download tom clancy’s splinter cell epub book free by david michaels – from tom clancy’s splinter cell epub: In response to the increasing use of sophisticated digital encryption to hide potential threats to the United States, The national security agency has ushered in the new dawn of intelligence gathering techniques. buy on amazon
tom clancy splinter cell epub
the top secret initiative is called the third echelon.
You are reading: Splinter cell books pdf
its existence denied by the us. government, the third echelon deploys a lone field operation. it is sharp, almost invisible and lethal. and has the right to spy, steal, destroy, and murder to protect American freedoms.
his name is sam fisher. it’s a splinter cell®.
excerpt – tom clancy’s splinter cell epub
1
It’s like being in a state of non-existence. a vacuum cleaner. darkness and light at the same time, and no sense of gravity. there’s no air, but I know I’m breathing. certainly no sounds are present. I see and feel nothing. no dreams.
this is the dream for me. I’m blessed I guess. I can force myself to sleep anywhere, anytime. I didn’t train to do it. It’s always been that way, ever since I was a kid. I just tell myself, “it’s time to sleep now”. and I do I am sure that many people in the world would envy this talent. I don’t take it for granted because in my business I have to sleep in the strangest places at the strangest times.
I feel the pulsing pressure on my wrist. He gently pulls me out of this dimensionless world and I slowly regain the use of my senses. I feel hot metal against my face. I hear distant and indescribable echoes.
opsat attached to my wrist keeps waking me up. there is a small t-rod that protrudes from the flexible band when the silent “alarm” sounds. the bar rocks back and forth, nudging my pulse, telling my body it’s time to wake up. the first time i saw it on demo, it reminded me of a james coburn spy movie from the sixties where i played a secret agent who could stop your heart on command. tom clancy splinter cell epub
this apparently put it into a kind of hibernation. he had a wristwatch with the same kind of t-rod that prodded him until he woke up. I remember laughing at the movies when I saw that. it was too ridiculous to be taken seriously. now look at me.
I take a few deep breaths. the air is stale and dry inside the vent where I spent the last six hours. I flex my hands to get the blood circulating again. I stretch out my feet, even though they’re comfortably encased in my boots.
then I open my eyes.
There is no more light in the well than there was when I first went up.
opsat finishes its task and the small t-rod retracts. I bring my left hand to my face and press the button to illuminate the opsat screen. no new messages from lambert. no incoming email. all is quiet in the world. the opsat is a handy little device that the third echelon dreamed up for its agents. it’s actually called an operational satellite uplink. Primarily a tool for communication, it has many other uses as well. I especially like the camera capabilities that allow me to take digital pictures of anything I want.
I suddenly realize how hot it is and I remember where I am. the ventilation shaft of the tropical casino in macau. I am lying horizontally in a space slightly smaller than a phone booth. tom clancy splinter cell epub
Good thing I’m not claustrophobic or I’d be a basket case by now. Since I had to wait for the right moment to make my move, I set the alarm to wake me up at four in the morning. I figured that’s when the activity inside the casino would be more subdued. it’s a 24-hour venue, so someone will always be here.
I’m sweating like a pig in my tailored uniform. I forgot to adjust the temperature control before I went to sleep. I quickly twist my belt knob to cool it down. I can immediately feel the cold water flowing through the cups embedded within the uniform lining. the military calls it an “objective force warrior” uniform. it’s like an astronaut’s suit, only sleeker and tighter. tom clancy splinter cell epub
I can make it hot or cold, depending on what kind of environment I’m in. It’s made of a heavy material with Kevlar sewn in, but it’s flexible enough to perform any gymnastic feat you want to attempt. I wouldn’t call it bulletproof, but it’s close. the tough outer skin feels like elephant skin to the touch, and goes a long way in deflecting things. I suppose if I were shot at point-blank range I’d be dead, but bullets fired from a distance of five meters or more could penetrate the suit, but not me. Kevlar acts as a braking mechanism.
very interesting stuff. Another cool feature is that it has a photosensitive thread that reacts when a targeting laser hits the material. the suit sends a signal to my opsat, alerting me that i’m in the crosshairs of a sniper.
My only problem with the uniform is that it’s so tight and neat that it makes me look like a comic book superhero. even my special helmet looks like a mask when I have the goggles on.
