5 comments about Point of Impact (Tom Clancy's Net Force, No. 5).

1. I was fully prepared to dislike this book. To begin with, it was a gift, not something I would have chosen. I'm not a big Tom Clancy fan. I don't have anything against him, I just haven't read any of his books. The thing is, I still haven't read any of Clancy's books. Although POINT OF IMPACT has Clancy's name all over it, it was actually written by Steve Perry, someone I had never heard of.

   Then there was the prologue, which contains some very hokey and contrived dialogue. By the time I got through the first few pages my eyes were rolling. Given the larger-than-life action and comic book characterization typical of this type of book, combined with what I had seen so far, I figured I was in for a real stinker.

   But, to my surprise, POINT OF IMPACT turned out to be pretty good. Not a literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but entertaining and quite readable. The prologue was just a setup. To be sure, you still get the over-the-top plot, but that goes with the genre. Beyond that, there actually was some character development. Not so much for the Net Force "good guys" (I assume they're already familiar from previous books in the series) as for the "bad guy" drug maker and his sidekick. These two become somewhat familiar and interesting as the story progresses.

   I enjoyed POINT OF IMPACT and I hadn't expected to. It wasn't clever or memorable in any particular way. There isn't any real depth. Still, it didn't bore me and the writing was competent. For a light read, you could do a lot worse. Fans of this genre won't be disappointed.




2. Once again Tom Clancy has outdone himself. This book was the greatest book I've read in my whole life. Tom Clancy's Net Force starts to track a major drug dealer that has created a new drug called, Thor's Hammer. The inventor of this new drug is, Bobby Drayne. Drayne's father is retired from the FBI. This drug is like a steroid, except a lot more potent, it increases all of your senses and makes you really strong. If you want to feel like "Superman" for a few hours, it will cost you $40,000. But due to the fact that it is like a steroid, you'd better have a lot of time on your hands to recover from the drug. The Net Force starts going after Drayne, and then there is "The Point of Impact."
   If you like novels that have a lot of action and adventure, this book is for you. It is intriguing and will hold your attention during the whole book. When you think it is about to get boring, more action and adventure comes along. This is a great book! You should buy it!



3. There is an illegal drug being sold on the Net that makes you Superman. The FDA calls on Net Force and the NSA to stop the seller.
   I liked the action and the descriptions Clancy uses to describe what's going on. Every thing is described with great detail.
   I would recommend this book to adults that like violence, action and details about guns.



4. This book was my least favorite book in the net force series (yes i have read all of them up to springboard)because it has too much useless day to day stuff that is boring. Toni keeps complaining about how shes fat and is on and off with the scrimshaw stuff.
   
   Most net force books take me 2 weeks to read...but this one took me a month!Also, what does net force have to do with controlling drugs?
   
   The other novels that came after this were pretty much a chore to read, especially state of war. They always just start out with a death (or many),and go through the introduction. Then they just go for days or even weeks without any leads at all. Then a personal event happens, and they get a lead. This is where most of the books start to pick up their pace. This is when its hard to put the book down. But thats changing with every new novel. However when springboard came out in January, it renewed my interest in Net Force.



5. I have read a lot of Clancy books, among them several in the many that are actually written by other authors. This is my third Net Force book. That said, I have read worse books with Clancy's name on them, but this book just wasn't very interesting to me. Part of that is because I have lately started wondering why I even read these books, because they are all rather similar; the good guys always win and usually by killing the bad guys; the only good guys to get killed are minor characters while the more major characters might get injured; etc. The only major diferences is how the story is developed. This book actually increased my questioning as to why I read these books. This is mainly because this book seems to put across the message that the main purpose in life is to have sex. This book is absolutely packed to references about sex, mentioning people having sex, or such references as two people taking a shower together. That gets really tiring after a while. Other books in the series do mention such things a lot, but not as much as this book.
   This book has most of the characters returning from previous books, but there are two that are noticably gone. There are only two quick references to Tyrone Howard, and they are about him being away on a school trip. These references remind you of the importand role he played in the last few books. Also, there is no reference to Tyrone's boomerang-throwing friend (can't remember her name).
   As for the good parts? The noticable, worth-mentioning ones are few. This book does have a few surprising twists in the story, such as the rogue government agents, which help keep it from becoming too plain. Also, this book does not have very much bad language, which is surprising. It does have some bad language, but I have read books that were much worse in that respect.
   
