It’s the same formula but the stakes didn’t feel all that pressing, leading to a little of a deflation compared to the other books where the thriller aspects of the book are more fun and engaging. The question this one poses to the reader is more interesting than the previous ones though, and the nature of it means that by the end it makes sense why the chase wasn’t as fun.

I feel like these books scratch an itch for old 90s Jack Ryan movies only with more interesting high stakes and a travel bug at the same time. I don’t think the writing has gotten better because what IS fun about it is what the author obviously finds interesting, and it’s not characterization, prose, or dialogue. It’s going to cool places, constructing a fun puzzle, and trying to explain to the reader what he finds interesting about X thing about the world. And that’s fine with me. These books are pretty much what they say they are on the tin.