I pull the straw out of the neck tube and suck up refreshing cold water from the supply stored in bladders evenly distributed throughout the suit. there’s enough water in there to last twelve hours, as long as you use it sparingly. It’s a strange concept, but I have to “fill my uniform” from time to time.
time for some energy. I raise my body enough to reach the osprey strapped to my back and pull out a serving. The food in those things tastes a lot like the mres the army gets, so there’s a variety of things from Cajun-style rice and beans to spaghetti and grilled chicken breast. maybe some of that is actually in the recipes. the one I picked looks like a trail mix. As I munch on the delicacy, I remember how I got here and what the hell I’m supposed to be doing.
I walked into the casino in the late afternoon, just as the big crowds were beginning to fill the place. I was wearing street clothes and I thought it would be less noticeable when there were a lot of people here. casinos in macau are different from others around the world. The Chinese take the game very seriously. tom clancy splinter cell epub
There are never any shouts of “jackpot”, let alone a shred of smiles from these people. it seems as if as soon as you get shot as if you were dealt a card. It’s par for the course, I guess. Triads hang out in Macau casinos, and I’ve never seen a gay triad. given that since 1999 macao was no longer a portuguese colony and was now one of china’s special administrative regions, i imagine that the inhabitants were not very happy. tom clancy splinter cell epub
Like Hong Kong, Macau was now part of Communist China, although the Chinese government promised that things would remain relatively the same for the next fifty years. it was still unclear what the colony’s underworld was doing about the delivery. During the 20th century, Macau had earned a reputation as a hotbed of spies, vice, and intrigue.
I played a few games, lost some money, got it back, and then went to the bathroom in front of the broom closet I needed. he had memorized the construction plans before the mission began. I could walk around the casino blindfolded if I had to.
I left the bathroom when I felt that there was no one in the hall and I went to the door of the broom closet. I had to use a pick to open it. luckily, it wasn’t a high-tech lock. after all, it was really just a broom closet.
Once I was inside, I closed the door and proceeded to remove my street clothes, revealing my extravagant superhero uniform underneath. I folded the clothes and carefully put them in the osprey’s backpack. I put on my headdress and was ready to go. the change from clark kent to superman had taken about forty seconds.
I climbed up on a tool rack to get to the vent opening, carefully prying off the vent cover and hanging it on a nail in the wall. I tested the strength of the frame to make sure it would hold my weight, then sat up. I could barely turn around to reach out, grab the grill cover and clamp it back onto the shaft from the inside. I made another turn and crawled silently down the shaft until I came to a spot that was long enough for a nap. and here I am.
I finish my meal and eat the digestible wrapper so as not to leave any trace of my presence here. I doubt anyone is going to look inside the vent, but you never know. it’s time to act.
I crawl further along the shaft, make a left turn that I know is coming, go about twenty meters, turn right, and then slide down a three meter vertical drop. on the next level, the well goes in three directions. tom clancy splinter cell epub
I touch the opsat for compass mode just to confirm that the tunnel to my left is heading west, and then I crawl in that direction. one more turn to the right and I can see the grill at the end of the shaft. the office of the casino president.
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I look through the grille to make sure the office is dark and uninhabited. I push the grill carefully but hold on to it. I don’t want a loud sound when I drop it. I pull my upper body off the shaft and gently position the rack behind a sofa directly below me. then I grab the bottom of the shaft opening, roll my lower back and hips, and somersault onto the carpeted floor. so far so good.
I put the goggles over my eyes and turn on the night vision mode. no need to turn on any lights and attract attention. being silent and invisible are the two main rules of my profession. get the job done without being seen or noticed. if they catch me, the us the government will deny any knowledge of my existence. I would be alone, in the hands of a foreign agency with no legal recourse or means of escape except what I can accomplish with my body and mind. it’s a test I don’t particularly want to take, even though I’ve studied for years. There are always trick questions on that type of test.
I go straight to the computer on the president’s large mahogany desk, turn it on, tapping my fingers impatiently as I wait for the system to load. when it asks for the password, i type the one that carly assured me would work, and sure enough, it does. carly john street is a wizard when it comes to technical shit. she can hack into any system, anywhere. and she can do it from her desk in washington, d.c.