   Even so, 3 stars is the most I can give this book. It is just not very interesting, and there are other books that I can read and enjoy much more than any of Clancy's. I cannot truthfully recommend this book, although if you are reading through the series, this would be a necessary inclusion.

5 comments about The Bear and the Dragon (Tom Clancy).

1. Big fan of Clancy's books, but I felt this was an overly-long and rushed effort. There were numerous spelling mistakes, factual errors (he switched what planes were doing what in a crucial sequence as if he forgot what he had already set-up) and perhaps the weirdest thing was that Clancy would repeat character's observations, opinions and thoughts repeatedly - as if he had run out of original things for them to say. If I had to read Robby Jackson say something about having "a Tomcat strapped to my back" one more time I was going to scream. The book takes a long time to get going and then wraps up a little too quickly - as if the publisher cut Clancy off and told him to get the book into stores. Don't get me wrong - Clancy is a fine at what he does, but clearly the attention to detail and imaginative work of his previous efforts are no longer applicable in his recent work. I was disappointed enough that I went back and read "Hunt for Red October" again. Hopefully he resists the urge to get more books/product onto shelves and takes his time to come up with more original material and more in-depth characters. This book was just irresponsible laziness on his part.



2. I finished "The Bear and the Dragon" yesterday after a read that took about three days. Overall, I found the book to be enjoyable, but also noticed a not small number of frustrations and irritations.
   
   First, I was disappointed by the way the author sort of hastily tied up the subplot involving Ming. At the point in the novel where the Siberian War started she and the American spy in Beijing just sort of disappeared from the story.
   
   Second, I was disappointed by the failure to follow through on the Mike Reilly part of the story. After the renegade KGB agent confessed to his work for the Chinese, it seemed like Clancy just let FBI agent Reilly and his colleague, the Russian police officer, fade out from the tale. I think that was a mistake, especially since the last appearance of Reilly was when he told the FBI director about the Chinese plot to kill the Russian president.
   
   Third, I got pissed off by the overt anti-Clinton comments in the book. They are totally illogical in the Ryan-verse, of which this book is part, because Clinton was never President in this fictional Ryan-verse and there is no indication in any prior novel that any of Clancy's fictionalized American leaders exhibited behavior like Clinton did in the real world. In any event, this is fiction, not a political speech. We don't need to have Clancy's Republican point of view thrown at us so obviously.
   
   And the same goes for his several criticisms of environmentalism and those who advocate for it. None of those nasty comments, which he had come out as "thoughts" of several characters, especially Admiral Mancuso, had anything at all to do with the plot and they didn't even do much to bring out the character's personality. Again, I thought these were just random, unnecessary and irritating windows into Clancy's personal politics.
   
   I didn't like the way the climactic scene involving the missile strike on DC was handled, either. There had never been any hint before that part of the novel that the Navy's hotshot civilian programmer was having any trouble fixing the missile software to allow interception of an ICBM. All of a sudden Clancy drops this thing about how he programmed the interceptor missiles to hit the heat coming out of the ICBM engines. That was weird and it seemed to me Clancy just forgot to set the table for that development.
   
   I also didn't see the point of the whole Ryan being dropped off on the cruiser thing. It didn't add anything to our well-developed understanding of the character and I couldn't figure out what Ryan, who normally shows such great judgment in the novels, was hoping to achieve with that move. Clancy even concedes that when he has Ryan say pretty much the same thing.
   
