Op-Center Books In Order
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Op-center is a series of military fiction novels from Tom Clancy that follow the exploits of a team of crisis management operatives that work to safeguard the United States against external threats.
+The Story
The Op-Center series began publication in 1995, and many of the books reflect that era. The threats Tom Clancy uses had considerable relevance at the time. However, one would be hard pressed to argue that, as a result, the Op-Center series doesn’t age well.
The principles highlighted in the Op-Center series are timeless and universal. The Op-center series revolves around a security agency called the National Crisis Management Center, though the organization is simply called the Op-Center.
The Op-Center is a security Agency that was created to fight local and international threats. The organization is managed by Paul Hood, the Director of the Op-Center who is only answerable to the President of the United States.
When the Op-Center is first created, it primarily works to collect and process information. Over time, the agency gains SWAT capabilities and, in no time at all, it takes its operations worldwide working to monitor situations and deploy when the need arises.
When things get really hairy, the Op-Center can always put their own paramilitary response team into the field.
Many of the stories are told from the perspective of Paul Hood. The novels do change perspectives from time to time but it could be argued that Paul Hood is the primary protagonist of the series, flanked by characters like General Mike Rodgers, Bob Herbert, and Darrel McCaskey.
The Op-Center is primarily designed to protect the United States. More often than not, the Agency will interfere in foreign matters because they have the capacity to indirectly destabilize the United States in the long run.
There are occasions where the Op-Center will intervene in international situations even when the future of the United States is not at stake. Sometimes, Paul Hood just wants to do some good.
A notable aspect of the Op-Center is their penchant for interfering in the matters of foreign countries even when those foreign countries do not want them involved. It could be argued that the Op-Center wields tremendous power because Paul Hood is only answerable to the president.
And in the absence of the President’s explicit orders, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. A recurring plot of the Op-Center books revolves around the political elements in the United States government that are fighting to see the Op-Center disbanded. These elements either believe the Op-Center is too dangerous or they do not believe that it serves any real purpose.
At some point in the run of the Op-Center series, the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense successfully talk the president into shutting the Op-Center down. In that particular situation, Paul Hood is unable to protect the Agency because other security agencies have cropped up and proven that they can do a far better job of protecting the United States than the Op-Center.
The Agency makes a return during the 2014 reboot when a terrorist attack the likes of which the United States has never seen rocks the president’s confidence. With thousands having died or been mutilated, the government begins querying the inability of its pre-existing security agencies to keep the country safe.
It is in this climate of fear and desperation that the decision is made to bring the Op-center back online if only to prevent further terrorist attacks. The Op-Center reboot attempted to adapt to the atmosphere of the early 2010s, particularly with regards to the nature of the terrorist threat as it had emerged in those years.
The Op-Center books are simple and relatively fast paced. They have been criticized for delving into a lot of technical detail that adds nothing to the plot. In that regards, the books suffer from the same weakness as every other Tom Clancy series.
The Op-Center books were the first to introduce the concept of a Net Force. Tom Clancy took that idea and spun it into its own military fiction series.
+The Adaptations
In 1995, the Op-Center book series was turned into a 114-minute action movie. Titled ‘Tom Clancy’s Op Center’, the movie was eventually released as a four-episode television miniseries that aired on NBC.
The miniseries was directed by Lewis Teague and starred Harry Hamlin, Lindsay Frost and Wilford Brimley to mention but a few. The adaptation suffered from the same weaknesses as the books it was adapted from. The miniseries was accused of having too much unnecessary detail. The miniseries also had way too much talking to be considered an action/ thriller.
Those that liked the adaptation praised it for the insight into geopolitical issues that it provided.
+The Author
The Op-center books might be imputed to Tom Clancy but the series was actually created by both Tom Clancy and a former United States Department of State official by the names of Steve Pieczenik.
Neither Steve nor Clancy wrote the books, though. That honor fell to Jeff Rovins, a columnist and freelance writer who first made a name for himself as the Editor of notable print media publications like Weekly World News, not to mention the work he did with DC Comics.
Besides working on Tom Clancy’s novels, the author has also written books under the Jim Grand Pen name.
+Mirror Image
The Cold War might be over but peace is still a pipe dream for some. Russia has a new president and he seems determined to cement the country’s democratic regime. However, there are those elements in the country that are determined to hold onto the old ways.
The only chance the president has to fight off Russian mafia and right wing nationalists is the Op-center, an American Agency that must work against the clock to stop the hardliners.
+Games of State
Germany might be newly unified but there are Neo-Nazi groups espousing old philosophies and who are not ready to see peace reign. There is a plan to spread a campaign of violence all over Germany and the world at large.
Paul Hood and his people are in the area making a technological acquisition for the Op-Center. Once trouble breaks out, Paul and his team work to track down the group using advanced technology to unleash chaos.
Book Series In Order » Characters »
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Thank you for the information regarding the Op-centre series … Looking forward to using this site again . Regards …