Patriot Games

Rating:
Summary: One of the best IRA/terrorism/action novels EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Unlike most of Clancy's novels, Patriot Games relies more on raw emotional power and less on technology to convey the story. It has about as much action as any of his other books, and shows a fascinating insight into the IRA threat. The climax of the novel had me holding my breath, desperatly trying to turn those pages fast enough

Rating:
Summary: Clancy's best ever!
Review: Clancy did an excellent job following up on the intensity and action found in Red Storm Rising. This is an action-packed novel about Irish terrorists that get upset when Ryan foils one of their plots to assassinate the Prince of Wales and his wife. A renegade with in the group -- called the Ulster Liberation Front -- takes matters into his own hands, going after Ryan's daughter and wife. In the gripping final scene -- a boat chase on the Chesapeake in a vicious storm -- Clancy brings to the readers what he has become famous for: page-turning action and vivid detail

Rating:
Summary: A non-stop adventure
Review: The book opens quickly, and never lets up. When the assassination attempt happens, Jack Ryan gets involved, and that is the beginning of a new chater in his life. The book deals with the same characters throughout the book. There is a final confrontation at the end that was ruined in the movie. A must-read

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!
Review: This is Clancy's best! Reads like a movie. Constan suspense. In this book, more than in all others, we get to see what Ryan is made of

Rating:
Summary: I Cringed
Review: Back when this book first came out, I plunked down (...) or so for the brand new hardback since I'd heard so many great things about his first two novels (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and RED STORM RISING). Why not get his latest?

PATRIOT GAMES is horrible. The bad guys, IRA terrorists, are astonishingly inept at every turn throughout the whole book. There was never any dread that they'd actually succeed at anything.
What I really found annoying about the book was the teflon superhero Jack Ryan, his brilliant surgeon wife and their adorable-at-every-turn daughter. NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE. I actually began picturing the white GI Joe doll with the black GI Joe doll for Ryan and his Marine pal after a certain point.
I mean, James Bond had a scar on his face, smoked too much, and was often a sentimental fool with the ladies--I'm talking the literary Bond here, not the strapping sexual dynamo of the cinema.
Does Ryan and his buddy and their families have to be so...perfect? It made it tough to really relate.
The scene where Ryan, laid up after the opening action sequence, bawls out Prince Charles for doubting his manhood is downright cringe-worthy.
I'd heard that Clancy had a cow when the film producers tinkered with the story for the movie. As much as he complained, I feel they'd done him a favor. Harrison Ford actually made him MORE human than he was in the book!

It's been over 15 years since I've read PATRIOT GAMES (and I keep telling myself I'll give Clancy another try), but I can still vividly remember what--to me--is the worst line ever written in a best-selling thriller:
"Way to go, your highness."

Rating:
Summary: Must Read!
Review: This book is excellent. I have read two other Clancy books before and this was my first plunge into the so-called Jack Ryan series. It absolutely confirmed my interest in this series. I recommend any reader interested in counter-terrorism and military action to read this work.

Rating:
Summary: An intense thrill ride!
Review: This story is about a man named Jack Ryan. He works for the U.S. Marines, but he is in England when the Prince and Princess of Whales visits with their new baby, there is a Irish terrorist organization called the IRA who tries to kill the Prince and Princess and their baby. Jack saves them and is rewarded but not by the IRA their reward is trying to kill his wife and daughtor, now Jack has a revenge that only the death of the IRA can quench.

Rating:
Summary: One of Clancy's Best
Review: I've become very disgusted with Clancy's latest books, which are unmitigated garbage. Clancy has evolved into a half-hearted, techno-thriller factory, to the dismay of many of his old fans. Patriot Games, like his earlier novels is a fantastic novel. Clancy's portrayal of rogue IRA types is equal to that literary master, Jack Higgins. Don't waste your money on Red Rabbit, The Teeth of the Tiger or the Bear and the Dragon. Buy Patriot Games.

Rating:
Summary: The Origin of the Real Jack Ryan
Review: Jack Ryan never really wanted to be an intelligence agent. Even his stint in the marines was a means to an end for a doctorate education. But what he got in the end was a sense of duty, a mind adept to intelligence analysis, a wife who was not only a great surgeon but the love of his life, and a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This is where it all begins. Jack Ryan saw a murder about to happen, and he stopped it, disabling one terrorist and killing another. What he didn't know was that the intended victims of a kidnap plot were Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and their infant son (Prince William). In an instant he became a hero, with an honorary knighthood and the wrath of the group who had planned the operation. He even got the personal gratitude and friendship of the royal family.

The event sends Jack into the CIA, a job he had resisted before, in an attempt to learn about the why and how of the attack. He proves to be great at intelligence, with his information leading to the arrest of another group of terrorists. But what nobody could predict was that after the escape of the terrorist Jack only wounded, he would go after him again. A small dinner party with the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as close friend (and eventual vice president) Robby Jackson and his wife turns into another terrorist kidnapping.

Patriot Games is a great introduction to the forces that brought Jack Ryan into the intelligence game. Jack showed his honor and intelligence, and in the history of the books, lots of people would rue the day he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. From figuring out how to steal a top secret Soviet submarine, compromising the head of the KGB, and stopping what would have been a nuclear war, Jack Ryan served the interests of the United States - and the world. He even ended up as President, a job he didn't really want but accepted and did to the best of his ability. Patriot Games is the start of a saga of a man who became a legend.

Rating:
Summary: Decent read but annoying in places
Review: I thought, for the most part, that this was a well written book. It kept my attention throughout. I thought Tom Clancy did an excellent job setting the story up in the first chapter or so, when Jack Ryan did his heroric deeds to save the prince and his family from the EVIL terrorists. The book kept me interested throughout and was overall very well written. Even though it was fiction I learned a lot about how the secret service and the terrorits work and the ongoing battle that the government has and will continue to have with terrorists groups.

Some things were annoying though. I don't mind if books have a little languge in in situations where it calls for it but this was over the top. F this F that F this was spread throughout the book. I hate that dirty discusting word and to have it spread throughout the book in situations where it wasn't called for was disturbing to me. I mean for heaven's sake it was probably in the book between fifty to a hundred times.

The other thing that bothered me was the hero, Jack Ryan and his family and various other characters that have few,if any, flaws. It got to be annoying reading about how perfect Jack Ryan is, how everyone loves him and thinks he is the most wonderful person around and how he does everything right. His wife of course is also perfect, intelligent and pretty of course.... not to mention his darling wonderful daughter. I think it would have been nice to see Jack Ryan and his family have at least a few flaws.

I also thought the pacing was a little slow but overall not bad.

If you like spy/action/adventure books and don't mind a lot of crude language this is a great read overall. Overall I thought it was a good book, but I don't think I will ever read another Clancy book again.