   Finally, I thought Clancy's economics were a bit off mark. Granted, before the financial disaster our government created for itself since the novel was published the U.S. had a big budget surplus and a big trade deficit with China, so the author's imagination of a China that was bringing in huge export revenues and spending them on weapons and military equipment wasn't a bad one. However, he never really got around to explaining how the Chinese military could have spent so much money but be so incompetent and so bereft of modern weapons technology or modern combat tactics. This part of the novel was muddled, at best.
   
   All in all, the novel kept my attention well. I am not sick of Jack Ryan as President. I hope, in fact, that Clancy writes another novel that focuses on what happened to Ryan after the events in "The Bear and the Dragon." While he's at it, maybe he can tie up the loose ends involving Reilly, Ming and the American agent, and the Russian general who became a hero in this novel (Bondarenko). And in what story was Robby Jackson supposedly killed off, anyway?



3. So Clancy would have us believe the Russians would not have employed nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons to repel the Chinese in this scenario?
   
   Maybe Mr. Clancy is not as knowledgeable about the Russians as his earlier work would lead one to believe.
   
   The premise that Americans would be invited to help defend the "Motherland" is just the final nail in the coffin of the Tom Clancy legacy of good writing.
   
   Save your money, or if you insist on reading this, buy the paperback version.



4. As usual I enjoyed the technical aspects of Clancy's Bear and Dragon. And incidentally I happen to agree with his politics, and I think he was actually quite kind to a certain former President. I'm also fairly patient about cliches and over-workings. So I only have one real criticism: Even with 1,000-plus pages, this story ended far too suddenly. I hate it when it appears that the author simply got tired of writing. Several deliciously rich threads were left to dangle in the wind. So I might hope for a sequel, just to wrap up a few very enjoyable subplots, but I'm sure it wouldn't work very well. From page to page I enjoyed Bear and Dragon, and I always enjoy the pleasant fiction of former enemies being such close pals -- fiction only in the sense of so readily allowing massive foreign military assets to touch native soil -- but this book most certainly needed another 20 or 30 pages of closure.



5. A reel disappointment. Four a book to bee enjoyed it helps if it does knot contain sew many speling and typograffikle errurz.
   
   I usually enjoy TC's books---but this one was indeed a disappointment. Decent story, but the typos and errors became tedious. Halfway through the book I started circling the obvious errors for entertainment value alone. Obviously the publisher opted to use an automated spell-checker because the book was filled with typos---some funny, but most were annoying and detracted from the reading experience. Just because a word is spelled correctly does not mean it's the right word to use! Next time the publisher might consider having real people proofread TC's novels.

No comments about Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Defending Freedon Collection (Defending Freedom Collection).

5 comments about Clear and Present Danger (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc) (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc).

1. In my teenager years, I loved reading Tom Clancy's novel. `Red Storm Rising', `The Hunt for Red October', `The Cardinal of the Kremlin' are stories engraved in my adolescent mind. Spies, technology, drama, heroic actions, people being proud of serving their country--not something I could learn from my upbringing in Spain. Later on, when I needed a break in college, I used to keep reading Tom Clancy: `Executive Orders', `The Bear and the Dragon'. I just loved it.
   So I thought that reading an old novel starred by one of my heroes, Jack Ryan, would be an excellent company for my week vacation in South Carolina. And it was. But I realized that, this time, I didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe it was the low value ascribed to human life, maybe it was the parallelism I could draw with the present situation in the US and my current distaste with the old adagio `the end justifies the means', maybe I am tired from war, violence and terrorism from everyday news.
   Anyway, if your conscience is so hardened that you don't care about this anymore, go for it. You'll have fun.
   By the way, South Carolina was great: friendly people, warm and sunny weather, tasty food, nice beaches, and lots of history.



2. This is the best Clancy book I've read. It doesnt have much of Jack ryan but it does have a bit more about the military than some of his other books. It also has Mr. Clark in some action in the end.



3. Being someone that is not really into reading books, this book totally took me away. I really felt like I was living the fight with the story. Great book, highly recomend it.



