the death of other Splinter Cell agents. He finds ties to an arms smuggling ring, and their ties to a mysterious terrorist group known as "The Shadows".

PlotEdit

The plot of the novel takes place in 2005 and concerns an Iranian terrorist group called "The Shadows". Led by Nasir Tarighian, it is the goal of Tarighian to use a weapon of mass destruction codenamed "The Babylon Phoenix" against the city of Baghdad as revenge for the actions taken by Iraq against Iran during the 1980s. While there really isn't much benefit to the group today, Tarighian attempts to sell the scheme to his organization by claiming that it would also create further disorder in Iraq and in the Middle East, which would inevitably cause the people to turn against the "West", namely the United States since Iraq is currently under their watch. Tarighian, a former "great warrior" during the Iran–Iraq War and often proclaimed hero in Iran, hoped that by doing this the Iranian people would rejoice and urge the Iranian government to invade and conquer Iraq after the U.S is forced out of the region. Most of the members of the Shadows disagree with the course of action, feeling that the result is extremely unlikely and that the scheme is nothing more than a 20 year-old vendetta by Tarighian to get back at Iraq for the death of his wife and children during the war. These members feel the same effect of destabilization in the region can be achieved by attacking either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem in Israel. The novel also involves a terrorist arms dealing organization named "The Shop." Headed by Andrei Zdrok, their aim is purely business; to make money by supplying arms to anyone with money regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion. The Shop is one of the few organizations in the world that is aware of the black-ops division of the NSA, named "Third Echelon", which sends covert agents into the world called Splinter Cells, to exercise the use of a "fifth freedom"; the freedom to do whatever is necessary to preserve national security and peace for the United States. The Shop, using their knowledge and resources, has taken the liberty of assassinating Splinter Cells whenever possible thus to increase their profit margin by keeping the shipment of arms from falling into unwanted hands. Sam Fisher is deployed by Third Echelon to the Middle East to uncover the truth about the murder of a Splinter Cell agent and track down the source of a shipment of arms seized by the Iraqi police. There he surveys and infiltrates numerous locations relating to both the Shop and the Shadows, all the while unaware that the Shop has targeted him and his only daughter.

CharactersEdit

• Sam Fisher
• Sarah Fisher
• Irving Lambert
• Carly St. John
• Andrei Zdrok
• Albert Mertens
• Namik Basaran
• Kim Wei Lo
• Reza Hamadan
• Katia Loenstern
• Eli Horowitz
• Rivka Cohen
• Noel Brooks
• Chip Driggers
• Carl Bruford
• Dirk Verbaken
• Dan Petlow
• Ahmed Mohammed
• Heinrich Eisler
• Peter Martin
• Captain Weiss
• Stefan Prokofiev
• Anton Antipov
• Oskar Herzog
• Farid
• Vlad
• Yuri
• Mike Chan
• Dan Lee
• Rick Benton
• Marcus Blaine

LocationsEdit

• Tropical Casino, Macau, China
• Brussels, Belgium
• Townson, Maryland
• Waterloo Bridge, London, England
• City Place Mall, Washington, D.C.
• Baghdad, Iraq
• Jerusalem, Israel
• Arbil, Iraq
• Mercantile Bank, Zurich, Switzerland
• Iraq - Iran Border
• Mahabad, Iran
• Tabriz, Iran

GearEdit

• Objective Force Warrior

TriviaEdit

• Even though the book shares the same title as the game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, they do not share the same story. Both are separate in terms of story.
• This book contains the first mention of Sam's deceased ex-wife Regan Burns and his using Krav Maga in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. Regan was later mentioned in Double Agent and Conviction, and Krav Maga became an important aspect of Conviction's gameplay.
• This book has the first specific mention that Third Echelon Headquarters is located within Washington D.C.
• The exact time frame when the story takes place is unclear. Several lines mention background history which took place during the Spring and Summer of 2004 (in the northern hemisphere).^[1] It cannot take place before the Georgia Information Crisis, as the next book implies that Anna Grímsdóttir had been gone during the Far East assignment and Babylon Phoenix Crisis, and her position was filled in by Carly St. John while she was away. Anna was involved during the Georgian Information Crisis. Sam mentions that he had been on assignment in Far East during the winter, and mentions that "spring has come early this year", and that he didn't have a bad winter, implying the story takes place (or at least begins) in the spring.^[2] Another character mentions having an upcoming audition at Julliard in the summer^[3] (which also implies that the story takes place during the spring). Sam also mentions, that he is glad that it isn't yet winter in Turkey (implying that point in the story takes place in a pre-winter season).^[4] These details imply that the story begins no earlier than spring of 2005, this would force the next novel into late 2005 to early 2006. References in Operation Barracuda mention that it takes place during the winter, the following year (just after Chinese New Year). The book also mentions that the events from the previous book occurred was the last major mission taken by Third Echelon).
• The third book in the series, Checkmate, is set in 2003, thus takes place before this book (and has Anna Grímsdóttir).
• In the novel his MVGs include both night vision goggles and thermal goggles (which is another bit of evidence placing it after the original game), in addition the goggles include a special fluorescent mode, allowing him to see fingerprints and disturbances and movement in the dust.

ReferencesEdit