Using the search function, I quickly find the folders I want. contain files of payment records to various organizations and individuals. I have to make sure these are separate from legitimate casino expenses, and Carly has briefed me on how to tell the difference. again, the telltale flags she mentioned are there, so I know I’m in the right place.
I open the pouch on my left calf and remove a link that I inserted into the computer’s floppy drive. I connect the other end to my opsat. a touch of a few buttons and voila: files start copying to my handheld. it only takes a minute or so.
while opsat goes about its business, i think of dan lee, the third echelon man who was murdered in this casino three months ago. he was tracking illegal arms sales in china, and the trail led him here to macau. the store, of course, are the guys who make the deal. Before he was killed, Lee had given Lambert evidence that Casino Tropical’s accounting department was being used as a front for illegal transactions. tom clancy splinter cell epub
closing the shop is one of our main directives, and the only way to do it is to work from the outer ends of the pipes to the source. and there are many pipelines around the world. discovering them is only half the battle. now, with these files listing the store’s customers in our possession, other us. uu. agencies can act to shut down this particular pipeline.
We still don’t know exactly what happened to dan lee. Lee, a Chinese recruit, had worked for the NSA for about seven years. I never met him personally, we never meet the other agents on the third echelon, but I understand that he was a stand-up guy. he did his job well and he was a good man. Lambert thought someone at the store had learned of his identity and lured him into the casino with information as bait. lee never left the casino.
the opsat ends the transfer just as I hear noise in the hallway outside. shit. I get the link from the computer. the keys jingle at the door and I hear a voice followed by laughter. there are two of them. I don’t have time to turn off the computer, but I press the off button on the monitor.
I jump away from the desk and look at the distance to the ventilation shaft. the key turns in the lock. there is no time for that route. I run up a set of filing cabinets and press myself against the corner, my head against the ceiling. it is a difficult position to maintain. I have to use my knee against the top of the file cabinets for leverage while at the same time pushing my arms against the two walls to anchor my body. It’s not comfortable just as I settle in, the door opens. they may not notice me since I’m about four or five feet above their heads.
I recognize the first guy, the one with the keys. It’s Kim Wei Lo, probably the mastermind behind the store’s operation in Macau. He’s on the wanted lists of every three-letter agency, you know, the cia, the fbi, the nsa. . . when the other guy turns a bit, I force him too. he is chen wong, lo’s bodyguard. wong is a big guy, but i’ve seen him bigger. if it came to a showdown, I’m pretty sure he could beat it.
is hit by one of the two light switches on the wall by the door. the fluorescent ones directly above the desk flicker. thank god he didn’t turn on the other one. my side of the room would have been bathed in lighting. At least I’m still in the shadows. if you look up and focus on the back wall, the corner, and the ceiling, you’ll see me hanging there like a spider.
The two men go to the desk and say something in Chinese. I understand the word “computer”, so I imagine you are wondering why someone didn’t turn it off at night. though he doesn’t bother her too much. he sits at the desk and begins to work as wong walks slowly behind him, looking out the large glass window that overlooks the main street that runs through this poor excuse for a town. an urban area is a more appropriate term. Since it’s midnight, there isn’t much traffic or neon lights. I’m hoping something hypnotizes him enough that he turns his back on me while I wait for this to happen.
As a precaution, though, I mentally practice drawing my five-seven from where I am, but ultimately I don’t think it’s possible without falling to the ground. I have an order not to kill anyone if it is not necessary. Unfortunately, I have had to disobey that directive on numerous occasions. I don’t like to do it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. tom clancy splinter cell epub
It’s hot in the room. They must turn off the air conditioning at night. or maybe it’s a ruse to get players to buy more drinks. I’m dying to adjust the temperature of my uniform, but I don’t dare move. I can feel sweat pooling under my helmet and starting to drip down my face.
shit. wong turns and walks aimlessly around the desk and heads towards me. he has pulled his own gun from him, he looks like a blacksmith & wesson .38 here, and he’s spinning it in his hand, western style. he makes a sharp turn and faces a bookshelf. As he continues to turn the gun, Wong scans the titles of the books. I guess the boy can really read.
says something and wong growls in response. however, he doesn’t walk back to the desk, dammit. instead, he turns away from the books and starts walking towards the filing cabinets. all he has to do is look up and he will surely see me. however, the rug must be terribly interesting, because he keeps his head down. it’s like he’s looking at his feet as he walks.
oh for the love of god, it’s right below me now. most of my body is above the file cabinet, but my head and shoulders extend away from the wall, flat against the ceiling. just don’t look up, you bastard.