4. Drug spy morals.
   
   
   Jack Ryan is promoted, and not pleased to find out about very dodgy drug operations being run in Colombia.
   
   He and a military officer work together when revenge is taken on the CIA for interfering in the drug business to try and salvage a dangerous situation.
   
   A pretty standard Clancy book.



5. This is an incredible book. Mr. Clancy has managed to weave an extremely complex story of drugs, betrayal, murder, honor and ultimately justice. Woven throughout this book's pages are many great moral values, creating a truly positive reading experience.
   QUICK NOTE
   This book has high levels of violence (hey it's a military novel) and not a little swearing. (Comprable every two hours of reading to a rated R war film.

5 comments about The Teeth of the Tiger (Jack Ryan Novels).

1. This book seemed like a poor attempt at resurrecting (or at least getting more mileage out of) the beloved character of Jack Ryan, by re-introducing him in the form of a young Jack Ryan, Jr. The similarities between father and son are beyond extensive, and yet, I had a hard time caring about Junior much at all.
   
   There seemed to some pretty noticeable editing shortfalls in this book. It seemed very redundant at times. You could argue that Clancy was using themes through out the book. But to me, it felt like he just kept writing the same scenes and conversations over and over again.
   
   The one specific I'll mention is this. More than a dozen times the characters gripe about how what they're doing "in real life" is so much harder that it looks in the movies. I didn't mind it the first few times but after the tenth time, I was complaining out loud, "Alright Mr. Clancy, this TOO is fiction!"
   
   This feels like the first half of a Tom Clancy novel. It took 240 pages for anything exciting to happen. And once I had finally gotten interested, I realized there was only about 5 pages left in the book, and I had this terrible feeling it was going to wrap up so fast it wouldn't really have an ending. This book could have easily lost 100 pages at the front, and added another 50 at the end, and been better off. But, on the shelf, it would have looked like a runt amongst all the other Clancy books.



2. Totally agree with the comments of David Rose. I decided to randomly pick a novel by Clancy thinking I could not go wrong. But this book is a complete disaster. The language (choice of words) is cheap, dialogues/thoughts are shallow, and repetitive. The characters and the plot are shallow. The subject matter was of interest and that was the only reason I finished the book. I cannot still belive that an accomplished author can produce such cheap work.
   
   You can do better use of your time.



3. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and found that Clancy's style of writing was unique, in contrast to his many other books. Clancy is very reflective in this book ... almost to the point of being philosophical. His American characters do not pull any punches in expressing their negative feelings about Islamic Terrorists. The Terrorist are portrayed as misguided, evil, and hypocritical - which was rather courageous in our current age of denial and cowardice.
   
   There are a ton of witty comments and the dialogue is thoughtful and thought provoking. Perhaps the suspense is spread out a bit more than some of his other novels, which may be the cause of some of the low ratings. I thought it was a nice contrast to other suspense/fiction authors who seem to enjoy writing about America as weak and evil - Nelson DeMille's Wild Fire comes to mind with the bad guys being rich, evil, Christian fanatics who attempt to Nuke major U.S. cities to force another conflict with the Terrorists.
   
   I highly recommend this book a think you might also find it to be a pleasant surprise!



4. Ugh, this is probably the kind of book that destroys careers. Had this been his first book you never would have heard from Tom Clancy again. It seems that Tom has been reading too many of his old reviews and not those for his last few books. Granted his books still sell well, but that's because people see in his books what they want to see. This one is soooo transparent that it can't cover the weaknesses of the characters and stories.
   
   The idea of involving Jack Ryan, Jr and his twin cousins in murder plots is about a hokey as you can get. Put the boys in a Porche and let them drive it off a cliff a la "Thelma and Louise". Say goodnight Tom!



5. I used to read all of Tom Clancy's books until I got annoyed by the Op-Center series, and bored by Into The Storm: A Study in Command and Every Man a Tiger (Tom Clancy's Commanders Series) (which were interesting, but dry as dust) and quit reading them altogether. Then I found this in the bargain bin, and remembered why I liked his books so much.
   
