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Length: 431 pages
Date of Publication: 2003
Synopsis:
At the behest of a retiring President, a disgraced Senator sets up a non-governmental black agency to deal with national threats.
Review:
I'm not even sure this book was actually written by Tom Clancy. If it was, then something has happened to alter Clancy's writing style. The book reads like Clancy outlined it, but not like he wrote it. Narration style is different, language use is vastly altered, and generally the quality of the book is "off". If I had to guess without knowing better, this reads more like someone's first attempt at a novel, not his thirteenth. (Hey, maybe it was just bad luck? )
The story doesn't mention Jack Ryan, Sr. very much, but it revolves around the new occupation of Jack Ryan, Jr. in the employ of Hendley Associates, the "black ops" company set up by the Senator.
The concept for the story is interesting, even compelling, but the writer simply doesn't pull it off. This book has no major conflict in it. There are several minor conflicts, but the book essentially goes nowhere. When you reach page 431, you're left with a feeling as though they forgot to print the last 300 pages of the book, because nothing was resolved... in fact, nothing significant happens throughout the book at all.
Like his previous botched novel, Red Rabbit, this novel is also poorly proofread, with numerous errors. I can only guess that the writer had better things to do, and the publisher wasn't willing to push.
In short, as much as I detested Red Rabbit, this novel is actually significantly worse. It's the first time I've ever been bored reading Tom Clancy.
It's fitting that I read this book while sitting on the john. Unless you're a die-hard Clancy fan, don't waste your time with this piece of crap.
Storytelling: 1 out of 5
Characters: 3 out of 5
Mechanics: 3 out of 5
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Is it a book or a poem?Where did you find that?
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Are you actually reading these posts? How many poems do you know are 431 pages long???
Eric Storm
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lol wierd i actualy liked this story i think it made a great set up book for his next one. no its not as dramatic as most but to set up the next book im thinking it will be great ( if he fails at next book then this book will suck balls) i woldent call this a GREAT read myself but i found it orth the time expecialy if he does follow up with a great one
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p.s. leave my run on sentences alone lol. and my spelling i know i suck at typing
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IF he follows up with one... This book was released in 2003... we're nearly to 2009 now... awfully long time to go without a TC novel, quite frankly. I think he's more interested in running his empire now than adding stories to it.
Eric
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I too didnt care for it. It didnt seem clancy to me. Like a lot of my series i read, its like other people are writing them.
mon
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I'd have to agree with you, Monbade. And I'm beginning to think that perhaps this story was ghost-written. POORLY ghost-written. Maybe Mr. Clancy has so much else to do with his media empire that he doesn't have time to do the thing that made him famous in the first place.
Note, also, that this book lacks in the "research" department. Clancy normally does significant research work for his books... but this one basically "didn't need any", since everything was made up.
All in all, a poor showing for Mr. Clancy. And I have yet to hear about any forthcoming novels.
Eric
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It happened to the Ashes series written by William w Johnstone before he died. they put out 2 books and there were so many errors in it, i was disgusted. Errors that William would have never made, like one part that was a rememberence from one of the earlier books.
Sigh
mon
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A lot of Clany's stuff is being written by other authors now. He keeps doing things like this:
Tom Clancy's EndWar by David Michaels
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon by David Michaels
Which is basically just him sticking his name on someone else's writing because they used his base idea. Clancy also seems to have gotten into a non-fiction kick the past few years, writing histories of some different parts of the military (I had to read one for a lit class and it was some of the most boring and dry history I've ever read... even worse than high school history textbooks)
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Those stories aren't the same thing, though. Essentially, Clancy's name is on those because he invented, and probably controls, the universe in which they're being written. You're actually looking at THAT the wrong way 'round. That is the publisher using Clancy's name to bolster sales of a lesser-known author. But I'm sure Clancy gets a cut of everything with his name on it.
As to the nonfiction writing spree... well, I guess it's easier to write when you don't have to create, is all I can say.
Eric
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While I do not know for certain about Teeth Of The Tiger, all subsequent books in the Jack Ryan Jr. series have actually been written by Mark Greeney, not Tom. And the style is consistent throughout, so I suspect Teeth was also penned by Mark.
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You forgot Marc Cameron and Grant Blackwood and in no way is the style consistent. I couldn't believe jack jr said photogs
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