I feel a bead of sweat run down the bridge of my nose. oh, fuck. I can’t erase it I can’t even move. that small drop of salt water collects on the tip of my nose and threatens to land directly on wong’s head. my breath stops. time stops.
and then the bead of sweat falls and hits his square, shaven head. he notices it too. he raises his hand, feels the wetness, and slowly arches his head back to look at the ceiling.
I pushed the walls and knocked the man to the ground. drops his smith & wesson on the way. For close combat, I exclusively use Krav Maga, an Israeli technique that literally means “contact combat”. it is not so much a self-defense martial art as an unrestricted system to survive in any situation. combines elements of Eastern disciplines, such as karate, judo and kung fu, with basic boxing and dirty maneuvers. tom clancy splinter cell epub
is taught and used by the israel defense forces, israeli military and national police and other special/counter-terrorist forces in israel. Since its development by Imi Lichtenfeld after World War II, Krav Maga has migrated around the world and is now widely taught alongside other martial arts. Krav Maga is not a competitive sport, it is a fight for your life. the general idea is not only to defend yourself, but also to do as much damage as possible to your opponent as fast as you can.
so with wong on the ground below me, I slam my forehead, glasses and all, into his face as hard as I can. she screams in agony as the rim of the glasses tears at her skin. she slashes him hard across the throat for good measure, but she moves too fast. my knuckles don’t connect with his Adam’s apple, so I just manage to hurt him instead of kill him. The big guy rolls over and throws me like a blanket. in an instant we are on our feet and ready for more.
By now, lo has gotten to his feet and drawn his own pistol. it’s kind of semi-automatic, I can’t say for sure what it is because things move too fast. he points at me and I reach for wong’s shirt collar. I pull him toward me, swaying his body so he’s between me and the desk. the gun fires at him and wong jerks as the bullet enters his spine and exits through his sternum. I feel the heat of him as the projectile whizzes past my ear and embeds itself in the wall behind me. blood follows a split second later, splattering on my face and chest.
I’m still holding on to wong so I push him back towards the desk. His body crashes into him and hits the computer monitor, who now realizes he killed the wrong guy. he panics and runs to the door. I anticipated this and beat him. tom clancy splinter cell epub
lo isn’t a fighter, he’s more of a smart guy, so he’s not equipped to handle the choke I lock around his head. my arm muffles his cries as he thrusts his head forward, snapping the surprisingly brittle bones of his neck. he collapses to the ground just as the sound of boots running outside grows louder. there’s no time to get into the vent, so I flatten myself against the wall next to the door.
it bursts open and three armed security guards run in to find lo and wong dead on the floor. their shock and dismay give me the opportunity to sneak behind them through the open door. however, there is no way you can do it without being detected. one of them shouts something like “there it is!” and the guards chase me. I run down the hall to the stairwell that I know is ahead. it’s the only way out at this point. Instead of climbing the steps, I leap over the railing and land in a crouch in the middle of the lower flight. I take the remaining steps three at a time and am on the ground floor.
By now, of course, a few more guards have been alerted to my presence. in fact, a guy runs up to me from the big game room. he yells and I lunge at him. pull out a blacksmith & Wesson out of his holster, but I jump to the hallway wall, kick off the soles of my boots, and launch myself at him. he falls back as I gracefully land on my fingertips, do a split-second handstand, then do a mid-air jackknife to land on my feet.
The closest exit is the front door of the building. to get there I have to go through the games room. Unlike many Macau casinos, the Tropical has a large gaming room, much like casinos in Las Vegas, while others in Macau may have separate rooms for different games.
here you get blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat, slots and a couple of weird Chinese gambling games I’ve never heard of, all in one big space. There aren’t many customers at this hour, so I decide to give them something to talk about when they go to work the next day. I run into the room and dash through a hallway of blackjack tables.