   And wow. I checked Amazon reviews to refresh my memory (it's been 3 weeks since I read this), and there are 800 reviews with an average of 2 stars. I always gets very curious when I have such a complete difference of opinion, so I read through a few pages of the reviews. The negative ones seem to focus on two things: 1) it's not like real life, and 2) the series has moved on to the next generation. News flash: Tom Clancy books have never been overly realistic. Except probably for the nonfiction. You can pick apart dozens of things from even The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan Novels) that would never happen in real life--that's why it's fun to read. And I applaud long-running series that move on to the next generation. Otherwise, you end up with a hero that never ages, or increasingly improbable scenarios that even I won't swallow.
   
   So, now that I'm satisfied that I didn't miss anything, on with the review.
   
   The Teeth of the Tiger is about an ultra-clandestine government agency set up by then-president Jack Ryan. It's such a new agency that so far, all it's done is make money (it's self-funding, mostly by quasi-legal insider trading) and collect intelligence hacked from the alphabet-soup agencies. And now they're training their first operatives: twin brothers Dominic and Brian Caruso, respectively an FBI agent and a Marine officer.... and Jack Ryan's nephews.
   
   They get a slightly accelerated course when a routine training exercise crosses paths with an actual terrorist operation in a suburban mall.
   
   Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr., a few years younger than his cousins, has used his brains and figured out the existence of the agency, and basically applies for a job.
   
   Interspersed with the training thread and the Jack Jr. thread is the terrorists' plot.
   
   Maybe it's because I've just been in an action mood lately, but while I did notice a few drawbacks: the twins call each other Aldo and Enzo for no good reason, except perhaps as something to trip up readers; Brian dithers for far too long about whether or not he can kill terrorists in cold blood; and there's quite a bit of repetition; they didn't bug me all that much because I loved the story otherwise.
   
   I found the idea of a combination of stock market traders and assassin/spies irresistible. And I loved watching the development of the agency, even--or perhaps especially--the doubts and missteps. It was new, they weren't sure how it would work, but they were willing and eager to try, and that excitement was passed on to this reader, at least.
   
   I also found the three cousins to be fairly reasonably characterized. Even Brian's crisis of conscience made sense with his character, and my irritation with him was mitigated by the fact that his brother was also irritated with him. The twins were youngish and excitement-seeking, which explains some of their less logical decisions, like renting a Porsche instead of taking an anonymous train on their mission in Europe. Jack, Jr. had grown up privileged in the shadow of his larger-than-life father, who he admires, so it's understandable that he has that sense of duty, and yet he wants to make his own mark, and to prove himself.
   
   And, oh, yes, I did have to ignore a bit of political b.s. with which I'd have taken exception if I hadn't expected it. I find Clancy a little naive, politically (no shades of gray), but that works pretty well in an action novel. I think I'll have to see which of his books I've missed in the interim and check them out.

5 comments about Executive Orders (Tom Clancy).

1. If you are a fan of Tom Clancy you will love this book. It has all the aspects a book require to make it a great read. Twist after twist this book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. The events in this book are so realistic you might as well be reading a non-fiction book, that's part of what makes this book so good. If haven't read the books leading up to this I would definitely recommend that you read the other jack Ryan books first. You will fall in love with Jack Ryan in this book and all of Tom Clancy's other books.



2. Let rate each of the major plotlines in the book in true U.S. Navy fashion, of Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. SPOILER ALERT -- spoilers abound.
   
   The Asia Minor war with the United Islamic Republic. First off, I must note that Jack Ryan is not a good president. His unpresidential conduct (e.g., maudlin funeral service) made him, and by extension his country, look weak. Something to think about when we elect the next president. Second, we now know that Iran taking over Iraq in a matter of days is not something that could happen. Iran can barely control itself, let alone another country. The land, air and sea battles were fairly well done, however. Rating: good.
   
