Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't Stop Reading
Review: This book is addictive reading. Jack Ryan was CIA's rising star until Bob Fowler became President. He doesn't think as much of Ryan as the Deputy Director, Central Intelligence, and his National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Elliot, thinks even less. They got off to a bad start, and now she is above him and trying to make his life miserable by spreading lies about his sexual conduct and trying to create something to kick him out of CIA with. At the same time, a group of terrorists are constructing a Nuclear bomb that they intend to use at the Super Bowl not only to kill the thousands of fans, but the Secretary of Defense and the Secreatary of State, who are also at the game. The last 300 pages are probably the most intense put to print. The downside is that it starts out pretty slow, but it shapes to be among the three best Clancy books ever, and there have been some good ones.
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Summary: Great Suspense
Review: A nuclear weapon falls into the hands of a dangerous terrorist group in a Middle-East hot spot. Clancy does a great job building suspense throughout all the way to the riveting conclusion, in this brisk and entertaining read. Not as cumbersome as some of his more recent efforts, this book ranks as Clancy's best work to date.
Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable Fiction
Review: As we again face turmoil in the Middle East, this book becomes more timely than ever. The story of a nuclear warhead falling into the hands of very determined terrorists, it winds throughout the world, through characters that come to life, and terror and suspense that will surely amaze and satisfy the reader.Almost too true to life to be a work of fiction, this book is more technical and heavily written than earlier Clancy works, but the high degree of detail and heart-stopping tension more than balances the scientific complexities in the narrative. At times the characters a carbon copies of earlier Clancy protagonists but the brilliant use of them makes up for some of their predictability. Ryan and crew are back with a vengance and the safety of the world are in the balance. A must read and a well and worthy effort. Not perfect, but by far, one of the finest nuclear terror novels ever written. And keep in mind, it could all happen as soon as today.
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Summary: Palistinian terrorists - atomic bomb - Super Bowl Sunday
Review:
It has been rumored that permission to publish this book had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and ever since then there is a standing court order that the CIA, FBI, and NSA receive advance copies of every Tom Clancy book a month before it goes to the publisher. Why? Well this book tells you step by step, in layman's language, in exacting detail how you build a hydrogen bomb. About the only thing that is left out is the exact amount of plutonium you would need. This did not sit well with the powers that be and considered it to be an extreme threat to national security. Clancy's lawyers pointed out that all of this information is available to the general public in any college library if someone is willing to take the time to look it up. The court agreed and allowed the book to be published without any of the information being removed.
The story starts during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. By then Israel had already secretly developed atomic weapons. Israel had a jet fighter loaded with an atomic bomb ready to scramble, the atomic bomb was not armed, but the plane was scrambled to go engage a group of tanks threatening the air base with the atomic bomb still attached. During the battle the plane was straffed with 50 caliber machine gun fire and the bomb mounts were hit, the bomb broke loose and came down in a farmers field. The jet crashed before it could limp home and the pilot was killed. Searches failed to locate the bomb. Flashforward, to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist scientists desperate for money sell detronium or "heavy water" to the palistinian terrorists allowing them to convert the atomic bomb to a hydrogen bomb. They decide that the Super Bowl will be the perfect target - since it is televised and the Vice Presedent of the United States has box tickets.
You will be hanging by the edge of you seat waiting to see if they succeed.
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Summary: Ryan's GREATEST adventure!
Review: I was a relative late-comer to the techno-world of Tom Clancy... however I made up for it by devouring everything he's written (except for the horrible 'Op Center' and 'Net Force' books that aren't written by Clancy). It was a daunting task to pick up 'The Sum of All Fears' even though I loved Clancy's books. But I finally got around to it and found myself totally absorbed by what I consider Clancy's finest writing. It all begins during a skirmish in the Middle East and a plane accidentally dropping an atomic bomb on a farmers field, which doesn't go off, but is left and goes un-noticed for a very long time. Skip ahead a few years and we find that the weapon has finally been discovered, and through an ingenious plot, it's recovered and dismantled to be converted from an atomic bomb into a thermo-nuclear device (an H-Bomb). These terrorists actually plan on using it outside the Denver Stadium during the Superbowl. Does it actually explode? Maybe--I won't tell, besides, finding out is half of the fun of this roller-coaster adventure. Clancy has written such a detailed story that he sets the stage for a small but significant event that happens in the book at nearly the very end of the book, and he does it with a Christmas Tree being shipped to Japan. As I read this, I wondered how on EARTH Clancy was going to tie a Tree into the story, and well I should've known he was going to, and even though it's a small portion of the book, it is a VERY important part that you cannot gloss over. After re-reading 'The Sum of All Fears' again, I STILL believe it to be my all-time favorite Clancy book, with 'Debt Of Honor' a close 2nd. All Clancy fans or anyone who just enjoys a great adventure story wrapped around a techno-thriller, this will DEFINITELY fit the bill!
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Summary: Your Nuclear Physics Lesson
Review: This is a book I read in preparation for a trip to Israel, and I wasn't disappointed in Mr. Clancy's reputed research. For those readers who are intimidated by the author's in depth scientific descriptions, this book is slightly different in that the head terrorist is just as intimidated by nuclear physics as we are. This well written, fully developed yarn shows you how easy it would be to execute a terrorist plot in the United States AND how easy it would be to get away with it. But the real fun is watching the actions of our politicians dealing with a terrorist event. This book will make you realize how really important your vote is when choosing our national leaders in November!
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Summary: One of Clancy's Best (and thats saying alot)
Review: This book is great! Terrific plot, with great characters, intresting subplots and more. It may start out slow, but once you get in the middle, you wont be able to put it down! Its an amazing book, and a must read!
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Summary: Long read but outsanding finish
Review: Literally a 200 page climax that you can't believe! I usually take months to pour through a Clancy book because they're so darn big, but once I got to the climax I didn't put the thing down for days!
Rating:
Summary: Exellent
Review: I am a big fan of Tom Clancy, and have read all his books and this is by far the best one yet. The concept of the missing nuclear missles is quite far-fetched, but Clancy desplayed it wonderfully in this book. The political jargon does get kind of long, but that is made up for with the intense suspense of what will come next. I would suggest buying it, because it is one of Tom Clancy's greatest.
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Summary: A Slow Start That Builds
Review: 'The Sum of All Fears' starts off rather slowly. The beginning deals with Jack Ryan's headaches as the number two man in the CIA and waging political battles with the President and members of his cabinet. Meanwhile, around the world, communist-arab-native American terrorists recieve manna from heaven- an atomic bomb. While most of the novel deals with preparing the bomb and Ryan's own personal and proffesional problems, The last two hundred pages are among the most thrilling ever written. The terrorists' atomic bomb is only the begginning of a much larger plan to bring the world, not just the USA, to it's knees. The payoff of this novel makes the whole thing worth while. In addition it acts almost as a manual for creating your own atomic weapons, should the need arise.
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