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Summary: Getting Predictable
Review: I thought this book was well written, with several interesting parts. Tom Clancy kept me reading this book for several hours at a time. But, his books seem to be getting more and more predictable, almost like he's running out of ideas. It seemed easy for me to guess what the ending would be like by about half way through the novel. I still thought the book was full of action, and recommend it to any one else, but either get it at a library or wait until it's out on paperback. Still, I hope Clancy comes out with a new book soon, his action sequences can't be beat!
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Summary: Tom is the best.
Review: I'm a fan of Tom Clancy, I like his writing and his techno-thriller style. This book is so good you cannot stop reading. Greetz,
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Summary: When did "Clancy Do Dallas"?
Review: I was extremely disappointed that Mr. Clancy had to resort to sweeping out the gutter to replace the English language. Maybe a English 101 class would help. This is the first time I did not want to have my son read a Mr. Clancy book. If he is being paid by the word, then I understand. That would clear up the constant repeating of the same sentence again and again and again. At least Mr. Clancy did not come up with a fourth or fifth name for Ryan.
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Summary: didn't finish it
Review: I didn't like all the f-words he used even when it wasn't called for. I spent 3 yrs in the Air Force and worked in public until retirement and still think filthy talk is uncalled for to get your point over .LOOKS LIKE i WILL JUST HAVE TO QUIT READING HIS BOOKS.ijfishcatcher
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Summary: Tom, you're tight
Review: I am a 14 year old high school student and i've read all of the Clancy novels. while this one may not be his best (i like Red Storm Rising more), it was still a good book. there were the usual details on weapons but i think it should have had more action.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book... some of the other reviews were, well... a bit harsh to say the least. I liked it though i thought it was quite exciting and kept me interested just about the whole time. Although at times it seemed a bit biased but nothing that bad, and i was very happy to find the boys from rainbow making an appearance. Well thats about it for me.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bland Hiccup from a Norrmally Spectacular Author
Review: Normally I begin a Tom Clancy novel resigned to the task of slogging through the initial 250 pages of exposition, knowing the story will eventually grab me by the throat and drag me through a wild ride of high-tech action, political intrigue, and vivid characters. I waited...and I waited...but it just never happened.I have five essential gripes with this book: 1) How many countries are we going to go to war with? This time China, last time Iran, before that it was Japan. I can't wait for the next book, "Polar Bear Rising" in which we send stealth fighters to bomb the bejeesus out of Canada. The lack of a cold war has obviously emptied Clancy's bag of ideas. 2) I really do believe that a President who whines that much about how much he hates being president should be either shot or impeached. Okay, Tom, the best politicians are the blue collar everyman types who reluctantly accept the burden of office for the greater good. We get it. We don't need to hear our otherwise brave hero whine about being stuck in the job in every scene like an eight year-old forced to go to summer school. 3) There's nothing wrong with a political novel. There's nothing wrong with a novel espousing political beliefs. But if it's written by Tom Clancy I expect him to understand his subject as well as he understands spies and military hardware. His observations were the thin, vapid pablum of talk radio and his political scenarios were tenuous to say the least. 4) This guy is the best selling novelist in America. Why do all his characters (even some of the Chinese ones) talk like potty-mouthed factory workers? Characters like Jack Ryan are suddenly so profane and vulgar as to become unsympathetic. I've seen Clancy do better and I'm amazed a novel that took two years to write reads like it was slapped together a week before he sent it to his editor. 5) The plot was entirely predictable, the resolution being visible hundreds of pages in advance. I remember hating Steven Segal movies because he struts through the film kicking the snot out of everyone and never faces an opponent he can't humiliate with the wave of a hand. This book struck me the same way. I kept waiting for the agent in China to get discovered, but everything went according to plan. I kept waiting for China to pull some ace out of the hole in Siberia, but everything went according to plan. I kept waiting for the spy who tried to kill Golovko to shake his surveillance or try something unexpected, but everything went according to plan. I could go on, complaining about repeated phrases and poor sentence structure. (If I read one more time about our Navy giving them "one hell of a bellyache...) I just expected so much more from an author whose work I've loved so very much in the past. The Bear and the Dragon was a huge disappointment.
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Summary: Oh no, Not again!
Review: When the next adventure in the Jack Ryan story came out, I couldn't wait. I had to get it and read it now. Boy was I disappointed. Jack Ryan stopped being a really interesting guy about two books ago. Yes, I love what Jack Ryan stands for as a character, and yes, the story of his rise to the presidency of the USA is one of the good guys finally winning. But I think, Tom Clancy finally went too far with this character. There wasn't even that much military exposition in this book and I could see the ending coming from miles away. None of the excitement of "Debt of Honor". None of the geo-political underpinnings of "Executive Orders". I doubt very much the reactions some of the countries in this book take on the situation around them. The actions of China in "Debt of Honor" made sense. Here? They are just fluff for the 1,000+ pages of discussion of conservative right wing agenda, and while some of that agenda is commendable, 1,000+ pages of it finally "grates" on you. I think Tom Clancy has missed the target on the coming "geo-political" situation. For a more thoroughly entertaining (and informative) novel about a similar situation I highly recommend "The War in 2020" by Ralph Peters.
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Summary: Criticism and Praise for Clancy...but he's no Higgins
Review: Though a thoroughly ripping yarn, Tom Clancy again becomes a bit too mired in the swamp of technical details for me. For example, I could have done without the dissertation on the inner workings of the ICBM and the consequent lengthy discussion of the effectiveness of the AEGIS system in intercepting them. Though the latter is certainly relevant to the plot, it could have been done in a much more concise and comprehensible way. I could have also dealt without the egregious overuse of abbreviations (enough is enough), the preposterous preponderance of code names and nicknames, and the incessant whining of the Jack Ryan character regarding his misfortune at having stumble into and around the White House. The 20 pages of it could have been filtered into 2, and readers still would have understood the point. Also, as a person who has looked into the ministry, I feel it important to state that one cannot receive a Doctorate of Divinity in 3 years as one of the characters, Yu Fa An, supposedly did. Three years is the amount of time it takes to get a Master of Divinity, the traditional minister's degree. It is somewhat telling that Clancy fully researched the inner workings of a missile and yet did not think it important to reconcile this simple detail. The role of the priests and ministers was fascinating and overall, handled fairly well, however. Clancy should have had a Baptist minister help him on the Vice President's father and the other minister's speeches. They were well written, but not nearly as fiery as many of the men who wear that denomination's cloth. I also enjoyed the political and diplomatic aspects, especially the Chinese trade talks and Russia's status with NATO. I guess in a book this lugubriously verbose, one is bound to have both likes and dislikes. Clancy himself said it best when he said, "Higgins is the master." For Clancy, this was well done, and that is no small complement.
Rating:
Summary: This book was HORRIBLE!
Review: Don't waste your money. I wish I hadn't. If you want a good read, go for Red Storm Rising. Even if you've read it before, you will still find it WAY more interesting than this onslaught of Clany's verbal diarrhea.
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