   Ebola terrorism. Well done with the exception that Ding and Chavez pop up, Zelig-like, to provide crucial information about who has been experimenting with monkeys. The retribution at the end was fantastic (JDAMs on the mullah-in-chief's house especially), and my only question is, Why not use a high-level nuclear bomb to destroy the lab, instead of a low-level one? Rating: excellent.
   
   The assassination attempt on Jack. The idea of a Mohammedan sleeper agent is certainly plausible, post- 9-11, post-Lackawanna Sleeper Cell. I didn't like the fact that catching the rogue Secret Service agent depended in part on luck, but it was certainly presented in a plausible way. Rating: excellent.
   
   The assassination attempt on SANDBOX. I'm getting tired of "kids in jep." Clancy skillfully played that card in "Patriot Games" but I'm a little annoyed to see it come up again here. The only thing that saves this plotline from Unsatisfactory rating is the vivid description of the assault and the takedown of the bad guys. Rating: satisfactory.
   
   The Mountain Men. Didn't go anywhere and was unnecessary. Unsatisfactory.
   
   Edward Kealty tries to muscle back into the presidency. A little absurd but does present interesting legal issues. Rating: good.
   
   Running the government. Clancy obviously took the chance to tell us everything he would change if he were president, but it wound up being just a series of political speeches that any competent editor could have stopped. Two hundred or more pages could have been taken out of the book in this part alone and it would have been far better. Clancy needs an editor with some backbone, for his sake as well as ours. Rating: unsatisfactory.



3. Having been a Clancy fan from his beginning, when I picked up Executive Orders, I hoped to find the same class of writing and pleasant presentation as had been the mark of (most) of his prior work.
   .
   Unfortunately, it seems he had either reached that pinnacle where he could demand he get paid on a "per word" basis, thus the incredible and completely unnecessary length of this work - or he had offended all possible editors of skill, and been left with a very inferior pool to choose from. I'd find it hard to explain this ineffective work otherwise, clearly published on the hope of the merit of the Clancy name and not on any intrinsic merits of its own.
   .
   This is one ponderous book...one that I had a very hard time working through. It could have been fully and effectively covered with half the size, resulting in a much more readable and productive Clancy gripper...easier to follow, more demonstrative of the points he wanted to make, and more conducive to continuing his future unblemished.
   .
   Though I must say I thought I saw it coming in a couple of his works leading up to this one, at least they were still effecive and noteworthy, though beginning to be somewhat needlessly long.
   .
   It is my hope that we don't have a repeat of this exercise in literary back-sliding, and that Mr. Clancy continues to use other writers to assist him in putting his works together as he's been doing since, to keep him from the mistakes he made here.



4. Executive Orders is the story of American survival after the government is decapitated. Enemies sense weakness and use terrorists to strike with biological weapons. The rest of the page turning story is about American survival and retribution. Another great, huge, Tom Clancy novel.
   
   Another book with a similar theme is Behold, an Ashen Horse. The attack is more severe, and the president a more pragmatic and hard man than Clancy's Jack Ryan. Retribution is also much more sever than what President Ryan dispenses.
   
   Both books are excellent reads, deal with real world problems, contain interlocking subplots, and will scare the you know what out of you with their realism.



5. "Executive Orders" is 1358 pages long. Yes, you read that correctly 1358 pages long! No one has ever praised Tom Clancy for the brevity of his prose, but 1358 pages is one audaciously long book. The only thing that could keep reading a novel of this length from being an overwhelmingly tiresome exercise is for it to contain an audaciously good story. Fortunately for Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan fans, this book resoundingly succeeds on this count.
   
   Now, please be forewarned [IF YOU HAVE NOT READ "DEBT OF HONOR" YET, THEN GO NO FURTHER WITH THIS REVIEW]:
   
   Now, if you have read "Debt of Honor", you will remember the absolutely shocking way it ended, with a rogue Japanese commercial airline pilot crashing his 747 into the Capitol Dome during the President's speech to a joint session of Congress, killing all of Congress, the President, the Cabinet, and the Supreme Court justices (among others). This all happened after the sitting Vice President has resigned in disgrace and Jack Ryan was just approved to be the new VP by acclimation vote of Congress before the plane struck.
   