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The place is dead silent. the fifteen or so players look up from their various games and gasp. the dealers are too shocked to move. Who is this gweilo in the hilarious military costume running around the casino? however, the two guards at the front of the room react differently. they draw their guns and point them at me, not bothering to yell at the patrons to get on the ground.
As a guard takes a check, I jump over a blackjack table and dodge a bullet. I jump to the next table, spraying a stack of chips in all directions, then bounce to another as the second guard’s gun goes off. I feel like a frog on lily pads.
Part of my extensive training with the third echelon involved learning how to use my surroundings to propel myself quickly. I can use walls, furniture and human beings as starting points to cross an obstacle course.
When I saw other guys doing it, I immediately thought of pinballs doing their thing inside arcade machines, and that’s precisely the concept behind the technique. it is especially effective when someone is shooting at you. a moving target that randomly changes direction is really hard to hit.
Now that the bullets are flying, the casino guests naturally scream in fear and cower. some are smart enough to fall to the ground when I pass them. the two guards, now blocking my exit, are firing their weapons indiscriminately, hoping to hit a lucky shot. I have no choice but to act offensively. I duck behind a table, pull out my five-seven, and release the safety. It is the Manufacture Nationale Herstal tactical model with a single action trigger and a twenty round magazine containing 5.7 and 28mm SS190 ammunition.
the shells offer good penetration against modern body armor while keeping the weapon’s weight, dimensions and recoil to reasonable levels. the damage the rounds do to unarmed bodies is something to behold. however, it is a weapon that I do not like to use in large-scale firefights. it has a pretty limited range, so I mostly use it in situations where I know I’ll have the upper hand. like this.
I reach around the bottom leg of the table and fire, one, two, hitting both guards in the chest. now the way is clear for me to hurry out. I stand up and move forward, jumping over one of the bodies as I do.
I hear a shouted order behind me, followed by more gunshots. I look back to see three more security guards running into the room. damn, where did all these guys come from at this time of night? one would think that at four in the morning they would keep only one or two on duty to save money. I guess bad guys all over the world keep guards in reserve for that case where an American agent breaks into HQ in the middle of the night.
I reach into the pocket on the outside of my right thigh and pull out a smoke grenade, one of the most harmless. I carry a couple of different types of smoke grenades: one that just produces dark smoke to cover my tracks, and one filled with cs, or what lovers of tongue twisters call o-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas.
that’s disgusting. Exposure to CS gas causes violent respiratory convulsions and prolonged contact causes loss of consciousness. I pull the ring and throw the grenade behind me and wait for the loud bang. the thing works surprisingly fast. black smoke fills the game room in less than five seconds. it’s almost like someone just turned off the lights. With the glasses on I avoid eye irritation and I can also see the arch outside the room.
I run into the main lobby of the casino and pass a couple of scared patrons. the gate guards must have left their posts to chase me into the card room, because I’m home free. I push open the glass doors and run down the steps to the street. It’s still dark of course, but the lighting from the street lamps illuminates the area quite well. the few casinos on the street are still open. it will be a matter of minutes, maybe seconds, before more trouble appears on the scene.
I circle the building to the small parking lot and head for the first SUV I see. it’s a honda, one of his luxury utility vehicles. I throw myself on the cement and roll under the car. Grabbing hold of the chassis, I stand up and position my body in the crevice so that they don’t see me from ground level. I release a hook that is embedded in my belt buckle and hook it to the chassis to help keep me in place.
Sure enough, I hear running footsteps and screams. the guards come out and begin a thorough search of the parking lot. I imagine the puzzled looks on their faces. where the hell did he go? He couldn’t have disappeared so quickly! I see feet run past the truck. more screaming. more confusion. the chief of the guards is yelling at them, cursing in Chinese. It’s going to be his head for this! He finds that gweilo now! more footsteps pass as the men search the aisles for cars.
It takes them ten minutes before they give up. they believe the intruder must have gone in another direction. I wait another five minutes to make sure it’s completely quiet, and then I get down on the cement. I look around for signs of people’s feet. any. I get out from under the sling, look both ways, then squat down. I slowly lift my head over the hood and survey the parking lot. I’m alone.
