M.P. Woodward is the NYT bestselling author of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. books SHADOW STATE, LINE OF DEMARCATION and the Handler CIA espionage series (THE HANDLER, DEAD DROP) from Penguin Random House. He served as a U.S. Naval Intelligence officer before going on to a career in tech.
Q: What was the idea behind the story?
M. P. Woodward: In looking around the world at global flash points, Russia uses energy as a source to yield power, leverage, and geopolitical tensions. I also saw that there is a real-world territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana with a region very rich in oil. I then thought of a plot line where the Russians and Venezuelans team up to snatch this area away much like the Russians did in Ukraine.
Q: How did you come to write that early scene where readers root for characters they barely know?
M. P.: It was a prologue, which I consider mini novels. Readers are usually left with something that is going to happen. I visited a Coast Guard station and have a son in it, where I realized they are the unsung heroes. I wanted to give a shout out to those who maintain waterways. I brought a crew like that into real danger and let it be the spark that lit the fire.
Q: Any crossover with Andrews and Wilson, who write the other Clancy series?
M. P.: The very nature of both series means they crossover. We have the same editor who makes sure we are on the same page. We do not really collaborate on the plots, but we are aware of each other’s storylines.
Q: What in the book is based on real-world elements?
M. P.: Hydrocarbon reserves are what the Russians wanted and what makes Guyana strategically important. The Zircon missile is the Russian hypersonic missile. The SUDS Machine is based on service drones. There are initiatives out there for hydrogen service drones. In this book I had them as a hybrid with actual warriors on them, but they can also be remote-controlled—like a loyal dog—and return to where they are supposed to be. They’re a lot like a jet ski.
Q: What can you tell us about Lisanne Robertson?
M. P.: When I took over the series, she had been recruited into the Campus. Jack Ryan Jr. and she fell in love, and she’s now his fiancée. She has a job within the Campus as its logistics coordinator and manages some intelligence feeds, so there’s a bridge between the emotions of the couple and the realities of the mission. She has quiet strength.
Q: What about Master Chief Kendrick Moore?
M. P.: He was introduced in Shadow State. His backstory is still developing, but he’s damaged goods after getting a dishonorable discharge. He was angry and on a wayward path. Clark brought him into the Campus as a protégé, and he’s now formalized there. He’s the foot in the door for Clark with the Naval Special Warfare community. In this story, he plays a great role because much of the action takes place in the water.
Q: What are your upcoming books?
M. P.: The Clancy book is out in September and is titled Terminal Velocity. It doesn’t focus on the Russians. CRINK—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—make up many of the bad guys, along with less formal enemies like drug cartels and terrorists. I enjoy writing where a national enemy uses more of a shadow enemy.
Q: Rumor has it you had a crystal ball while writing Terminal Velocity?
M. P.: The plot is about the flashpoint of India and Kashmir, which has been in the news lately. The scenario is almost exactly what happened now—a terrorist unit hits the Indians, who accuse Pakistan of sheltering them. Tensions climb.
Q: Any books besides the Clancy series?
M. P.: Another book coming out in September titled Red Tide. It’s a military fiction novel where China blockades Taiwan with tensions on the high seas. There’s a battle like Midway with real naval tactics.
Tom Clancy Line of Demarcation by M. P. Woodward brings back Jack Ryan Jr. There is not just one plot, but three subplots that come together making for a riveting storyline.
The book opens with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her 22-member crew. The USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The question is who was responsible for the killings?
Meanwhile, Jack Ryan Jr. is in Guyana trying to get his export license for his oil company Hendley Associates, working undercover as the CEO of Athena Global Shipping Lines. That area of the world is already plagued with corruption and deceit, which proves to increase the burden on those conducting above board business. Jack is lunching with Guyana’s minister of the interior and attorney general when he’s caught in a sudden crossfire. He escapes, but the two officials are killed. The other plotlines are triggered after the attack where separate teams of the Campus, a covert government organization, is now tasked with fighting a Russia-backed Guyanese coup and rescuing Campus operator Domingo “Ding” Chavez, who’s deep undercover with a drug gang.
Per usual, in a Clancy novel, the action and ending are explosive. A bonus is that in the beginning of the book there was a list of characters broken up by American, Russian, Guyanese and Venezuelan along with a 1-to-2-line description.