   So, now Jack is President and he has rebuild a devastated government while facing a political threat from the former VP who thinks he should be president; a foreign crisis brought about by Middle East upheavals (one of which is proving to be quite prophetic); and a domestic crisis brought about by a biological terrorist attack. It's just another day in the life of Jack Ryan.
   
   The real appeal of this book is that every different plot thread is extraordinarily well thought out and set up. In most books this ambitious, you will find certain plot lines boring, making you anxious to get to more exciting portions of the story. In "Executive Orders", Clancy never falls into that trap. You can feel each different thread building upon the others, instead of running in opposition to them. The payoff is a tremendous climax (or rather a series of them) which rewards the reader for their efforts throughout this magnum opus.
   
   "Executive Orders" is a crowning achievement in the Jack Ryan Universe. There are so many fabulous books in the Ryan series, but this one is its apex.

5 comments about Rainbow Six (Tom Clancy).

1. Extremely boring... The first Clancy book that was not a constant page turner for me. What happened Tom?



2. This gift hooked its' new owner the first time he read it. Adventure, well written espionage and keeping the attention are just some of his mentions. Obviously a plot and book to enjoy.



3. I was disappointed in this book. It was too drawn out and too many subplots. Hard to keep all the characters in mind. Actually, if I hadn't read any of Vince Flynn's books, I might have been a little more excited about this book. I have read some other Clancy books and enjoyed them, but this one dragged on.



4. If you've read any of Tom's books, you would know that he can sure write a good thriller. In fact, he's considered one of the best thriller novelists in the modern era, often mentioned alongside names such as John Grisham and Michael Crichton.
   
   Rainbow Six is a great testament to that.
   
   Rarely did I stop turning the pages in this one. The prose was flowing, the action was fast and the plot was engaging. Being someone who had served in the army before, I was attracted by the details of the mechanics surrounding the anti-terrorist team named RAINBOW. It's clear Tom knows his stuff. All the facts on the weapons were spot on, and the plot was very believable; with the US government being a part of a bio-terrorism scheme to exterminate the world's population, holocaust style. The multi-national team RAINBOW took center stage in this one, and for much of the book, we learn about their members, their individual roles in the team and their many characteristics. Which is good; having the members of RAINBOW drive the book was a good move by Clancy.
   
   The plot moves on in many threads, much like Ted Bell's SPY where we see many threads moving on in a chronological sequence. It has a very gradual build-up that many thrillers typically employ. RAINBOW started off being formed in the first few chapters to being a serious threat to the main problem (the bio-terrorism problem) in the end. The book moves in and out between the team, the bad guys (Popov and the terrorists), the US government and the many external forces influencing the situation itself. And the plot threads move at a very fast pace, making it very enagaging and urgent.
   
   All in all, I found it a very exciting read. And I recommend it to all looking for a good thriller to plunge into.



5. I'm a 15 year old female, who was assigned to this book by a group of, suprise suprise, 3 males of my same age.
   Now, I'm a big TC fan, I loved Red October, and I'm fairly up-to-date with my techno-jargan, but honestly...
   Without reiterating what many have so eloquently posted, my copy (which I bought used for $1, a bit over-priced if you ask me)now sits half burned, torn to bits in a corner of my room where I flung it against the wall.
   
   *headdesk*
   Really Tom?

5 comments about Without Remorse (Tom Clancy).

1. I bought this for my husband who is a Tom Clancy fan. He drive a truck over the road and has time to listen to audio books while on long drives. He said it was definitely a classic Tom Clancy novel.



2. This novel was by far the best book that I have ever read. The detail in the book is unbelievable. It is amazing how many different stories are running at once, and how they all collide at the end. This is the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
   I would recommend this book to anyone.