I leave the property the way I came, using the shadows to mask my presence. I move like a cat, calm and discreet, sticking to the walls and objects on the street. stealth is the name of the game and I’m damn good at it.
As missions go, this one went relatively well. no mission is “easy” per se. everyone has their challenges. I can’t take anything for granted and I have to be sure that I’m doing my job invisibly. That’s what being a splinter cell is all about. leave no traces. get in. leave. you’re done.
a splinter cell works alone. I am supervised and supported by a remote team, professionals who are also very good at their jobs, but it is my butt that is in the line of fire. each move must be thought of as if the field were a giant chessboard. a single mistake can be fatal.
I like to think I don’t make mistakes. I’m Sam Fisher. I am a fragmented cell.
review – tom clancy’s splinter cell epub
Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell series is as much about Tom Clancy as I am about the proliferation of grim fiction. that is to say, not much more than my name in some works. Tom Clancy created the character of Sam Fisher, as well as the Third Echelon, but everything after that was the work of the writers at Ubisoft. Despite this, the Tom Clancy name has a lot of influence in literary circles and they wanted to see if it would have an audience. there was, though not as large as the video game audience.
Although the series is officially written by David Michaels, this is a pseudonym for a variety of authors, the first of whom was Raymond Benson. I am a huge fan of Raymond Benson since his time in the James Bond books, as well as in his Hitman novel. He is a great writer and the perfect guy to write espionage stories of a slightly exaggerated nature, which is what Splinter Cell games are all about. so is it good? I think so, although more of a satisfying hamburger than lobster bisque. call it tom clancy-lite if you want.
The premise of Splinter Cell is that Sam Fisher is a 47-year-old ex-CIA agent and Navy SEAL who has been recruited in his middle age to serve as a spy for a secret branch of the NSA. Sam is not an assassin, but someone who is designed to use his covert ops skills to go behind enemy lines and undercover to gather intelligence from hostile situations. you know, what real spies are supposed to do.
A secret, tech-savvy Arab terrorist organization known as the Shadows (basically ISIL before there was ISIL) threatens Western-allied countries around the world. The Shadows are assisted by a Russian-backed crime syndicate known as The Store. It’s the kind of alliance you’d find in a Splinter Cell game, and Sam quickly finds himself between the two. Unfortunately, on a Kiefer Sutherland turn of 24, his daughter Sarah ends up becoming a pawn to use against her.
The biggest draw of this novel is the fact that it gets inside the head of Sam Fisher, a character too often ignored in games to focus on gameplay. raymond benson creates the image of a reserved and taciturn man who has been isolated by his work but loves what little time he has to spend with his family. Unlike James Bond, Sam is forced to be almost celibate because his job means that he can never let anyone get too close without endangering them or the secrecy of his job. tom clancy splinter cell epub
although threatening sam’s daughter, sarah, is a somewhat easy way to create drama, it works well here, as we meet her before it happens and suffer through her ordeal. It’s her plan rather than something that’s designed to give Sam the motivation to rescue her. The fact that Raymond Benson was able to create such a realistic character is something that makes the scenes where she is imprisoned and tortured even more poignant.
The villains are nothing to write home about with renegade Arab and Russian terrorists played by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Still, Benson adds his own twists to the enemies formulated by making the Shadow Leader more interested in his vendetta against Iraq than fighting America. tom clancy splinter cell epub
Russians are also first and foremost businessmen, uninterested in the specter of a fallen Soviet Union. I found would-be honeypot Eli to be the most interesting of them, as he is less than happy that he led his fake girlfriend to his (apparent) doom.
In a very real way, this book reads like Tom Clancy-lite with realism juxtaposed against dangerous spy adventures. it’s a fun little popcorn thriller and I recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy reading about a semi-realistic spy vs. terrorist just a little over the top. I’m certainly going to read the rest of the series.
9/10
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about the author
A little over thirty years ago, tom clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Years before, he had graduated from Loyola University in Baltimore with a BA in English and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October, sold quickly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted to the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan declared it “the perfect yarn.” From that day on, Clancy established itself as an undisputed master of blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate storylines and razor-sharp suspense. he passed away in October 2013.