3. How can you not like a book with a line such as :
   
   "Oh no, not in their wildest nightmares have they ever met anyone like me.
   The name they had given him in Vietnam boiled up from the past.
   Snake. "
   
   corny, jingoistic, call it whatever elitist dribble you want, i think this book rocks!! Apart from this, the research he puts into the book should also be commended.
   I only hope, if at all they choose to make a movie out of this, they stay true to the concept of the book. As mechanical engineer, i appreciate Mr. Clancy's work even more because of his minute precision level attention to detail. John Clark's workshop,
   
   Hemingway meets John Rambo ...
   
   Great fun read, gets a bit gory in the beginning, then snake takes over!! :) Enjoy it.



4. Umm yea this was my first experience reading tom clancy so I don't have any strong feelings one way or another. So yea it's very obvious that he does do a lot of research before writing so much so that i myself got lost in some of the military jargon and weapons lingo. But it was a compelling plot, straight forward and easy to understand. Sometimes it was a little confusing to keep track of characters especially the navy admirals because they mentioned like 3 different names for each character, first, last, and nickname. Then he wouldn't talk about them again for another chapter or so. So by the time you think you've figured it out you've forgotten the next time the characters come around. The characters themselves were a little two dimensional and the dialog also needed some work I doubt very much that people are straightforward. All and all I give it a 4 out of 10.



5. This was the fifth Clancy book I have read but my first in many years. Without giving much away it is mainly a story of revenge. In this book you get to see how some of the regular characters in other Clancy novels come to be. I thought the book was fine & if you are just starting out the book does pick up the pace once you get one or two hundred pages in. I didn't rate this book higher because I feel the story could have been done with less than 750 pages, that's two pretty good sized books. Also much of the book takes place in Vietnam & details some Navy Seal / SOG action. I have recently read the book "SOG" by John Plaster & I have to say the action in that book is hard to beat - & it was hard for me not to compare the two. Without Remorse does finish with a bang just for me it took a little long to get there.

4 comments about Hunt for Red October, The.

1. Over the past decade, I've 1) read the book, 2) watched the movie, and 3) now listened to the book on CD, narrated by J. Charles.
   
   As Yoda would say, "Entertaining they are!"
   
   The CD (unabridged) really reminded me how different the book is from the movie. J. Charles speaks quickly, so the audio book is really fast-paced. His Soviet accents are a bit heavy, but they grow on you as you get into the story.
   
   Except for some very occasional language, I'd rate the book/CD "PG," so it is "safe" to have kids in the car as you are driving hither and yon (for an example of what I would label an "unsafe" CD, consider Jarhead).
   
   Safe and entertaining!



2. This is one of my favorite books- and I am not disappointed in the story-I give that a 5. However, there is an annoying aspect to the recording for this audio book, which is why I gave it a 3 star rating overall. There are many instances of speed skipping on the sound--you can understand all the words okay, but there are many that go fast like a skipping record. I am not sure if it's just my copy, or all of them, as this annoying speed skipping occurs on all discs in the set. The speed of the recording may have be upped to shorten the number of discs--and the recording company just pushed it a little too far--I dont' know. If you like Tom Clancy's work, and you want an audio version,this is still good.



3. In my opinion this is one of the two best books written by Clancy. And I've never read anything by Tom Clancy I have not thoroughy enjoyed reading.



4. I bought this CD set when it was on Amazon Super Special at about $10. What is not listed or mentioned is that it's a 13 CD set that must run 15 hours. That's a Mega Biggy that's hidden away. I suspect the sellers are afraid telling you it's 13 CD's and 15 hours will scare folks away. Me, I can't wait to hear the next CD.
   
   This is the complete unabridged book read aloud. There is so much more in this audio version than the movie.
   
   The movie is one of my favorites and the CD is a great listen. If you liked the movie, you'll love the CD set. On receipt I immediately ordered two more sets as gifts. Too bad it's up to $29 now. Still worth the $$ by a wide margin though.

No comments about Tom Clancy's Op-Center: War of Eagles (Tom Clancy's Op Center).